Socio-Economic and Spatial Evaluation of Ecosystem Services in Nagoya, Japan

Abstract

In recent years, the value of urban green spaces and parks in Japan has begun to be reevaluated. In particular, attention is being paid to easily accessible and routinely available urban green spaces and parks, where many people benefit from cultural services such as recreation and relaxation. However, these spaces are facing the threat of destruction by urban development. Thus, to assess the recreation function of the small- to medium-scale urban parks and green spaces routinely used by many people, this study aimed to evaluate their economic value using the travel cost method (TCM). To expand the results from the TCM, suggestions were made with regard to prioritizing ecosystems in urban areas for conservation. The potential supply of ecosystem services was estimated using five categorized proxy variables and weighted by the TCM results. This assessment can be applied to any city whose social and natural statistics are not well-managed.