TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Katja A1 - Walz, Ariane A1 - Martin-Lopez, Berta A1 - Sachse, Rene T1 - Testing socio-cultural valuation methods of ecosystem services to explain land use preferences JF - Ecosystem Services : Science, Policy and Practice N2 - Socio-cultural valuation still emerges as a methodological field in ecosystem service (ES) research and until now lacks consistent formalisation and balanced application in ES assessments. In this study, we examine the explanatory value of ES values for land use preferences. We use 563 responses to a survey about the Pentland Hills regional park in Scotland. Specifically, we aim to (1) identify clusters of land use preferences by using a novel visualisation tool, (2) test if socio-cultural values of ESs or (3) user characteristics are linked with land use preferences, and (4) determine whether both socio-cultural values of ESs and user characteristics can predict land use preferences. Our results suggest that there are five groups of people with different land use preferences, ranging from forest and nature enthusiasts to traditionalists, multi-functionalists and recreation seekers. Rating and weighting of ESs and user characteristics were associated with different clusters. Neither socio-cultural values nor user characteristics were suitable predictors for land use preferences. While several studies have explored land use preferences by identifying socio-cultural values in the past, our findings imply that in this case study ES values inform about general perceptions but do not replace the assessment of land use preferences. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license. KW - Non-monetary valuation KW - Values KW - Visitors KW - Landscape visualisation KW - Visualisation tool Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.07.001 SN - 2212-0416 VL - 26 SP - 270 EP - 288 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Katja A1 - Sachse, Rene A1 - Walz, Ariane T1 - Current role of social benefits in ecosystem service assessments JF - Landscape and urban planning : an international journal of landscape ecology, planning and design N2 - Ecosystem services have a significant impact on human wellbeing. While ecosystem services are frequently represented by monetary values, social values and underlying social benefits remain underexplored. The purpose of this study is to assess whether and how social benefits have been explicitly addressed within socio-economic and socio-cultural ecosystem services research, ultimately allowing a better understanding between ecosystem services and human well-being. In this paper, we reviewed 115 international primary valuation studies and tested four hypotheses associated to the identification of social benefits of ecosystem services using logistic regressions. Tested hypotheses were that (1) social benefits are mostly derived in studies that assess cultural ecosystem services as opposed to other ecosystem service types, (2) there is a pattern of social benefits and certain cultural ecosystem services assessed simultaneously, (3) monetary valuation techniques go beyond expressing monetary values and convey social benefits, and (4) directly addressing stakeholdeŕs views the consideration of social benefits in ecosystem service assessments. Our analysis revealed that (1) a variety of social benefits are valued in studies that assess either of the four ecosystem service types, (2) certain social benefits are likely to co-occur in combination with certain cultural ecosystem services, (3) of the studies that employed monetary valuation techniques, simulated market approaches overlapped most frequently with the assessment of social benefits and (4) studies that directly incorporate stakeholder's views were more likely to also assess social benefits. KW - Literature review KW - Non-monetary valuation KW - Monetary valuation KW - Social valuation Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.01.005 SN - 0169-2046 SN - 1872-6062 VL - 149 SP - 49 EP - 64 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -