Presented at the "Urban Planning. Strategy, and Real Estate Management" Round Table at the College of Engineering of Seoul National University on 29 April 2016

1. Smart Cities and the Value of
Ecosystem Services
SNU-ESSEC Round Table
“Urban Planning, Strategy and Real-
estate Management”
29 April 2016
(Jeffrey Milstein)

2. Smart Cities According to Some Major Brands
Verticals: Brand A Brand B Brand C Brand D Brand E
Technology 
Infrastructure 
Buildings/ Home    
Mobility/ Transportation     
Energy     
Water   
Waste 
Gov./ Planning/ Integration    
Public/ Social Services   
Safety   
Health    
Education/ Culture    
Sports/ Leisure 
Citizen 
© Sylvain Remy, 2016

3. Factors of Urban Value Creation
(based on Barton & Grant, 2006)

4. Cities consume lots of External Resources
Natural capital
Anthropogenic resource demand
Rural area
Urban centre
(based on Ferrão & Fernández, 2013)

5. Such as Air, Water, Sand…
Annual consumption of sand: 15 billion tons
Our most used commodity after air and water
Cement production
(UNEP)

6. But ecosystems
are obvious
inside cities too(Youtube capture)

7. (Joongang Daily)

8. © Jean-François Remy

9. Natural
Resources
Goods & Services
Ecosystem
Services
© Sylvain Remy, 2016
(based on Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner
For The Environment, New-Zealand, 2002)
• Traditional economics
• Environmental economics

10. A powerful concept which goes much
beyond “greening” or raw materials

11. • Biodiversity
• Community gardens
• Forests
• Green facades
• […]
• Residual green space
• Riparian buffers
• Street trees (large/small)
Vegetation
• Biodiversity
• Wildlife
Ani-
mals
• Dark skies
• Natural light
• Rain
Atmo-
sphere
Soil
• Aquifers
• Coastal waters
• Contained bodies
• Waterways
Water
• Cultural heritage values
• Scenic beauty
• […]
• Visual quality
• Wildlife sighting &
viewing
Cultural
• Air filtration
• Fuel source
• Food production
• Water filtration
Provisioning
• Carbon sequestration
• Groundwater
replenishment
• Light pollution reduction*
• […]
• Thermal insulation
• Heat-island effect
reduction
• Windbreak
Regulating
Natural capital Services
(Disservices)
• Faster patient recovery
• Mental health
• […]
• Respiratory/cardiovascula
r diseases risk reduction
Health
• Disaster risk reduction
• […]
• Retail sales
Eco-
nomics
• Road surface savings
• […]
• Stormwater utility savings
• Water supply expansion
Infra.
Benefits
Urban Ecosystem Services
• Aural, Psychological,
Visual, Thermal, Wind
comfort
Well-
being
• […]
• Sense of place/belonging
• Crime deterrence
Social
• Aesthetic appreciation
• […]
• Study performance
Cul-
ture
+
+
+
© Sylvain Remy, 2016

12. Global trends are putting the spotlight
on urban ecosystems
Natural space is
the greatest part of
metropolitan areas
– 81% of rural land
area in major U.S.
metropolitan areas
(> 1M)
(GreaterLondonNationalPark)

13. Natural
disaster
risk in
cities
=> more eco-
conscious
planning
(Jason Gutierrez/IRIN)

14. Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Gap
=> Do more
with less
=> Leverage
natural assets
(The Economist, 2014)

15. Urban Natural Assets Pay Off
Natural
capital
• Not inventoried
• Undervalued
(Pittsburgh’s urban
forest: $1.13 billion)
• “Natural” and
“automatic” appreciation
over time
Economies
• Mature trees add up to
15% to residential property
value (Thériault et al.,2002)
• Willingness to pay up to
12% more for goods and
services on tree-lined streets
in big cities (Wolf, 2014)
• Biophilic landscapes could
save US$1.7 billion in
incarceration costs in NYC
(Terrapin BG, 2012)
R.O.I.
• High potential: 200%
annual ROI on trees
(Pittsburgh City, 2011)
• Incremental: small
steps can yield large
benefits
• High leverage:
• More people, more
value
• Assets “multi-task”
• For rapidly developing
cities as well as highly
developed cities
Strategic
• 2.5 billion people will
move into cities by 2050
• World: US$1
trillion/year gap for basic
infrastructure worldwide
(World Economic Forum,
2014)
• Southeast Asia:
US$150 billion annual
infrastructure gap to
2030 (McKinsey, 2014)
© Sylvain Remy, 2016

16. Ecologically Smart Cities: Harnessing
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem
Society
Technology &
Infrastructures
Government Citizens/Markets

 
© Sylvain Remy, 2016

17. Ecologically Smart?
(Sun City Palm Desert Riverside County, California)
(dailyoverview.tumblr.com, 2015)

18. Singapore’s
ABC Waters:
Substituting multi-
purpose green
infrastructure for
storm-water
management,
leisure, health, …
(worldlandscapearchitect.com)
In Korean cities:
• 1% increase in green
infrastructure (parks, urban
forests, and green roofs)
• => 6.4% reduction in
economic loss caused by
flooding
(Korea Environment Institute, 2011)

Kallang River ABC Restoration, 2012

19.  Copenhagen Harbour Baths (2002)
(canadianindenmark.wordpress.com)

20. Han River at Gwangnaru, July 1967
(Gwangjin Bridge in the background?)
Han River at Ttuk Island, 1964
Han River at Ttuk Island, 1966
(Jamsil Bridges in background?)

21. walkonomics.com (2011) optimises
walking route beauty & comfort based
on open and crowd-sourced city data
(dirt.asla.org)


22. Research: EDF and ESSEC are working
towards urban ecosystems valuation
• Describe and understand the benefits of urban ecosystem
initiatives in Singapore:
– Model the relations among subsystems and with the built
environment
– Integrate the value of ecosystem services into the simulation of
the urban system
– Advise developers, governments and the public on the value
created
• From a cost approach
– Environmental Impact Assessment
• To a value creation approach
– Ecosystem Services Valuation

23. Thank You
Sylvain Remy
remy@essec.edu
5 Nepal Park, Singapore 139408
3 Avenue Bernard Hirsch, 95000 Cergy-Pontoise, France
(Schuiten)