Ecosystem Services and Urban Planning: A Review of the Contribution of the Concept to Adaptation in Urban Areas

The effects of climate change have a negative impact on urban areas and projections indicate these impacts will worsen in the coming years. In this context, cities need to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. Potential solutions proposed in the literature for this adaptation include the use of Ecosystem Services. However, of the large volume of publications, few articles provide a structured analysis of the contribution and use of the concept in urban planning and adaptation to climate change. The objective of the present study was to review the literature on the subject and provide a structured analysis of the state of the art, main authors, countries, and references addressing the topic, together with key concepts emerging from this research, and challenges for future studies. Thus, a hybrid method of bibliometric analysis and in-depth reading of key articles held on the Web of Science electronic database was applied. The results revealed a growing scientific interest in the subject, a trend of greater interdisciplinarity in research, use of different evaluation methods, both economic and non-economic, and a systemic perspective that approaches sustainability not only as an environmental problem, but as a complex phenomenon.