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Managing and Prioritizing Investments in Urban Waterways: Empirical Insights Into the Preferences of the Public and Experts.

Managing and Prioritizing Investments in Urban Waterways: Empirical Insights Into the Preferences of the Public and Experts.

Authors :
Cooper, Bethany
Burton, Michael
Crase, Lin
Rigby, Daniel
Source :
Water Resources Research; Jun2024, Vol. 60 Issue 6, p1-21, 21p
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

The world is more urbanized now than ever before and maintaining some form of amenity from natural or modified ecosystems in the urban context is an increasingly significant challenge. This is not aided by the somewhat amorphous definition of amenity itself. This article introduces a framework for conceptualizing the amenity of urban waterways and provides empirical evidence about the relative weight of the different determinants of waterway amenity. We use best‐worst scaling to examine how households rate the relative importance of the amenity attributes along with data about how households rate their "connection" to waterways. Comparisons of preferences are made across four cities in Australia, all ranked in the top 10 most liveable cities in the World in 2021. The study also captures the relative importance of how "experts" in the field perceive these attributes. We find evidence that public preferences are not always aligned with those of experts and uncover significant heterogeneity within household respondents. To illustrate one way to cater for this heterogeneity in urban planning we report the results of a total unduplicated reach and frequency analysis as a means of identifying an efficacious portfolio of interventions. Accordingly, the study provides useful insights for waterway managers seeking to improve the allocation of resources and generate the most efficient amenity outcomes. Key Points: We introduce a framework for conceptualizing the amenity of urban waterwaysBest‐worst scaling is applied to examine how households and experts rate the relative importance of amenity attributes of urban waterwaysFindings inform waterway managers seeking to improve the allocation of resources and generate the most efficient amenity outcomes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00431397
Volume :
60
Issue :
6
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Water Resources Research
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
178093212
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033737