Valuation of urban parks
Abstract
One reason why urban parks and open spaces are subject to development pressure is that planners and researchers have been unable to articulate their value in economic terms. Three valuation techniques — each with its own strengths and weaknesses — have been applied to urban parks. This paper reviews the three techniques and presents study results from the hedonic valuation technique. Study results indicate landscape planners need to be aware of the strengths and shortcomings of each to properly evaluate research on this topic.
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Cited by (106)
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With global urbanization on the increase and cities now hosting more than half of the planet's population, there are concerns regarding the protection of urban commons as part of sustainability efforts, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Decentralized urban planning is a policy tool and practice that is used to organize urban infrastructure for sustainable development. Yet, how it can be used to sustain the urban commons remains fragmented in the literature. This study reviews and synthesizes urban planning and urban commons literature using the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework and the non-cooperative game theory to identify how urban planning can protect and sustain the urban commons – green commons, land commons, and water commons – in Ghana. The study, based on the determination of different theoretical scenarios for the urban commons, identified that decentralized urban planning can help sustain the urban commons, but it is operationalized in an unfavorable political environment. For green commons, there are competing interests and poor coordination amongst planning institutions, and the absence of self-organizing bodies in managing the use of such resources. For land commons, increased land litigations are characterized by corruption and poor management of land cases in the formal land courts, and despite the existence of self-organizing institutions, these institutions have failed to act responsibly to protect land commons due to the increasing demands and values (profitability) of lands in urban areas. For water commons, urban planning has not been fully decentralized and there is also the absence of self-organizing bodies in urban water use and management. This is coupled with the waning of customary water protection provisions in urban centers. Based on the findings, the study generally proposes institutional strengthening as the bedrock for enhancing the sustainability of the urban commons through urban planning and should therefore be of policy focus moving forward.
Visitors’ heterogeneous preferences for urban park management: The case of a city park in Oulu, Finland
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Rethinking urban park irrigation under climate change
2022, Journal of Environmental ManagementClimate change is forcing cities to reassess their water management practices, particularly for water-intensive applications like park irrigation. If water scarcity requires governments to deviate from current park management norms and allocate less water towards parks, it is essential that park managers design spaces that maintain community wellbeing. We apply the hedonic pricing method and use detailed park management information to assess the value of parks in a region where local climatic conditions require extensive irrigation to keep turf green, and where climate change is further constraining water supplies. Here we show that the impacts of irrigation on the value of parks differ depending on the dwelling types of the nearby housing populations that they serve. In most cases, the convention that parks have to be irrigated to deliver ecosystem services to the public is supported. However, we find that non-irrigated park areas are also valued positively by nearby apartment dwellers. Accelerating rates of urbanization and shifts towards high-density living may support the development of more diverse park options that are less water-intensive. Increased visibility of these alternative park forms, which could include more areas of native vegetation that do not require irrigation, may subsequently influence public expectations for landscape design.
Sustainable low-input urban park design based on some decision-making methods
2022, Land Use PolicyShortage of resources, mostly water, and lack of attention to Life Cycle Costs (LCC) have challenged urban landscape development and require methodological development for more sustainable urban landscape designs. In this research, decision-making methods, including Value Engineering (VE), Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM), and Risk Management (RM) techniques, which are essential tools for optimal use of resources, were integrated to optimize the design of a city park, especially towards economic sustainability. This research was carried out on a case study design in Mashhad, Iran, where open space was designed as a park space based on two methods. A conventional base plan was developed based on the general and standard principles of park design. In contrast, in a proposed Low-Input plan, the sustainable output indicators of economic, social, and environmental were applied to design a park with minimum cost inputs in the design and maintenance stages. The results showed that by using the VE and MCDM methods to choose sustainability indicators, the consumption of resources and maintenance costs used for the LCC decreased, while initial park construction costs were higher. The proposed Low-Input plan was expected to reduce costs by 62.7% compared to the conventional base plan. Therefore, VE can balance costs and improve design quality and be a valuable tool in the design and maintenance of urban parks.