Mapping and assessment of recreational cultural ecosystem services supply and demand in Vilnius (Lithuania)

Marius Kalinauskas; Katažyna Bogdzevič; Eduardo Gomes; Miguel Inácio; Damia Barcelo; Wenwu Zhao; Paulo Pereira

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158590

Mapping and assessment of recreational cultural ecosystem services supply and demand in Vilnius (Lithuania)

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 10:855:158590. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158590. Epub 2022 Sep 19.

Authors

Marius Kalinauskas¹, Katažyna Bogdzevič², Eduardo Gomes³, Miguel Inácio¹, Damia Barcelo⁴, Wenwu Zhao⁵, Paulo Pereira⁶

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Management Laboratory, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities s. 20, Vilnius, Lithuania.
² Institute of International and European Union Law, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities s. 20, Vilnius, Lithuania.
³ Environmental Management Laboratory, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities s. 20, Vilnius, Lithuania; Centre for Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; Associated Laboratory TERRA, Portugal.
⁴ Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA-CERCA), Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Institute of Land Surface System and Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
⁶ Environmental Management Laboratory, Mykolas Romeris University, Ateities s. 20, Vilnius, Lithuania. Electronic address: pereiraub@gmail.com.

PMID: 36165823
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158590

Abstract

This work aims to map and assess the recreational culture ecosystem services (CES) supply and demand in Vilnius. A novel framework individually assessed natural recreational CES supply and cultural recreational CES supply dimensions. So far, the previous works did not consider both CES components individually. Also, the validation of CES models is scarce and challenging. This work aims to map and assess natural recreational supply CES, cultural recreational CES supply, natural + cultural recreational CES supply, and cultural recreational CES demand. The results showed that the natural recreational CES supply dimension was the highest in protected areas. In contrast, the cultural, recreational CES supply dimension had the highest scores in the city centre. Natural + cultural recreational CES supply was high in the areas where the previous models had the highest values (e.g., protected areas and the city centre). The natural + cultural recreational CES supply model was validated using an online survey. Recreational CES demand was the highest in the areas near the city centre. There was a mismatch between the natural recreational CES supply and recreational demand. Nevertheless, we identified a match between cultural recreational CES supply dimension, Natural + cultural recreational CES supply and recreation CES demand. All the studied parameters had a clustered pattern. The natural recreational CES supply dimension had a hot spot in the northern part of the city. In contrast, cultural recreational CES supply dimension, Natural + cultural recreational CES supply and recreational CES demand were clustered in the city centre. Overall, it is vital to preserve the areas with maximum natural recreation CES supply and limit the urban expansion in these areas. Also, it is essential to reduce the car traffic to the centre and improve public transport accessibility to increase air quality and the impact of pollutants on cultural heritage sites.

Keywords: Cultural ecosystem services; Demand; Management; Mapping; Recreation; Supply.

MeSH terms

Cities
Conservation of Natural Resources* / methods
Ecosystem*
Lithuania