Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal
Urbanization has significantly transformed ecological landscapes and created challenges in sustaining both environmental functionality and cultural values. In response, China’s Sponge City Infrastructure (SPI) aims to enhance urban water resilience by integrating green and blue infrastructure. While...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
2025
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/1/118521.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848867534901608448 |
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| author | Han, Nuan Ibrahim, Roziya Binti Mat Noor, Mohd Sallehuddin Bin |
| author_facet | Han, Nuan Ibrahim, Roziya Binti Mat Noor, Mohd Sallehuddin Bin |
| author_sort | Han, Nuan |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Urbanization has significantly transformed ecological landscapes and created challenges in sustaining both environmental functionality and cultural values. In response, China’s Sponge City Infrastructure (SPI) aims to enhance urban water resilience by integrating green and blue infrastructure. While the ecological benefits of SPI have been widely studied, the cultural ecosystem services (CES) it provides remain underexplored. This study systematically reviews 61 empirical articles to evaluate how CES has been addressed in SPI-related research. Bibliometric analysis was conducted to identify CES research trends and to systematically categorize CES types, assessment methods, and evaluation indicators in SPI-related studies. The findings reveal a dominant use of non-monetary assessment methods, led by questionnaire surveys (47.5%), while monetary approaches were rarely applied. However, several limitations were identified, including the geographic concentration of studies in a few major cities, the scarcity of research on abstract CES categories (e.g., inspiration and sense of place), and the lack of measurable indicators in nearly half of the reviewed studies. To address these issues, this study proposes a context-specific CES assessment framework aligned with China’s socio-cultural conditions and planning priorities in sponge city development. The framework, based on the reviewed literature, provides a preliminary tool for evaluating CES in sponge city contexts. This work contributes to the integration of cultural ecosystem services into urban ecological planning and offers insights for sustainable development in rapidly urbanizing regions. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T14:38:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-118521 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T14:38:02Z |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-1185212025-07-15T07:14:35Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/ Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal Han, Nuan Ibrahim, Roziya Binti Mat Noor, Mohd Sallehuddin Bin Urbanization has significantly transformed ecological landscapes and created challenges in sustaining both environmental functionality and cultural values. In response, China’s Sponge City Infrastructure (SPI) aims to enhance urban water resilience by integrating green and blue infrastructure. While the ecological benefits of SPI have been widely studied, the cultural ecosystem services (CES) it provides remain underexplored. This study systematically reviews 61 empirical articles to evaluate how CES has been addressed in SPI-related research. Bibliometric analysis was conducted to identify CES research trends and to systematically categorize CES types, assessment methods, and evaluation indicators in SPI-related studies. The findings reveal a dominant use of non-monetary assessment methods, led by questionnaire surveys (47.5%), while monetary approaches were rarely applied. However, several limitations were identified, including the geographic concentration of studies in a few major cities, the scarcity of research on abstract CES categories (e.g., inspiration and sense of place), and the lack of measurable indicators in nearly half of the reviewed studies. To address these issues, this study proposes a context-specific CES assessment framework aligned with China’s socio-cultural conditions and planning priorities in sponge city development. The framework, based on the reviewed literature, provides a preliminary tool for evaluating CES in sponge city contexts. This work contributes to the integration of cultural ecosystem services into urban ecological planning and offers insights for sustainable development in rapidly urbanizing regions. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) 2025-06-03 Article PeerReviewed text en cc_by_4 http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/1/118521.pdf Han, Nuan and Ibrahim, Roziya Binti and Mat Noor, Mohd Sallehuddin Bin (2025) Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal. Sustainability (Switzerland), 17 (11). art. no. 5130. pp. 1-23. ISSN 2071-1050; eISSN: 2071-1050 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/11/5130 10.3390/su17115130 |
| spellingShingle | Han, Nuan Ibrahim, Roziya Binti Mat Noor, Mohd Sallehuddin Bin Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal |
| title | Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal |
| title_full | Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal |
| title_fullStr | Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal |
| title_short | Assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal |
| title_sort | assessing cultural ecosystem services in sponge city infrastructure: a systematic review and framework proposal |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/118521/1/118521.pdf |