No abstract

Context: The progressive degradation of urban rivers has serious socio-ecological impacts, compromising the provision of ecosystem services (ES), thus affecting the quality of life of the inhabitants, however, few are integrated into the social perspective together with the diagnosis of the immaterial and non-monetary benefits as complementary knowledge to traditional approaches. Objective This work sought to add complexity to the diagnosis of the ES, through the identification and mapping of the positive and negative landscape preferences of the local community concerning the urban fluvial landscape of the Zamora and Malacatos rivers in the urban-periurban environment of the city of Loja in Ecuador. Methods This work is resolved with the dissemination of a virtual geo-form, processed with the SolVES model, a participatory mapping tool (PPGIS) that integrates social and biophysical variables. Results The value points obtained revealed different spatial patterns for each social value group. The positives exhibited more dispersed patterns, clustering in peripheral areas. The negatives were concentrated in the centre of the city. Of the ten social values studied, the most relevant were: Learning, Aesthetic, Therapeutic and Disgust, Poor and Inaccessible Infrastructure, and Flood Threat. The environmental variable with the greatest contribution was the Horizontal Distance to Green Areas. Conclusions The results help to identify possible places of conflict as well as attractive locations based on place-based knowledge, which enables a better understanding of the value of the benefits of urban rivers, further, it stimulates the inclusion of the local community in the development of more participatory management and governance and sensitive to the landscape.

Urban rivers play a crucial role in providing ecosystem services (ES) that contribute to the social well-being and quality of life of urban inhabitants. However, rapid urbanisation has led to the progressive degradation of these rivers, affecting their capacity to deliver ES and resulting in significant socio-ecological impacts. This study performs a participatory mapping of the non-monetary social values (positives and negatives), in the urban Zamora and Malacatos Rivers and their ESs, in Loja, Ecuador, to understand community perceptions and preferences in a context of degraded landscapes as a complementary category of analysis to traditional approaches. Methodologically, the collection, analysis and mapping were carried out using public participation GIS (PPGIS) based on surveys. This method facilitated the integration of social data with biophysical variables. The most relevant of the ten social values studied were positives: Learning, Aesthetic, Therapeutic and negatives: Displeasure, Deficient and Inaccessible Infrastructure and Threat of Flooding. We revealed different spatial patterns for each ES social value, where positive value locations exhibited a dispersed pattern, with clusters in peripheral areas, while negative value locations exhibited a clustered pattern in the city centre. The environmental variable with the most significant contribution was the Horizontal Distance to Green Areas. These findings enhance our understanding of the social values and preferences associated with ES in urban river contexts. Furthermore, they provide valuable insights for identifying areas of opportunity and conflict, informing community planning and effective management of the urban landscape.