Aleš SMREKAR, ZRC SAZU, Slovenia
Katarina POLAJNAR HORVAT, ZRC SAZU, Slovenia
Jernej TIRAN, ZRC SAZU, Slovenia
Most Europeans live in urban areas, which on the one hand offer numerous opportunities to achieve well-being by good accessibility to social infrastructure and jobs and on the other hand face certain environmental issues. There is an abundance of evidence of many health, social and psychological benefits of spending time in nature for urban population, with natural settings acting as restorative environments.
This study focuses on nine types of cultural ecosystem services, which are the least understood element of the now widely used ecosystem services framework. On the other hand, five types of green areas were selected.
The aim of this presentation is to show which type of cultural ecosystem services are most popular in urban green areas. The research was conducted with a survey of 1003 residents of Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia), which is an example of a medium-sized European city with a diverse range of urban green areas. For comparison, 85 inhabitants of Ljubljana during the pandemic COVID-19 were asked how they visited green areas at that time.
The results of the survey show that the differences between different types of recreational spaces in terms of the perceived value of their cultural ecosystem services are generally smaller than one might expect. Large urban parks and riverbank greens were rated higher than average in most categories. Urban populations seem to prefer well-maintained, organized, and tidy places, even though these places are only an artificial representation of nature. The presence of water seems to have an additional positive influence on people's ratings. On the other hand, the results of the survey during the pandemic show more visits to forests as well as more time spent in green areas.
Mots clés : ecosystem service|nature|survey|recreation|urban
A104024AS