Public attitudes towards urban nature

This chapter argues that the way people experience and interact with nature is a quintessential part of the urban experience. Green infrastructure refers to the of green spaces, water and built systems, e.g. forests, wetlands, parks, green roofs and walls that together can contribute to ecosystem resilience and human benefits ecosystem services’. A ‘measure of worth’ indicates that the value of urban nature is quantifiable, and indeed many studies attempt to put a value on nature – which is deemed important for policy uptake in particular. Monetary valuation that asks people about the value of urban nature, i.e. not inferring value from market behavior such as housing prices, involves methods to measure people’s willingness to pay for a specific natural good or service. Rotterdam in the Netherlands is keen to transform itself into a climate-proof city. Residents considered the air purification function of urban nature as most important, followed by flood protection, carbon storage, recreation, cooling and noise reduction.