Exploring the potential of urban park size for the provision of ecosystem services to urban centres: A case study in São Paulo, Brazil

Urban parks include different infrastructures - green areas, fitness equipment, jogging tracks and sport courts - and are key suppliers of ecosystem services in cities. Given the importance of ecosystem services to the vigor of urban ecosystems, there is a developing awareness that ecosystem services concerns ought to be integrated into urban park design. Nonetheless this integration is incomplete due to the scarcity of applicable or available tools and criteria for implementation. To address this scarcity, the present study assesses costs and supply of a subgroup of supportive and regulative ecosystem services in urban parks and examines the significance of these services under an environmental/economic perspective using emergy synthesis. Seventy-three parks in São Paulo, Brazil, are used as a case study. Results show that green areas in urban parks provide valuable services to the municipality, and that parks can be designed according to the needs of the surrounding areas. The method may be useful for different localities and environments providing practical information to urban planners and policy makers. This study provides a basis for the incorporation of ecosystem service concerns into urban park design to boost their benefits in urban centers.