Cultural Ecosystem Services Research Articles

A Methodology for Quantifying the Spatial Distribution and Social Equity of Urban Green and Blue Spaces

Urban green and blue space (UGBS) contribute to a variety of nature-based values and human health benefits. As such, they play a critical role for the quality of life and sustainability in cities. Here, we use the metropolitan area of Geneva, Switzerland, as a case study to illustrate that UGBS are heterogeneous in spatial characteristics, such as surface area, naturality, or noise levels, which are associated with key cultural ecosystems services. For each characteristic, we defined a threshold with the realization of an associated cultural ecosystem service, including a novel noise threshold (LAeq < 45 dB) compatible with the notion of “quiet”. We then used geospatial information to generate place-based and people-based indicators that collectively describe the variation in key dimensions of UGBS. We found that, in Geneva, the typical (median) resident has access to 4.7 ha of UGBS, and 89% of residents live within 300 m of the nearest UGBS. Accessible surfaces of UGBS per capita, however, were highly variable by type of UGBS and across neighbourhoods. For example, residents from precarious neighbourhoods are less likely to live within 300 m of quiet UGBS than residents of privileged neighbourhoods, and when they do, these UGBS tend to be smaller. The proposed methodology categorizes UGBS in a manner that both captures their distinct social roles and highlights potential social injustice issues.

Understanding the sentiment associated with cultural ecosystem services using images and text from social media

Social media is increasingly being employed to develop Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) indicators. The image-sharing platform Flickr has been one of the most popular sources of data. Most large-scale studies, however, tend to only use the number of images as a proxy for CES due to the challenges associated with processing large amounts of this data but this does not fully represent the benefit generated by ecosystems in terms of the positive experiences expressed by users in the associated text. To address this gap, we apply several Computer Vision (CV) and natural language processing (NLP) models to link CES estimates for Great Britain based on the content of images to sentiment measures using the accompanying text, and compare our results to a national, geo-referenced survey of recreational well-being in England. We find that the aesthetic quality of the landscape and the presence of particular wildlife results in more positive sentiment. However, we also find that different physical settings correlate with this sentiment and that sentiment is sometimes more strongly related to social activities than many natural factors. Still, we find significant associations between these CES measures, sentiment and survey data. Our findings illustrate that integrating sentiment analysis with CES measurement can capture some of the positive benefits associated with CES using social media. The additional detail provided by these novel techniques can help to develop more meaningful CES indicators for recreational land use management.

Importance of Cultural Ecosystem Services for Cultural Identity and Wellbeing in the Lower Engadine, Switzerland

Current climate and environmental changes have brought unprecedented rates of change to mountain ecosystems. These changes are impacting the provisioning of ecosystem services. Despite the increase in academic publications on ecosystem services, research on cultural ecosystem services (CES) and their availability in mountain regions has largely been neglected. Here we analyse how important different CES are for inhabitants and visitors in the Lower Engadine region (Switzerland). We use questionnaires and maps to identify the most important CES for individual and collective wellbeing as well as their geographical location in the region. We had 48 participants in this study of which 28 grew up in the Lower Engadine. Our results show that the most important (i.e., ‘Highly important’) CES are: ‘The view of mountains, rivers or glaciers’; the presence of plants typical for the region, for example Fire Lily and Edelweiss (i.e., Lilium bulbiliferum subsp. croceum, Edelweiss-Leontopodium alpinum); ‘Hiking’; ‘Local customs’; ‘Watching large mammals’; and the importance of ‘Terraces for traditional Agriculture activities’. Results from the spatial analysis show that identical geographical locations in the Lower Engadine provide multiple CES and bring health benefits to the users.

Integrating cultural ecosystem services in wildfire risk assessment

The impact of natural disturbances such as wildfires on ecosystem services and local communities is significant. Conventional assessments of wildfire risks often overlook the potential loss of ecosystem services, particularly cultural ones (CES). This study presents a methodology for integrating CES into wildfire risk assessment, combining expert CES participatory mapping with standard procedures based on fire hazard and vulnerability modelling. We tested the methodology in a European Alpine landscape of 143 km2 involving 8 municipalities and 30 local stakeholders. Integrating CES hotspots changed the risk classification by at least two classes for 52 of the 358 valley subwatersheds and made the distribution of high and very high-risk areas more scattered. This study demonstrates that including CES in wildfire risk assessment and prevention schemes through a participatory process can encourage stakeholder engagement and provide additional information on the indirect benefits of the ecosystem. We conclude that the application of this methodology to other contexts would strongly benefit local wildfire risk management plans.

Assessing grassland cultural ecosystem services supply and demand for promoting the sustainable realization of grassland cultural values

Grasslands deliver essential provisioning and regulatory ecosystem services, concomitantly with indispensable cultural services that merit profound consideration. However, grassland cultural ecosystem services (GCES) face a conspicuous knowledge lacuna due to the lack of a unified research framework and quantitative methodology. This study endeavors to fill this gap by quantifying the potential supply and actual demand of GCES, concurrently scrutinizing spatial congruencies and disparities between GCES supply and demand in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), China. To achieve this, we integrated social survey data, Point of Interest (POI) data, social media data, the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) model and GIS Getis-Ord Gi* statistical analysis. Our analysis unveiled grid-scale spatial patterns of GCES supply and demand, furnishing a nuanced high-low ranking of GCES. It transpired that scenic travel holds the highest potential supply of GCES with a high-value area proportion of 46.0 %, while grassland recuperation ranks the lowest. Notably, road accessibility emerged as the most crucial factor influencing GCES patterns. Furthermore, we observed a substantial misalignment in the GCES supply-demand relationship, with 65.99 % of IMAR experiencing excess supply compared to demand and only 20.66 % achieving equilibrium. At a 95 % significance level, hot spots (excess supply) and cold spots (excess demand) accounted for 26.03 % and 22 %, respectively. We propose targeted suggestions that regions with oversupply of GCES should channel efforts toward augmenting road accessibility, whereas regions grappling with excess demand should prioritize the judicious allocation of resources to avert surpassing the environmental carrying capacity. Our study furnished insights for decision-makers to formulate sustainable development plans pertaining to grassland culture.

Mapping cultural ecosystem services of the urban riverscapes: the case of the Vistula River in Warsaw, Poland

Urban green and blue spaces play a key role in strengthening human-nature bonds as they offer a variety of opportunities to directly contact nature. They are robust providers of cultural ecosystem services (CES), non-material benefits arising from the interaction between people and nature. Recreation in green and blue spaces beneficially contributes to the well-being of urban dwellers in multiple ways, and the character of these contributions depends both on spaces’ features and visitors’ characteristics. The flow of CES related to the recreational use of urban parks and forests have been widely studied; however, much less attention has been paid to urban riverscapes. This study aimed to fill this gap by assessing benefits associated with the recreational use of urban rivers, and determining drivers that affect these experiences. Using the case of Vistula River in Warsaw, Poland, a citywide PPGIS survey was conducted to map several types of recreation-related benefits. Binomial logistic regression models were built to explain positive contributions to well-being as a function of attributes of visitors, spatiotemporal preferences of visits, and preferred activities. Survey participants highly assessed urban riverscape benefits, with the general tendency of highest scores to be clustered in the city core. Benefits vary in terms of drivers they are affected, with three main insights: (1) intellectual and emotional attachment to the riverscape is built through the long-term process of repetitive visits; (2) the devotion to nature is based on direct experiences, and strongly associated with sports; (3) on-water recreation underpins both emotional attachment to the river and social interactions. The results bring spatially explicit information on people’s attitudes towards the urban river, and underscore the complexity of links between people and the riverscape. The knowledge on spatiotemporal patterns and drivers affecting riverscape-related benefits may support the sustainable planning and management of nature-based recreation in cities.

Perceptions of cultural ecosystem services provision by small public urban green spaces: perspectives from different cultural backgrounds

Perceptions of cultural ecosystem services provision by small public urban green spaces: perspectives from different cultural backgrounds

Multifunctionality and provision of ecosystem services by livestock species and breeds at global level

Beyond providing food, livestock species are linked to a wide range of uses and ecosystem services (ESs). Based on information reported by 41 countries on 3 361 national breed populations to the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we investigated how factors such as species, region, breed adaptedness, or management system associate with the recognition of provision of a set of 52 ESs. Among species, a greater number of cultural ESs were reported for horses (2.47 for horses vs 0.75 on average across all species), while the major ruminant species (cattle, goats and sheep) were on average associated with more provisioning ESs (2.99 vs 2.39), and more regulating and maintenance ESs (1.86 vs 1.32). Compared to European breeds, African livestock contribute more provisioning ES (3.95 vs 1.88). Native breeds and, to a lesser extent, locally adapted breeds, were linked to more ESs than were exotic breeds (5.97 and 4.10 vs 2.90, respectively), regardless of the ES category considered. The total number of ES reported was greater for breeds primarily kept under Back Yard/Farm Yard and extensive management systems than in other production environments. Different “bundles” of ES were identified in relation to the interdependence among themselves, or according to species or regional specificities. Overall, our results highlight that native and locally adapted breeds, which tend to be raised in less specialized production systems than exotic breeds, are reported to play multiple roles contributing to rural community livelihoods and environmental sustainability of food systems.

Mapping cultural ecosystem services in mountain forests using mobile phone data

The aim of the work was to determine the spatial distribution of activity in the forest on the area of the Forest Promotional Complex “Sudety Zachodnie” using mobile phone data. The study identified the sites with the highest (hot spot) and lowest (cold spot) use. Habitat, stand, demographic, topographic and spatial factors affecting the distribution of activity were also analyzed. Two approaches were applied in our research: global and local Moran’s coefficients, and a machine learning technique, Boosted Regression Trees. The results show that 11,503,320 visits to forest areas were recorded in the “Sudety Zachodnie” in 2019. The most popular season for activities was winter, and the least popular was spring. Using global and local Moran’s I coefficients, three small hot clusters of activity and one large cold cluster were identified. Locations with high values with similar neighbours (hot-spots) were most often visited forest areas, averaging almost 200,000 visits over 2019. Significantly fewer visits were recorded in cold-spots, the average number of visits to these areas was about 4,500. The value of global Moran’s I was equal to 0.54 and proved significant positive spatial autocorrelation. Results of Boosted Regression Trees modeling of visits in forest, using tree stand habitat and spatial factors accurately explained 76% of randomly selected input data. The variables that had the greatest effect on the distribution of activities were the density of hiking and biking trails and diversity of topography. The methodology presented in this article allows delineation of Cultural Ecosystem Services hot spots in forest areas based on mobile phone data. It also allows the identification of factors that may influence the distribution of visits in forests. Such data are important for managing forest areas and adapting forest management to the needs of society while maintaining ecosystem stability.

A Global Assessment of the State of Plant Health.

The Global Plant Health Assessment (GPHA) is a collective, volunteer-based effort to assemble expert opinions on plant health and disease impacts on ecosystem services based on published scientific evidence. The GPHA considers a range of forest, agricultural, and urban systems worldwide. These are referred to as (Ecoregion × Plant System), i.e., selected case examples involving keystone plants in given parts of the world. The GPHA focuses on infectious plant diseases and plant pathogens, but encompasses the abiotic (e.g., temperature, drought, and floods) and other biotic (e.g., animal pests and humans) factors associated with plant health. Among the 33 (Ecoregion × Plant System) considered, 18 are assessed as in fair or poor health, and 20 as in declining health. Much of the observed state of plant health and its trends are driven by a combination of forces, including climate change, species invasions, and human management. Healthy plants ensure (i) provisioning (food, fiber, and material), (ii) regulation (climate, atmosphere, water, and soils), and (iii) cultural (recreation, inspiration, and spiritual) ecosystem services. All these roles that plants play are threatened by plant diseases. Nearly none of these three ecosystem services are assessed as improving. Results indicate that the poor state of plant health in sub-Saharan Africa gravely contributes to food insecurity and environmental degradation. Results further call for the need to improve crop health to ensure food security in the most populated parts of the world, such as in South Asia, where the poorest of the poor, the landless farmers, are at the greatest risk. The overview of results generated from this work identifies directions for future research to be championed by a new generation of scientists and revived public extension services. Breakthroughs from science are needed to (i) gather more data on plant health and its consequences, (ii) identify collective actions to manage plant systems, (iii) exploit the phytobiome diversity in breeding programs, (iv) breed for plant genotypes with resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses, and (v) design and implement plant systems involving the diversity required to ensure their adaptation to current and growing challenges, including climate change and pathogen invasions.

Can historic natural disturbances enable conservation opportunities? Evidence from the establishment of national parks in Sweden

ABSTRACT This study investigates conservation establishment and management in the context of Sweden's 30 national parks by conceptualising natural disturbances as focus events for conservation opportunities. Since positive effects on the environment manifest a long time after a natural disturbance, it may take time before society sees a need to conserve the natural area. To conceptualise such delayed responses to a focus event, the concept of a ‘delayed window’ is introduced. An analysis of Park Establishment Proposals from the Swedish Parliament for establishing and extending Sweden’s national parks was conducted by sending a survey to county representatives for each national park (response rate 19/30). The results show that historic natural disturbances were mentioned as a motivating factor for establishing many of Sweden’s 30 national parks (37%, i.e. 11 parks). The result suggests that the delayed window opens when biodiversity and Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) values of historic disturbance(s) become visible. The time span for motivating values is calculated for biodiversity values (18–829 years) and CES values (5–829 years). However, surveyed representatives responded that future disturbances may not be desired or only desired if controlled or limited, highlighting a paradox in terms of the perceived value of past and future disturbances.

Perceptions of Ecosystem Services and Bonds with Nature: The Case of Fish-Farming Ponds in France

Recent studies have shown the importance of relationships with nature, emotions felt, forms of attachment, and experience of nature on conservation motivations. They have proposed characterizing relational values based on these complex interactions with ecosystems. We analyzed these links for ecosystem services (ESs) associated with fish farming ponds. The analysis was based on an online survey conducted on mainland France. We identified the types of pro-environmental profiles and investigated the determinants of pro-environmental behaviors. We analyzed the types of services prioritized according to individual profiles and the factors determining sensitivity. We distinguish between individual ESs that are more hedonic in nature, and regulating or heritage cultural ESs that refer to collective motivations rather linked to eudaimonic well-being. The results highlight the importance of factors related to eudaimonic well-being, which help integrate the role of ethical values and commitment to conservation. The modeling shows little influence of the usual sociodemographic variables and the strong significance of variables considering the knowledge and familiarity with these ecosystems and the pro-environment commitment, which refers to eudaimonic well-being. These results allow us to discuss the specificities of awareness-raising policies, which imply a rationale for active citizenship.

Creating a monetization-SolVES model to visualize the cultural ecosystem services for promoting landscape conservation

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are often neglected due to their intangibility and subjectivity. The visualization of the monetary value of CES can clarify its spatial heterogeneity, which is conducive to enhancing people’s cognizance of the nature protection and the CES utilization. Currently, research on its spatial visualization often uses the SolVES model. This, however, indicates the spatial expression of the CES value index (non-monetary), not the monetary value. It is, therefore, of great significance to study the spatial visualization of the monetary value of CES. Using the Puzhehei Scenic Area (PSA), as a typical case of the natural and cultural landscape, we identified the primary types of CES through field investigation and interviews, and calculated their monetary value in 2019. Then, we used the SolVES model to spatially map each CES non-monetary value index, and innovatively applied the Monetization-SolVES model to realize the spatial visualization of the monetary value of CES. The results show that: (1) There are ten primary types of CES, including recreation, aesthetic, therapeutic, cultural heritage, biodiversity, social relations, intrinsic, sense of place, educational research, and future services. (2) In 2019, the total monetary value of CES in PSA was 13,483,458,700 CNY. (3) The high-value index regions of CES are primarily distributed along with the classic cruise ship projects or around the main scenic spots. (4) The Monetization-SolVES model can effectively express the spatial heterogeneity of the monetary value of CES. The highest monetary value of CES was 32,826.05 CNY/pixel (10 m × 10 m) in 2019. The monetary value of each CES type varied greatly. The monetary value of recreation was found to be the highest (273,821 CNY/pixel), and the educational research was the lowest (167.66 CNY/pixel). This can aid tourism planning and landscape conservation in PSA, and may provide references for CES research in other similar regions.

Mobile phone data reveals spatiotemporal recreational patterns in conservation areas during the COVID pandemic

Understanding visitation patterns is crucial in developing effective conservation strategies for protected areas, as it serves as an indicator for operating an ecosystem management plan that balances biodiversity and ecosystem services intertwined with public health and social benefits. However, limited data availability during the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered the comprehensive understanding of temporal changes in realized cultural ecosystem services, particularly in recreational activities within these areas. Our study utilized GPS data from mobile phones to quantify visitor characteristics and their contribution to recreational ecosystem services in protected areas at a national scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. We estimated the pandemic's relative impact on visitor patterns at 98 visitor centers in national parks and Ramsar sites in Japan. The total number of visitors and travel distance in various sizes of protected areas decreased after the outbreak of COVID-19. The number of visitors in the protected areas displayed a quick recovery despite the increasing positive COVID-19 cases during the following summer. Post-pandemic, visitors showed a preference for less densely populated protected areas closer to their home range. Our findings partly suggest that protecting a diverse range of conservation areas along the urban gradient could be an effective strategy for maintaining the resilience of recreational services during a prolonged pandemic.

Trends in valuation approaches for cultural ecosystem services: A systematic literature review

Cultural ecosystem services constitute a field of research characterised by a growing number of publications from various academic disciplines. We carried out a systematic review of the literature that explicitly assessed with the valuation of cultural ecosystem services (CES). We used the review to identify, evaluate and interpret globally available research on the valuation of CES through the Web of Science and Scopus databases from 2005 to 2022. Thus, 349 articles were included in the analysis. The first article on valuation CES was published in 2010. We observed a temporal trend towards an increase in the number of articles between 2010 and 2022. The terrestrial environment and recreational value being the most emphasised among all the analysed articles. The countries in North America and Europe presented the highest numbers of studies on the theme. We observed associations between valuation methods and typologies of CES. The most studies focused on recreational and ecotourism typology with most of them associated with non-monetary methods for valuing cultural services. However, we did not observe an association between the valuation methods and the types of ecosystems investigated in the studies. We also found a temporal trend in the keywords, with clear differentiation in the theme of the studies from 2015 onwards. The most recent themes in the research area are associated with landscape, protected areas, perception, urban green space and social media studies. In conclusion, future research should focus on considering all CES categories for unequivocal descriptions of each category, proposing the development of typologies that may be applicable in various ecosystems.

Translating policy to place: exploring cultural ecosystem services in areas of Green Belt through participatory mapping

ABSTRACT Green Belts are longstanding planning designations, which primarily seek to prevent urban sprawl. Importantly, they form the open spaces close to where most people live, but we lack clarity over how Green Belts are used and valued by publics, and the cultural ecosystem services they provide. To address this policy and research gap, a public participatory mapping survey was conducted on the North-East England Green Belt, with 779 respondents plotting 2388 points. The results show for the first time that in addition to being a planning policy zone, Green Belts are important, and widely used open spaces for ‘everyday nature’, providing several cultural ecosystem services including recreation, connection with nature, sense of place and aesthetic value. Several factors were found to influence the supply of cultural ecosystem services in Green Belts, including proximity to urban areas, woodland land cover and access designations. Whereas most demand pressures on Green Belts were on public rights-of-way, nature designations and deciduous woodlands. Pervasive barriers inhibiting Green Belt’s full potential were identified including management issues, concerns over personal safety and lack of access. We argue that opportunities to further enhance the cultural ecosystem services provided Green Belts and peri-urban landscapes more broadly, not only come from planning policies themselves, but from the design and delivery of approaches integrating urban, rural and land-use policy silos. The findings have wider implications for policy including potential conflict with future development, and opportunities for greater access to greenspace.

Cultural ecosystem services of landscape elements and their contribution to landscape identity: The case of Slovenia

This paper shows a novel approach of assessing landscape elements and their contribution to CES using two methods of data collection. The paper attempts to bridge the identification gap between CES and structures providing them by introducing different methods of 1) field evaluation, allowing interaction in person and 2) through an online survey, which, although restrictive in terms of interaction, facilitates the processing of the collected data. A checklist of landscape elements important for CES is proposed and investigated – which elements are highly valued, where they are valued, and how they are valued across Slovenia as a case example. The sequence of methods includes literature review, field surveying in 18 test areas, and validation through an online questionnaire. The results indicate that identity is the common denominator of landscape elements' CES value, linked to both widespread and region-specific elements assessment. Vegetation and water elements are strongly associated with CES of aesthetic and health. The built elements and cultivated elements are associated with heritage and traditional knowledge.Both field research and online surveying have their strengths and limitations. However, conclusions can be drawn about landscape elements important for identity and other CES. The study highlights the complexity of individual perceptions and the need for different evaluation methods, including in-person and online surveys. The methodology used can be applied, with some adaptations, to specific sites depending on the planning problem, as well as a research approach for fundamental or detailed CES and landscape evaluation studies.

Assessing a Tourism City from an Ecosystem Services Perspective: The Evaluation of Tourism Service in Liyang, China

Tourism is an important industry that promotes national economic and social progress. All-for-one tourism is a new concept of regionally coordinated development that uses the tourism industry as an engine to boost resource integration, industrial integration, and social sharing. Tourism service is the main embodiment of cultural ecosystem services for all-for-one tourism cities. Taking the city of Liyang in China as an example, this paper used a combination of GIS spatial analysis and big data text mining to evaluate tourism service from three aspects: the quality of tourism resources, the comprehensiveness of tourism service facilities, and the satisfaction of tourists. The results show that (1) tourism service is better in the northwestern and eastern areas of the city, while it is lower in the northeastern and southwestern parts; (2) the hotspot areas should focus on improving tour routes, transport capacity, and excessive charges; the cold spot areas should work on ecological restoration and creating new tourism attractions by combining the local industries; and (3) rural tourism integrating agriculture and visitation should be highlighted as a key growth point to improve the city’s tourism service function.

Shaping the European Alps: Trends in landscape patterns, biodiversity and ecosystem services

Landscape appearance is controlled by a range of different environmental and human-induced factors, although there is still a lack of knowledge about the significance of individual factors. Our goal was to identify the factors that were significant for landscape change in the European Alps and to rank them according to their importance. Therefore, we mapped landscape change with a standardized survey methodology in six typical socio-ecological regions with strongly differing socio-economic and natural conditions. The results clearly showed that significant landscape change has taken place in all regions over the last 150–200 years, affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES). In general, the areas used for agriculture have decreased in all regions, particularly the traditionally used forms (−72.7 % to −6.9 %). The greatest decrease took place in the high elevation, agriculturally unfavourable areas (-72.6 % to −41.6 %) and regions with weak economic conditions (−62.9 % to −20.9 %). The forest has spread on a large scale on the abandoned land in economically strong regions but also settlements and monotone and intensively used cultures. As a consequence of the landscape changes, plant species diversity declined, particularly in favourable regions with a good site and economic conditions (−62.7 % to −7.2 %), while it decreased far less in the economically unfavourable regions (−20.1 % to −0.7 %). Regulation & maintenance and cultural ESs have also decreased, whereas provisioning ES generally increased. Our results also showed that the regional framework conditions play a much more important role in landscape development in the European Alps than national frameworks. Higher “green subsidies” reduced the intensification trend in agriculture, but also led to increased abandonment. In addition, the landscape also remained more diverse, biodiversity declined less and many ecosystem services increased. This demonstrates that interpreting historical landscape dynamics and analysing impacts on ecosystem services can be a valuable guide to sustainable decision-making processes.

The Restorative Potential of Green Cultural Heritage: Exploring Cultural Ecosystem Services’ Impact on Stress Reduction and Attention Restoration

Green cultural heritage is an important form of natural space in cities. Only a few studies have conducted restorative studies in a historical environment as most have focused on natural environments. Moreover, few studies on cultural ecosystem services (CESs) have addressed cultural heritage. Based on an onsite questionnaire distributed to green cultural heritage users (N = 64) in Hamarikyu Garden, this paper explores the value of CESs in a green cultural heritage site and the relationship between cultural ecosystem values and perceived attention restoration/stress reduction. A multiple linear regression analysis and simple linear regression analyses were used to examine the data. The results showed that (1) the cultural ecosystem values of the green cultural heritage site were all rated highly except for the sense of place; (2) spending time in green cultural heritage provided respondents significant perceived attention restoration and stress reduction; (3) aesthetics and cultural heritage significantly affected perceived stress reduction, while attention restoration showed a significant positive correlation with aesthetic value and sense of place; and (4) the more visitors perceived the value of CESs, the more significant the perceived stress reduction and attention recovery were. This study indicates that CESs represent a useful tool for measuring the environmental characteristics of green cultural heritage sites and can predict perceived psychological recovery in green cultural heritage sites. Our findings enhance our knowledge about restorative environmental attributes through objective descriptions of potential health-promoting qualities and can be utilized as inspiration for designing restorative environments in green cultural heritage sites.