Abstract
Abstract Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) encompass a range of social, cultural and health benefits to local communities, for example recreation, spirituality, a sense of place and local identity. However, these complex and place‐specific CES are often overlooked in rapid land management decisions and assessed using broad, top–down approaches. We use the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site‐based Assessment (TESSA) to examine a novel approach to rapid assessment of local CES provision using inductive, participatory methods. We combined free‐listing and participatory geographic information systems (GIS) techniques to quantify and map perceptions of current CES provision of an urban green space. The results were then statistically compared with those of a proposed alternative scenario with the aim to inform future decision‐making. By identifying changes in the spatial hotspots of CES in our study area, we revealed a spatially specific shift towards positive sentiment regarding several CES under the alternative state with variance across demographic and stakeholder groups. Response aggregations in areas of proposed development reveal previously unknown stakeholder preferences to local decision‐makers and highlight potential trade‐offs for conservation management. Free‐listed responses revealed deeper insight into personal opinion and context. This work serves as a useful case study on how the perceptions and opinions of local people regarding local CES could be accounted for in the future planning of an urban greenspace and how thorough analysis of CES provision is important to fully inform local‐scale conservation and planning for the mutual benefit of local communities and nature. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Highlights
Green spaces are crucial features in urban environments, providing local communities access to a variety of benefits from ecosystem services, derived from natural processes (Dickinson & Hobbs, 2017; Maller et al, 2009; MEA, 2005)
In a rapidly urbanizing world, urban green spaces are critical for the provision of multiple ecosystem services on a global scale (Green et al, 2016)
Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are often overlooked in landscape management assessments due to their perceived intangibility (Scholte et al, 2015)
Summary
Green spaces are crucial features in urban environments, providing local communities access to a variety of benefits from ecosystem services, derived from natural processes (Dickinson & Hobbs, 2017; Maller et al, 2009; MEA, 2005). While urban green spaces provide a rich variety of biological and anthropogenic ecosystem services, research has indicated that ac‐ cess to green space has significant positive effects on social cohe‐ sion, cultural memory, health and well‐being benefits associated with the residents’ lived experience in the urban areas (Cox, Shanahan, Hudson, Fuller, & Gaston, 2018; Hartig et al, 2011; Pereira et al, 2013; Soga & Gaston, 2016). The links between connectedness to nature, well‐being and conservation exemplify the often unnoticed importance of urban green spaces in our everyday lives and the need for quantifying CES provided by green space for better management of urban land (Raymond, Giusti, & Barthel, 2018)
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