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Holistic valuation of urban ecosystem services in New York City's Central Park

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  • Sutton, Paul C.
  • Anderson, Sharolyn J.

Abstract

Central Park is iconic Green Infrastructure that provides myriad ecosystem services to New York City that have significant economic value. We used the market value of Central Park as developable real estate as a proxy measure of the minimum value of the ecosystem services provided by Central Park. We present $500 billion as a reasonable estimate of the market value of Central Park as developable real estate. We assume this $500 billion of natural capital converted to money could earn a 5% annual return ($25 Billion per year). This return is an estimate of the value of annual ecosystem services provided by the 341 ha that constitute Central Park. This is over $70 million per hectare per year which is orders of magnitude higher than the estimated value of ecosystem services provided by the most valuable biomes of previous estimates. The very high value of the ecosystem services provided by Central Park result from an interaction of social, natural, human, and built capital. These interactions are poorly addressed from the dominant economic worldview that governs social and environmental policy today. These findings also suggest that the ‘up vs. out’ questions associated with sustainable urban development do not have simple answers.

Suggested Citation

  • Sutton, Paul C. & Anderson, Sharolyn J., 2016. "Holistic valuation of urban ecosystem services in New York City's Central Park," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 87-91.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:19:y:2016:i:c:p:87-91
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.04.003
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    5. Kichan Kim & Chang Kil Lee & Hyun Woo Kim, 2022. "Understanding the Accessibility of Urban Parks and Connectivity of Green Spaces in Single-Person Household Distribution: Case Study of Incheon, South Korea," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, August.
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    9. Bryan, Brett A. & Ye, Yanqiong & Zhang, Jia'en & Connor, Jeffery D., 2018. "Land-use change impacts on ecosystem services value: Incorporating the scarcity effects of supply and demand dynamics," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(PA), pages 144-157.
    10. Daria Sikorska & Piotr Sikorski & Richard James Hopkins, 2017. "High Biodiversity of Green Infrastructure Does Not Contribute to Recreational Ecosystem Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-13, February.
    11. Qilong Shao & Li Peng & Yichan Liu & Yongchang Li, 2023. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Urban Ecosystem Services: Structure, Evolution, and Prospects," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.
    12. Donatella Valente & María Victoria Marinelli & Erica Maria Lovello & Cosimo Gaspare Giannuzzi & Irene Petrosillo, 2022. "Fostering the Resiliency of Urban Landscape through the Sustainable Spatial Planning of Green Spaces," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, March.
    13. Costanza, Robert & de Groot, Rudolf & Braat, Leon & Kubiszewski, Ida & Fioramonti, Lorenzo & Sutton, Paul & Farber, Steve & Grasso, Monica, 2017. "Twenty years of ecosystem services: How far have we come and how far do we still need to go?," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 28(PA), pages 1-16.
    14. Patrycia Brzoska & Aiga Spāģe, 2020. "From City- to Site-Dimension: Assessing the Urban Ecosystem Services of Different Types of Green Infrastructure," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Buket Aydemir & Güney Çetinkaya & Abdullah Güngör & Ece Ömüriş, 2024. "Understanding the visitor complaints about urban green spaces: a thematic investigation of online reviews on nation gardens in Istanbul, Türkiye," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. Paul C. Sutton & Sophia L. Duncan & Sharolyn J. Anderson, 2019. "Valuing Our National Parks: An Ecological Economics Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-17, March.
    17. Anderson, Sharolyn J. & Ankor, Briony L. & Sutton, Paul C., 2017. "Ecosystem service valuations of South Africa using a variety of land cover data sources and resolutions," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 27(PB), pages 173-178.
    18. Dalton Erick Baltazar & Jillian Labadz & Roy Smith & Andrew Telford & Marcello Di Bonito, 2022. "Socio-Cultural Valuation of Urban Parks: The Case of Jose Rizal Plaza in Calamba City, The Philippines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-16, October.
    19. Qianru Yu & Chen-Chieh Feng & NuanYin Xu & Luo Guo & Dan Wang, 2019. "Quantifying the Impact of Grain for Green Program on Ecosystem Service Management: A Case Study of Exibei Region, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, June.

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