Promoting sustainable carbon sequestration of plants in urban greenspace by planting design: A case study in parks of Beijing

Urban greenspace has been highlighted as a means of offsetting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and mitigating climate change in cities. However, it is still challenging to design for sustainable carbon sequestration. This study developed a transdisciplinary framework to link carbon sequestration research with planting design practices. Taking 28 urban parks in Beijing as a case, we integrated field investigation and remote sensing images to analyze the relationship between planting design indicators and carbon sequestration efficiency, and the change of carbon sequestration efficiency with the growth of plant biomass. The results showed that carbon sequestration efficiency varied over the urban parks with a mean value of 8.72 gC m−2d-1, and varied with plant growth. The difference was associated with individual plant properties and biotope structure. Medium-sized plants and biotopes with partly open structure are proved cost-effective for sustainable carbon sequestration of urban greenspace. We summarized adaptive planting design strategies for different biotope types and emphasized the benefits of nurturing growing and partly open biotopes structured with different sizes of plants. The results will be possible to produce information for landscape architects for improving sustainable carbon sequestration not only in the study area but also in other cities with similar climatic characteristic.