Nature in cities is helping to promote health and well-being, making a vital contribution not just to the quality of the living environment but also to regional attractiveness. There are many ways of evaluating the environmental, social and economic benefits associated to urban vegetation.
In the scope of the Nature4Cities project, we are developing a complementary assessment tool based on Quality of Life.
It aims at providing an alternative evaluation, complementary to the economic valuations that have become more common in recent years. It will help to characterize the influence of Nature Based Solutions (NBS) on general quality of life, social practices and citizen satisfaction.
The validation of this Quality of Life Value Scale relies strongly on field-testing.
The purpose of this call for expression of interest is to identify partner cities willing to contribute to this work by helping us to collect data across different national and cultural contexts.
This study is an opportunity for your city to:
› Have an international study carried on by expert researchers focus on your city.
› Get insight on how your green and open spaces are perceived and how they contribute to your residents’ well-being.
› Be involved in a European project! Be a local ambassador and communicate about this experience. Have your city cited at a European scale via our communication.
› Enter an expert community on urban Nature Based Solutions.
Who can answer this call?
We are looking for cities interested in contributing to this study.
What do we need from you?
Contributing means hosting a field-test of the value scale based on Quality of Life.
› What is it?
It consists of an online survey of local residents, coupled with objective description of the open spaces. The collected data will be anonymous and covered by statistical confidentiality. To get significant results, we need at least 300 respondents per city.
› How?
Our contact in your city’s services will be asked to share the link to the online survey to the local residents and to help us gather data about local green spaces.
› When?
The translation of the questionnaire will start in March 2018 (from the 1st to the 22nd). The survey will take place in April and May 2018 (from the 2nd of April to the 31st of May).
› Where?
One or several neighbourhoods/districts in your city.
› What prerequisites to contribute?
- Language
The working language is English, but the form will be translated and adapted to each contributing city’s language and cultural context.
- Data
As we are applying a rigorous scientific method, we will need you to provide a certain type of data:
MANDATORY
› Amount and type of green/blue (water)/open spaces in the city and the studied district(s)
› Amount of street trees in the city and the studied district(s)
› Number of residents in the city and the studied districts
› General socio-economic description of the city’s population
OPTIONNAL
› Amount of private gardens in the city and/or the studied district(s)
› Amount of private or public+private green areas in the city and/or the studied district(s)
› Tree cover in the city and the studied district(s)
This work is conducted by the LPPL (Nantes’ University, France). To discuss your involvement in this work, please write to Ghozlane FLEURY, c/c Colin LEMÉE and Pauline LAÏLLE before mid-March:
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