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• Contextual factors affect the willingness to pay for urban green spaces. • The degree of urbanization changes the value perception of urban parks. • Interaction effects of site-specific and geospatial variables improve the estimates. • Interactions and reduced heterogeneity enhance the transferability of estimated values. We estimate a meta-regression of the willingness to pay (WTP) for green spaces in European urban and peri-urban areas obtained from contingent valuation (CV) studies to construct a benefit transfer (BT) function. Compared to previous studies that estimated meta-regression for urban green spaces, we introduce two main novelties. Firstly, we focus exclusively on Europe to reduce the heterogeneity due to unobservable factors that affect the estimates and their transferability. Secondly, we use urban socio-economic indicators and land-use data derived from terrestrial observations as proxies for the supply and demand of ecosystem services at the local level, allowing interactions between these variables and the specific characteristics of the site valued. We demonstrate that both approaches improve the accuracy of the estimates and, hence, the validity of the transferred values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Preferences towards land use policies addressed to climate change adaptation in Garda Lake municipalities are evaluated. • Limiting soil consumption benefits the local dwellers of Garda lake the most. • The interest toward an increase in green urban area is marginal. • The proposal of re-naturalisation of abandoned areas decreases the dwellers utility. In urban contexts land-use planning can play a central role to promote adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change. Limiting soil consumption, improving urban greening and restoring abandoned areas are three of the most important strategies towards a sustainable land use.. The extent to which these three actions can be effectively implemented depends on the specific biophysical and cultural characteristics of the local context as well as on the preferences of residents. We conducted a Choice Experiment (CE) on a sample of 500 people living in four municipalities of the lake Garda western coastal strip, in Italy, to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) towards these three planning strategies based on alternative land-use. The proposed land use strategies are presented as a feasible way to improve the mitigation and adaptation capacity of the local context. Our results suggest that the local community perceives the growth rate of sealed areas as the most pressing issue, and people are in favour of measures aimed at containing the phenomenon. Efforts in this direction are needed and should inform the current policy debate on local land-use planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]