Conference Agenda

The majority of people worldwide lives in cities (78% in Germany), and for them urban green spaces (UGS) provide key points with nature and biodiversity. UGS has been shown to contribute to human well-being by improving physical and mental health, fostering social cohesion, and providing essential ecosystem services. Among UGS attributes, naturalness—reflecting biodiversity and aesthetic quality—and proximity—determining accessibility—are particularly valued by urban residents. Understanding preferences and benefits associated with UGS is crucial for sustainable urban planning, especially in light of the Kunming-Montreal target 14, to integrate biodiversity in decision-making at every level. However, willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates for urban green space remain uncertain, and different methods lead to different results.

Here, we analyze survey data from 22 German cities collected during the summer of 2020 to estimate the WTP for improvements in UGS naturalness and proximity, using three different valuation approaches: a stated preferences approach by means of a discrete choice experiment (DCE), a revealed preferences approach by means of the travel cost method (TCM), and an experienced utility approach by means of the life satisfaction approach (LSA), all using the same data set. We exploit exogenous income shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, to address endogeneity concerns often associated with traditional income measures in LSA. Our results show that environmental quality is positively associated with higher life satisfaction, with significantly lower and more conservative WTP estimates derived from income shock data compared to standard income models. We show that the income shock-adjusted estimates from the LSA align more closely with values derived from the stated and revealed preference methods, and propose a synthesis estimate for the WTP derived from the stated, revealed, and experienced utility approaches combined.