Spatial distribution of cultural ecosystem services demand and supply in urban and suburban areas: A case study from Shanghai, China

Abstract

In the urban ecosystem, the demand for cultural ecosystem services (CES) has greatly increased, and the imbalance of CES supply and demand has been prominent. This paper integrated multi-source data to analyze and visualize the spatial differences in CES demand and supply capacity between Shanghai urban center and suburbs. Based on the geo-tagged photo data, the spatial distribution differences of the four types of CES demand, Recreation & tourism services (RTS) demand, Aesthetic services (AS) demand, Heritage & cultural services (HCS) demand, and Spiritual & religious services (SRS) demand, were analyzed. Residents and tourists had a strong demand for recreation and tourism, and the spatial agglomeration effect was the most obvious. Overall, CES demand was more concentrated in urban center, while the spatial distribution of suburbs was relatively discrete. At the same time, there were under supply areas of CES near the Huangpu River in urban center and suburbs. Results from bivariate Moran’s I method showed: 1) there was a significant positive spatial correlation between CES demand and CES supply capacity in urban center; 2) CES supply had a positive external impact on CES demand; and 3) the increase in CES supply capacity can promote the growth of CES demand.