Urban Vegetation Types are Not Perceived Equally in Providing Ecosystem Services and Disservices

Abstract

Urban vegetation is important in providing ecosystem services to people. Different urban vegetation types provide contrasting suites of ecosystem services and disservices. Understanding public perceptions of the ecosystem services and disservices can therefore play an important role in shaping the planning and management of urban areas. We conducted an online survey (n = 1000) to understand how residents in the tropical city of Singapore perceived urban vegetation and the associated ecosystem services and disservices. The questionnaire was designed to explore whether different urban vegetation types (grass, shrubs, trees, trees over shrubs, and secondary forest) were perceived as equal in providing benefits. Respondents considered ecosystem services provided by urban vegetation to be more important than disservices. Among ecosystem services, regulating services were most highly rated, with more than 80% of the respondents appreciating urban vegetation for providing shade and improving air quality. Respondents recognized that different vegetation types provided different ecosystem services. For example, secondary forest was most commonly associated with education and wildlife, while trees were strongly associated with cooling and air quality. We conclude that in developing plans and designs for urban vegetation and ecosystem services, it is important to understand the perceptions, priorities, and concerns of residents.

Valuing the invaluable: park visitors' perceived importance and willingness to pay for urban park trees in Pakistan

“…In Multan, there are many influences on the perceived importance of ESs: gender, residential distance to parks, connections to rural areas, income levels, education, and frequency of visiting parks all accounted for some variation, as was found elsewhere (Swapan et al 2017, Raum 2018, Collins et al 2019, Suchocka et al 2019, Drillet et al 2020.…”

Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Sustainability: An Ecosystem Services Assessment of Plans for Singapore’s First “Forest Town”

“…Despite the anticipated declines in many ecosystem services at Tengah, the opening-up of the region to the public will increase the recreational opportunities provided. This is important in an urban area, as access to green spaces for recreation is important in improving the quality of life and health outcomes (James et al, 2015), and prioritized strongly by the public in Singapore (Drillet et al, 2020).…”

“…These models evaluated the different developments for their impacts on the following aspects: local air temperature, noise attenuation, removal of PM10 particulate matter, air pollution, runoff retention, access to green and blue spaces for recreation and, soil erosion. These indicators were chosen to cover a range of regulating, provisioning, and cultural services, (Elmqvist et al, 2015), and correspond to services which have been recognized as important by the general public of Singapore (Drillet et al, 2020). With the exception of the public access to outdoor spaces model, the ecosystem service models focused on evaluating the supply of services to people, rather than incorporating aspects of demand.…”

Attitudes And Preferences of Wildlife And Their Relationship With Childhood Nature Experience Amongst Residents In A Tropical Urban City

“…The preferred landscape in Singapore is manicured landscapes like parks and gardens (Drillet et al 2020;Khew et al 2014), which harbor lower biodiversity than natural habitats such as forests (Chong et al 2014). Most of the mammals and some unfavorable animals surveyed are found in forests.…”