You Win Some, You Lose Some: Compensating the Loss of Green Space in Cities Considering Heterogeneous Population Characteristics

The increased urbanization and human population growth of the recent decades have resulted in the loss of urban green spaces. One policy used to prevent the loss of urban green space is ecological compensation. Ecological compensation is the final step in the mitigation hierarchy; compensation measures should thus be a last resort after all opportunities to implement the earlier steps of the hierarchy have been exhausted. Ecological compensation should balance the ecological damage, aiming for a no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. In this study, we develop a simple model that can be used as tool to study the welfare effects of applying ecological compensation when green space is at risk of being exploited, both at an aggregate level for society and for different groups of individuals. Our focus is on urban green space and the value of the ecosystem service-recreation-that urban green space provides. In a case study, we show how the model can be used in the planning process to evaluate the welfare effects of compensation measures at various sites within the city. The results from the case study indicate that factors such as population density and proximity to green space have a large impact on aggregate welfare from green space and on net welfare when different compensation sites are compared against each other.

Automated summary

The increasing urbanization and population growth in recent decades have led to a decline in urban green spaces, prompting the use of ecological compensation as a policy to prevent further loss. A simple model was developed to assess the welfare effects of ecological compensation for urban green spaces, focusing on the value of ecosystem services provided and the impact on aggregate welfare and individual groups within society. Factors such as population density and proximity to green spaces were found to have a significant impact on the welfare effects of compensation measures.