On Approach of Quantifying Economic Benefits of Urban Green Space: A Case Study of Wuxi City

• Published in: Journal of landscape research Vol. 10; no. 6; p. 71
• Main Authors: Xiajie, Pan, Binyi, Liu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cranston Wu Chu (USA-China) Science and Culture Media Corporation 01.12.2018
• Subjects: Case studies; Conservation areas; Construction; Construction costs; Drinking water; Ecological effects; Ecological function; Economics; Efficiency; Essays; Expansion; Expropriation; Forest conservation; Forest protection; Forests; Landscape architecture; Measuring instruments; Mountains; Nature conservation; Nature reserves; Open spaces; Optimization; Optimization techniques; Plant ecology; Protected species; Urban areas; Urban planning; Water conservation; Wetlands; Beijing China; China
• ISSN: 1943-989X
• DOI: 10.16785/j.issn1943-989x.2018.6.018

All rounds of city planning have attached due importance to the planning of urban green space system as an essential part of the city master plan. Since the administrative division of Wuxi has been changed, the city government has entrusted Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd. to fulfill the urban green space system planning and urban forest planning in 2002 and 2008. According to the requirements of Jiangsu Provincial Protective Planning of Ecological Red Line Areas, there are 31 provincial ecological red line areas of 11 categories in Wuxi, namely nature reserve, scenic area, forest park, wetland park, drinking water conservation area, important water conservation area, important wetland, clean water corridor maintenance area, ecological welfare forest, important protected area of Tai Lake, and special species protected area. Among the total land within road expansion red lines, 20% is the affiliated green spaces, about 5 square kilometers, which means at least 50 million RMB is saved for avoiding repeated construction according to the current construction cost 100-120 RMB per square meters; 80% is roads, about 19 square kilometers, which means at least 15.2 billion RMB is saved for avoiding repeated construction according to the current construction cost 800 RMB per square meters. [...]there is also 2.3 square kilometers available for expansion, the land price difference should be calculated according to the land expropriation cost difference between the expansion year and project completion year. 2 Economic benefits made by the optimization of ecological functions Using the construction technology of green space ecological network, ecological performance of local green spaces is sorted out systematically, to fully play the ecological functions of green spaces, and give the background forest more compound functions. 3.3 Quantification of total economic benefits of urban green spaces Taking Wuxi for example, total economic benefits of urban green spaces in the whole city is 85.490 billion RMB, and 56.798 billion RMB in the urban districts (Table 3), of which economic benefits generated by the optimization of green space structure and ecological functions account for 67%-69%. [...]through optimizing the space structure and ecological functions, urban green spaces make economic benefits that double its ecological service benefits. 4 Conclusions Economic benefits of urban green spaces can be quantified from two aspects: ecological service benefits, optimization benefits of urban green space structure and ecological functional optimization, which include not only the service effect of plant ecology, but also from the level of planning the economic effect of green spaces in terms of space and function generated in its systematization through the continuous optimization of technologies, as well as the economic benefits of urban green spaces generated by the optimization of ecological functions during the construction and management.