Use-related and socio-demographic variations in urban green space preferences

Green infrastructure and the ecosystem services it supplies heighten urban resilience to pressures related to demographic growth and environmental change. Much research has focused on assessing the supply and monetary valuation of provisioning and regulating ecosystem services. Cultural ecosystem services have been studied to a lesser extent, though they are essential for understanding the relationship between urban green and well-being. The interactions between supply, demand, and benefits of cultural ecosystem services for urban citizens are complex and depend on multiple factors, including the density and layout of built-up area, as well as the physical characteristics and accessibility of public green spaces. Adding to this complexity are the social practices and cultural context in which people use, experience, and value their contact with nature. It is through this unique lens of interconnected characteristics that individuals perceive and assign value to green space. Although challenging, it is critical for sustainable urban design that the non-monetary value of urban green spaces is understood. This knowledge is useful for designing urban spaces that fulfil the diversity of demands for urban green and its related benefits. Our research focuses on deepening the understanding of the relationships between ecosystem service supply and benefits and how this relationship is mediated by social
inequalities, and people’s use, perception, and valuation of urban green spaces. Online surveys were conducted in the Brussels Capital Region to determine how different socio-cultural groups use large and small urban green spaces, how they experience these spaces, whether these spaces fulfil their needs for urban green, and if there are conflicts of use in these green spaces. Insights from the survey are combined with a typology of the physical and social characteristics of the urban landscape to define which nature-based solutions would be most beneficial to implement throughout the region.