# A novel unit value method for urban ecosystem services assessment

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method to assess urban ecosystem services, showing how human activities impact their value over time.

## Contribution

A novel Unit Value method is proposed to evaluate urban ecosystem services, including both natural and artificial ecosystems.

## Key findings

- Ecosystem service values increased by 20.94% due to changes in land use and cover in Wuhan from 1996 to 2018.
- ESVs declined in central districts but increased in suburban districts, showing spatial imbalance.
- Human activities like agriculture, GDP, and population have a stronger influence on ESVs than natural factors.

## Abstract

Land use and land cover in cities experience complicated changes in response to rapid urbanization, requiring significant impact on ecosystem service value. However, traditional valuation methods tend to ignore artificial ecosystem. This study develops a novel Unit Value (UV) method to evaluate urban ecosystem service values with both natural and artificial ecosystems considered comprehensively. This method is used to reveal the spatial-temporal evolution of ESV in Wuhan from 1996 to 2018. Additionally, Pearson’s correlation between ESVs and driving factors is studied by using a multiple regression model. The results show that: (1) Ecosystem service values are observed to increase by 20.94% because of land use and land cover increases in woodland ((32.21%) and man-made wetland (61.73%) in 1996–2018, respectively. (2) ESVs declined in central districts and increased in suburban districts, with a clear imbalance between “high central areas” and “low suburban areas”. (3) Human activities play a more important role in urban ecosystem compared to natural environmental factors, especially agriculture, per capita GDP, and population. This study provides a distinctive method for the spatiotemporal evaluation of urban ecosystem service values, establishing an insightful basis for urban sustainable development.