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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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    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Almeida, C.M.V.B. & Mariano, M.V. & Agostinho, F. & Liu, G.Y. & Yang, Z.F. & Coscieme, L. & Giannetti, B.F., 2018. "Comparing costs and supply of supporting and regulating services provided by urban parks at different spatial scales," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(PB), pages 236-247.
    16. Yang, Yi & Jia, Yuwei & Ling, Sun & Yao, Congxu, 2021. "Urban natural resource accounting based on the system of environmental economic accounting in Northwest China: A case study of Xi’an," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    17. Elie Hanna & Francisco A. Comín, 2021. "Urban Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Development: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-15, October.
    18. Maria Beatrice Andreucci, 2018. "Economic valuation of urban green infrastructure. Principles and evidence," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 63-84.
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