Indicator development for assessing recreational ecosystem service capacity of urban green spaces– A participatory approach

Abstract

Developing indicators to assess the capacity of green spaces to deliver recreational ecosystem service (RES) is essential but challenging because recreation is an intangible ecosystem service that is subjective among individuals. The purpose of this paper is to develop indicators for assessing the RES delivering capacity of the existing green spaces to assist green space planning in Little Akaki River catchment, located in central Ethiopia. The development of indicators follows the identification of indicators, conceptualization, calculation, communication, and ranking of indicator phases. We involved the society in identification of indicators, conceptualization, and communication phases. The result reveals six prioritized indicators such as greenness of the site, availability of water features, degree of naturalness, type of landform, proximity to residence, and existing activities in the green spaces. These indicators were then broken down into measurable metrics for the society to rank according to their preference. The result shows that people prefer more vegetated areas, direct contact with water features, natural areas with less human interference, passive recreational activities, a mixture of different landform types, and 5–25 min walking distance from their residences. We recommend that planners, policymakers, and green area administrators in Ethiopia consider these indicators in assessing the current capacity of green spaces to deliver RES and in future recreational area development.