The quality of life in our cities critically depends on the intelligent planning and shaping of urban living space, in particular urban nature. By providing a wide range of ecosystem services (ES), urban nature essentially contributes to the well-being of city dwellers and plays a major role in avoiding common diseases through its positive impact on physical and mental health. Health is one of the most important factors underlying human welfare and is, thus, vital to sustainable development. The ES of urban green space provide other social-cultural functions alongside public health, for example by fostering environmental justice and citizenship participation. Thus, they should always be considered when searching for solutions to urban problems. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of green areas in three selected cities on the health and well-being of people by self-reporting of green areas’ visitors. To this end, we posed the research question: which types and characteristics of urban green space are most appreciated by city dwellers? Based on our findings, we have drawn up recommendations for practices to promote better living conditions. We have also pinpointed obstacles to and opportunities for leisure time activities as well as ways of supporting the public health of citizens.

The objective of this paper is to examine possible application of green and blue infrastructure as part of the Smart Cities concept. The Smart Cities initiative puts an emphasis on improvement of life in cities in various areas. Climate change has a significant impact on city populations. Potential adaptive measures include ecosystem-based measures using green and blue infrastructure as an alternative to grey infrastructure. In addition to environmental benefits and ecosystem services, they provide a number of other economic and social benefits. Services provided and benefits are assessed in the paper on an example of the construction of a green roof in Prague-Jinonice using cost-benefit analysis. Green roofs can be classified as a component of smart buildings in the Smart Cities concept. The results of the quantification of costs (at an annualised rate of CZK 7852) and benefits (at an annualised rate of CZK 8973) indicate that the benefits exceed the costs and the measure can thus be regarded as socially beneficial. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, it can be regarded as economically effective and implementable by the property owner without a subsidy motivation requirement.

The present transboundary study of ecosystem services (ES) focusses on a section of the Eastern Ore Mountains, a rural low mountain range in Germany and the Czech Republic. Aims of the study were to quantify five biotope types typical for the region (raised bogs, mountain meadows, clearance cairns, near-natural mountain forests, and near-natural streams), to identify some of the specific (not just monetary) values of nature in both countries, and to test appropriate ways to communicate ES aspects to stakeholders and the lay public. The study had to cope with country-specific differences in terms of data availability, valuation methods, landscape pecularities, and relations between supply and demand aspects. The ES were assessed using both expert-based (‘ecological’) assessments and economic valuations (e.g. calculation of prices and costs, revealed preferences). Among the provisioning ES, particularly biomass/fodder from meadows, wild fruit, and timber were taken into consideration; among the regulating ES, carbon sequestration and water regulation; and of the cultural ES, landscape aesthetics and recreation. The values of (near-)natural ecosystems in terms of regulating and cultural ES exceed those of provisioning ES by far. The results were also prepared for environmental education using new media, such as scouting games and virtual nature trails supported by mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, or GPS devices).