Economic evaluation of alternative urban park designs that conserve irrigation water

Abstract

Increasing the area of drought-tolerant native vegetation in urban parks is a potential strategy to adapt to growing water scarcity under climate change. With a case study in Perth, Australia, we undertake benefit–cost analyses to understand the potential impacts of modifying urban park landscape designs away from conventions dominated by watered grass towards alternatives with more native vegetation. Considering the costs of establishing and maintaining alternative designs alone, we find that local governments can save money by reducing the extent of watered grass cover in parks. Incorporating nonmarket benefits into the analyses provides evidence of positive community net benefits from making changes to conventional park designs. We show that an alternative park design featuring a mix of 60% native vegetation and 40% watered grass delivers the highest net benefits for both new park development and retrofits to existing parks. These findings suggest it is time to rethink urban park design norms in Australia to better align landscaping choices with community preferences under a changing climate.