One Ecosystem 2: e14499 doi: 10.3897/oneeco.2.e14499 Research Article Mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem condition and services using integrated index of spatial structure Stoyan Nedkov‡, Miglena Zhiyanski§, Stelian Dimitrov|, Bilyana Borisova|, Anton Popov |, Ivo Ihtimanski‡§, Rositsa Yaneva , Petar Nikolov‡, Svetla Bratanova-Doncheva¶ ‡ National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, BAS, Acad. Georgi Bonchev Str., bl.3, Sofia, Bulgaria § Forest Research Institute - BAS, 132 "Kl. Ohridski" Blvd., 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria | Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria ¶ Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research - BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria Corresponding author: Stoyan Nedkov (
[email protected]) Academic editor: Benjamin Burkhard Received: 13 Jun 2017 | Accepted: 27 Nov 2017 | Published: 04 Dec 2017 Citation: Nedkov S, Zhiyanski M, Dimitrov S, Borisova B, Popov A, Ihtimanski I, Yaneva R, Nikolov P, Bratanova- Doncheva S (2017) Mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem condition and services using integrated index of spatial structure. One Ecosystem 2: e14499. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.2.e14499 Abstract Urban ecosystems are the areas where built infrastructure covers a large proportion of the land surface but the main source of ecosystem services provision is the green infrastructure. This provision is very much dependent on the particular combination of green spaces such as parks or vegetation belts and paved areas such as buildings and streets. The spatial arrangement of these elements is an important parameter which could be used for the assessment of the ecosystem condition in the urban areas. An integrated index of spatial structure is proposed which incorporates built types and land cover from the Local Climate Zones (LCZ) concept with urban ecosystems' classes developed on the basis of MAES typology.