Cities Built for and by Residents: Soil Sealing Management in the Eyes of Urban Dwellers in Germany

Urban soil sealing has negative impacts on ecosystem services through the loss of urban green. Besides protecting urban green from further sealing by proper urban planning, the efficiency of soil sealing management depends on residents and practitioners. This paper investigates the efficiency of strategies motivating urban dwellers to contribute to a less-space-consumption behavior, to green their roofs or unseal unused paved areas through a survey conducted in Munich and Leipzig, Germany. Moreover, the paper identifies the supply and demand of ecosystem services and living quality aspects along a sealing gradient to prove how compact cities of high living quality should look. Results suggest that information plays a vital role for residents to reduce soil sealing and the supply of a high living quality, including sufficient recreational areas and reduction in motorized traffic promotes compact cities. To guarantee a high acceptance of residents towards compact cities, the paper suggests applying a sealing gradient taking into account the importance and satisfaction of built-up environment qualities based on the concept of ecosystem services. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.