Urban ecosystem services: literature review and operationalization for the case of Brussels

We summarise the literature on urban ecosystem (ranging from individual trees to extensive green spaces) and examine how urban ecosystems can be linked to the four main types of ecosystem goods and services. We then propose an empirical strategy for measuring urban ecosystem services in Brussels. We argue that a feasable approach consists in focusing on changes to urban ecosystems induced by neighbourhood revitalisation programmes. We conclude that there is sufficient empirical material allowing to assess, at least in a first approximation, the impact of neighbourhood revitalisation programmes on the provision of ecosystem services within the city of Brussels.