Ecosystem Service Use and the Motivations for Use in Central Parks in Three European Cities

Abstract

The majority of Europeans live in cities, where parks as components of Urban Green Spaces (UGSs) play an important role in well-being and the provision of ecosystem services (ES). UGSs are especially relevant for the implementation of the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals “Good health and wellbeing” (Goal 3) and “Sustainable cities and communities” (Goal 11). This study focused on ES use and users’ motives, which were surveyed during visits at central parks in the cities Leipzig, Coimbra and Vilnius. Park visitors used 17 different ES, dominated by physical interactions such as walking or biking, followed by experiential and aesthetical ES and ES linked to social relations. Age of visitors, cultural setting and distance to homes influenced ES use in the parks differently in each city, limiting the transferability of park—user behaviour or motivations across different spatial and cultural contexts. Results also indicate that aligning sustainability objectives and usability, good accessibility of urban parks plays a central role and encourages the use of non-motorized or public transport for park visits. Concrete information about UGS user motivation and behaviour generated in this and similar studies contributes to convert the UN Agenda 2030 strategies at the municipal level into sustainability and user-oriented design and management of UGS.

Patterns of Urban Green Space Use Applying Social Media Data: A Systematic Literature Review

“…To date, it is still challenging to collect detailed information on urban park usage and visitor profiles [18]. Information on park visitation patterns is usually collected based on observations or questionnaire surveys [19][20][21][22]. Applying these methods provides researchers with a wealth of detailed information about visitors' personal experiences, behaviour, and perceptions of the parks they visit [21][22][23].…”

“…Information on park visitation patterns is usually collected based on observations or questionnaire surveys [19][20][21][22]. Applying these methods provides researchers with a wealth of detailed information about visitors' personal experiences, behaviour, and perceptions of the parks they visit [21][22][23]. However, the way in which researchers word their questions may affect responses [24,25].…”

Connectedness among Urban Parks from the Users’ Perspective: A Systematic Literature Review

“…For frequent park users, a distance within 1000 m was better. Priess et al [ 50 ] discovered that walking is the most common way to visit parks and the maximum limit of walking distance is 900 m, which equivalent to 15 min of walking time. The second indicator, along with distance, is travel time.…”

Sustainability Assessment through Urban Accessibility Indicators and GIS in a Middle-Sized World Heritage City: The Case of Cáceres, Spain

“…Urban Accessibility [31][32][33][34] Bike parking [35][36][37][38] Green areas Accessibility [39][40][41][42][43][44][45] Accessibility to waste separate collection rubbish bins [46][47][48][49] Household waste recycling centre accessibility [20,[50][51][52][53] Public services accessibility [54][55][56][57][58] In addition to the reviewed references, we can also find literature that focuses on using GIS for sustainability assessments in several contexts, as in the following articles related to resilience in historic urban areas [59], spatial accessibility [60], walkability indicators [61] and sustainable urban growth [62].…”