Urban Green Space: the Incorporation of Environmental Values in a Decision Support System

This paper provides an overview of work undertaken on measuring the environmental values of green spaces, coupled with spatial analysis tools for aiding decision relating to the planning of urban green spaces. The work involved a complex array of data collection and analysis packages, including a case study inventory, public participation, methodological design, visualisation, and the analysis of survey results. A central aspect of the research aimed at providing the decision maker with data that combined the visualisation of open public green space with environmental economics. As part of a methodology using contingent rating which aimed to establish the values placed on specific green space sites, three dimensional computer models were used to produce visualisations of particular environmental conditions. The study demonstrates that visualisation tools are appropriate to represent a range of attributes for inclusion within environmental economic surveys, and that the resulting datasets can be used within GIS-based decision support models to indicate levels of preference and patterns of use. The focus of this paper is on the integration of the visualisations of green spaces, a contingent rating survey and the compilation of an open space inventory, as part of a GIS-based decision support system. Results from the study and its potential implications for future study and practice are discussed.