Cultural ecosystem services in an urban park: understanding bundles, trade-offs, and synergies

Context Sets of ecosystem services that occur together across space or time are called 'bundles', and the interactions among them can result in synergies or trade-offs. Knowledge about the interactions among cultural ecosystem services (CES) in urban parks is limited, and how these interactions can be used to support landscape practices (i.e., design and management) and decision-making is unknown. Objectives This study aims to identify CES bundles, synergies, and trade-offs in Huanhuaxi Park, Chengdu, China. Methods Face-to-face surveys combined with participatory mapping, questionnaires and interviews were performed to assess the interactions of eight CES. Interviews were conducted to reveal existing scenarios of CES interactions and how landscape features influence these interactions. Results Overall, CES bundles, trade-offs, and particularly synergies occurred frequently in the park. Four distinctive bundles were found. CES trade-offs and synergies appeared to be complex. Individual CES have relationships with more than one other CES, and not every service has an equal influence on the others. Moreover, trade-offs and synergies were highly influenced by different landscape features. Conclusions To conclude, this study constitutes an opportunity for park managers and designers to enhance CES by designing landscape features with CES interactions in mind. Additionally, this study offers a new tool for understanding and quantifying CES interactions, as well as identifies critical landscape features that can be used to guide landscape practices. We promote simulating scenarios by integrating landscape features to present how CES trade-offs or synergies may change under different designs.