Recreational Benefits of the Forests in the City of Zurich

Objectives

As multifaceted natural and recreational areas the forests in the city of Zurich make a decisive contribution to the quality of life there. But what does this really mean? What is the value of Zurich’s forests for the recreation of the inhabitants? Which are the important motives behind forest visits? For which reasons do some people not visit the forests? These and other questions were explored with respect to the following aims:

1. Information on visiting behaviour and forest visitors’ needs is required to support forest management decisions and contribute to answering the question of an optimal provision of recreational services in the forests.
2. The economic valuation of recreational benefits of the forests allows the expression of individual and societal values in monetary terms. These values can be included in financial and socio-political debates and therefore establish a basis for policy decisions.
3. Extensions of economic valuation models and investigations on estimating recreational values with on-site data contribute to advances in environmental economic valuation.
   

Contact

• Roland Olschewski