Sergio Wicki


Last Name

Wicki

First Name

Sergio

ORCID

0009-0001-7219-5009

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2021 - 20255
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Publications 1 - 5 of 5
  • Participatory multi-objective optimization for planning dense and green cities
    Item type: Journal Article
    Wicki, Sergio; Schwaab, Jonas; Perhac, Jan; et al. (2021)
    Journal of Environmental Planning and Management
  • Archetypes of social-ecological-technological systems for managing ecological infrastructure
    Item type: Journal Article
    Wicki, Sergio; Black, Benjamin; Kurmann, Manuel; et al. (2024)
    Environmental Research Letters
    The concept of ecological infrastructure (EI) as a lens for landscape management has the potential to address environmental challenges, such as biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, by instrumentalizing Nature's Contributions to People (NCP). NCPs stems from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and refers to the various ways in which the natural world provides benefits, values, and services that directly and indirectly contribute to the well-being, livelihoods, and cultural aspects of human societies. This research explores this potential by proposing an archetype analysis of social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) to manage EI. We derived archetypes using machine learning and clustering on a data-driven SETS framework co-produced with experts in EI management. The archetype analysis was conducted by combining K-means with hierarchical clustering on spatial patterns to generate clusters with similar configurations of social, ecological, and technological subsystems. The approach is illustrated for the canton of Geneva, Switzerland, which experiences high urbanization and ecological pressures. The resulting spatially explicit archetypes of SETS facilitate policy recommendations tailored to multifunctional landscapes, which can be used to derive coherent management strategies for EI. In addition, the approach demonstrates that by taking an integrated landscape approach and engaging with diverse stakeholders, it is possible to develop effective landscape-based management recommendations for promoting the sustainable provision of NCPs and biodiversity within the concept of EI.
  • Nature's contributions to people and biodiversity mapping in Switzerland: spatial patterns and environmental drivers
    Item type: Journal Article
    Külling, Nathan; Adde, Antoine; Lambiel, Audrey; et al. (2024)
    Ecological Indicators
    Changes in climate and land use represent significant risks of biodiversity loss globally, affect ecological stability, impact nature's contributions to people (NCP, i.e. ecosystem services) and compromise human livelihood. As framings of conservation evolve to consider the interdependence between species and human needs, there is a growing recognition of the importance of NCP and biodiversity in conservation actions. However, knowledge on the interactions and spatial repartition of NCP and biodiversity remains limited. Here we show a comprehensive spatial assessment for 15 NCP and one biodiversity – distribution of threatened species – indicators in Switzerland. Indicators values were computed using a panel of mapping and modelling methods extracted from the literature, or specifically developed for this study. Through the analysis of their relationships, we reveal significant trade-offs and synergies in the spatial repartition of these indicators. Results from a spatial bundle analysis performed on the 16 indicators revealed the existence of four bundles showing a heterogeneous repartition over the Swiss landscape. Furthermore, we identified that topography (slope), climate (temperature and precipitations), and habitat (forest and meadows) were among the most influential factors to explain the spatial distribution of the four bundles. We conclude that various significant relationships exist between NCP and biodiversity indicators in Switzerland, emphasizing the importance of informed conservation approaches considering both NCP and biodiversity supply. This work helps fill the gap in our understanding of the links among different NCP, between NCP and biodiversity, and highlight their relationship to climate and land use, providing key insights for optimizing conservation efforts.
  • Characterising non-stationarity in predictive models of land use in Swiss mountain parks to inform scenarios for deliberative transformation
    Item type: Other Conference Item
    Black, Benjamin; Wicki, Sergio; Grêt-Regamey, Adrienne (2022)
    Investigating pathways for the transformative adaptation of socio-ecological systems (SESs) frequently requires simulating the development of aspects of the system in both space and time, often into the future. In many cases this is achieved through the creation of predictive models which are calibrated and validated using historical data before being applied to generate future projections under the assumption of stationarity (i.e. that the relationships between the phenomena being modelled and its predictors are constant). Of course, this assumption is inherently flawed given that the calibration of models often highlights the presence of clear non-stationarity, for example between different historical periods, indicating systemic change within the SES. Instead of disregarding non-stationarity this research seeks to demonstrate how characterising it can be used to improve understanding of how a given SES has, and is changing, and thus inform planning for deliberative interventions to encourage transformative adaptation. Our research will demonstrate this in the context of modelling future Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change scenarios for several alpine regional nature parks in Switzerland. Specifically, we use Random Forests supervised classification to statistically model the relationships between class-class LULC transitions and a wide set of environmental, socio-economic and neighbourhood predictor variables. Performing this modelling at a regional scale across multiple time periods allows for the identification of both spatial and temporal non-stationarity within the predictors of LULC transitions. This non-stationarity is characterised through two approaches. Firstly, through changes in the inclusion of predictors in LULC transition models as a result of the feature selection process (filtering to produce the most parsimonious set of predictors by minimising redundancy). Secondly, through changes in the partial dependence plots which visualise the relationships between predictors and the probability of LULC transitions. Such analysis provides insights into how the relationships between, socio-environmental factors and the likelihood of LULC transitions change over time and space, which should inform the development of scenarios of future LULC change for alpine parks in Switzerland. For example, comparing the degree of temporal non-stationarity exhibited across different LULC transitions, in combination with historical rates of LULC change (unit area per time period), could highlight which transitions are more ‘unstable’ and thus subject to greater uncertainty. This knowledge should be taken into consideration when devising scenarios based around interventions intended to elicit transformative change specifically related to these LULC transitions.
  • Understanding how spatial patterns of nature’s contributions to people matter for decision-makers
    Item type: Doctoral Thesis
    Wicki, Sergio (2025)
    Nature’s contributions to people (NCPs) represent the diverse benefits humans derive from ecosystems, including material contributions like food and water, regulating services such as climate regulation, and nonmaterial benefits like recreation. These contributions are critical for human well-being and ecological resilience but are increasingly threatened by global changes, including climate change and land-use transformations. The degradation of NCPs, coupled with declining biodiversity, exacerbates vulnerabilities in human livelihoods and highlights the urgent need for sustainable and adaptive landscape planning. This thesis investigates how spatial and temporal patterns of NCPs can inform planning processes. By integrating quantitative modeling with participatory approaches, the research develops methods to systematically map, analyze, and interpret spatiotemporal patterns of NCPs for decision-making. The thesis is structured around three key questions: i What benefits can spatial optimization of NCPs bring to planning? ii How can identifying archetypes of NCPs support planning? iii How can participation be included in developing long-term landscape manage- ment for NCPs? These questions are addressed through three main studies: Paper I introduces a participatory multi-objective optimization approach to support urban planning by balancing compact urban development with the preservation of urban ecosystem services (UES). Applied to Singapore, the approach integrates stakeholder input and quantitative modeling to address spatial trade-offs, generating a solution set that informs decision-making. An interactive 3D decision-support system (DSS) is employed to foster collaborative and iterative planning procedures. iii Paper II investigates the role of social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) archetypes in managing ecological infrastructure (EI). By mapping archetypes and as- sessing their sensitivity to land-use changes, the study identifies tailored strategies for managing EI. Using the canton of Geneva as a case study, the research demonstrates the value of integrating ecological, social, and technological subsystems to delineate management zones to plan for the sustained provision of NCPs and biodiversity. Paper III analyzes the spatial and temporal evolution of NCPs in Switzerland by identifying six distinct temporal archetypes of NCP change. The study reveals areas of stability and vulnerability under different scenarios, showing how climate change disproportionately impacts water yield and sediment retention, while land-use change affects food and feed as well as habitat quality. The findings emphasize the need for adaptive landscape planning to address region-specific challenges and opportunities. Incorporating spatiotemporal patterns into NCP assessments can help decision- makers to develop more effective and targeted planning strategies. By identifying patterns of stability and vulnerability, these assessments provide essential insights for planning processes to identify location-specific management recommendations. Assessing and leveraging spatiotemporal patterns of NCPs can provide a foundation for landscape planning to enable the sustainable provision of essential ecosystem benefits across a range of future scenarios.
Publications 1 - 5 of 5