Designing an algorithm for mapping supply of ecosystem services provided by urban forest in South Korea: Comparing Urban Mountain parks and Urban Neighborhood parks

Background/Question/Methods

Efforts to quantitatively analyze and evaluate ecosystem services in countries and utilize them in environmental planning and decision-making are actively pursued worldwide. Designing an algorithm to map the supply of ecosystem services can help decision-makers make plans using ecosystem services. This study aims to develop an algorithm to estimate and map the supply of ecosystem services in urban parks. To this end, an algorithm that can apply the land use scoring method was developed based on the literature review and expert Delphi analysis on detailed variables of the data of the land cover classification map (1:5000), forest stock map (1:5000), forest location soil map (1:5000), and land environment assessment map (1:5000) provided by South Korea.

Results/Conclusions

The developed algorithm was applied to two city parks with different resource characteristics in Seoul, South Korea. The three top ranks of Bukaksan Park (a mountain-type urban forest), were 1st Erosion control (Regulating), 2nd Water quality (Regulating), and 3rd Education (Cultural). For Seoul Forest Park (a city living type neighborhood urban forest), were 1st Education (Cultural), 2nd Water resource (Provisioning), and 3rd Biodiversity(Supporting). To sum, this study examined how the ecosystem services of urban parks are being supplied. The study result can be used as scientific evidence to establish policies to contribute to the ecological welfare of urban park users through comparison with the amount of demand that local residents have for urban parks.