A Scoring Matrix Method for Integrated Evaluation of Water-Related Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Parks

Increasing urbanization, landscape conversion, and resource consumption represent the most important, visible and irreversible human-induced actions on Earth. As a consequence, nowadays it is of seminal importance to understand and assess how anthropic pressures are related to the provision of ecosystem services (ES). This paper focuses on urban parks and their provision of water-induced ecosystem services (WES) connected to urban hydrologic cycle. The study uses a broad holistic approach to comprehensively understand the links between anthropic pressures and WES production. With the help of biological, chemical, and physical indicators collected in publicly available databases a scoring matrix was created. The method was applied to two different parks in Turin (Italy), the Arrivore Park and the Michelotti Park. The matrices reveal that anthropic pressures are marked, and the most affected WES are habitat maintenance, recreational services, and the provision of drinkable and non-drinkable water. The hydromorphological alterations are the anthropogenic pressures most strongly present in both parks. More specifically, in the Arrivore Park urbanization represents one of the most important pressures while the main pressures in the Michelotti Park are water abstraction for industrial and agricultural use and point source pollution. This study makes a major contribution to research on WES assessment by demonstrating the possibility to understand and to assess the impact of anthropic pressures. Moreover, the proposed matrix method provides an easy tool to support policymakers, public administrations, and private companies within sustainable urban planning.