Socio-Cultural Valuation of Urban Parks: The Case of Jose Rizal Plaza in Calamba City, The Philippines

The socio-cultural value of urban parks has rarely been studied, and this could be why they are undervalued and not given significant attention in city planning. This study presents the socio-cultural valuation (SCV) of the ecosystem services (ES) and disservices (EDS) of the Jose Rizal Plaza in Calamba City, The Philippines. Stakeholders were interviewed to assemble a list of the park’s ES and EDS. An online survey was then conducted to examine how stakeholders assign values to the park ES and EDS. Finally, the configuration of conditions leading to the assigned values was analysed. The results suggest that respondents value the park’s ES more than they worry about its EDS. They value cultural ES the highest, while they are most concerned with psychological EDS. The Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) revealed that visiting the park is necessary for a high valuation to ES. For EDS, these are: not knowing the previous land use in the area and visiting the park. Overall, the paper concludes that SCV is an effective way to assess the value of urban parks, and fsQCA could aid in determining the combination of conditions leading to these values.