ROLE OF COMMUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN URBAN PARKS

Urban parks are considered as the most valuable component of green structure in cities. They are providers of ecosystem services (provisional, regulation, support, and cultural) in urban areas. They perform various functions to improve the wellbeing of citizens. Due to rapid urbanization, the quantity and quality of parks, both are adversely affected. Several studies depict that urban parks play a significant role in the sustainability of a city and improvement in the quality of life of citizens. It is obvious that to improve the health of urban parks, the community involvement through their suggestion cannot be ignored. In this perspective, many research studies have been done to identify the people's preferences relevant to urban green spaces. This approach leads to a better understanding of the needs of people as they are the targeted audience, who got direct or indirect benefits from parks. In this context, a questionnaire-based field survey was conducted in fifteen selected parks of Lahore from which 300 respondents were interviewed. The aim of the study was to assess the suggestions proposed by the visitors to maintain and improve the ecosystem services in parks. Further, the question about the quality of parks was asked to know their needs. It was also necessary to determine their interest regarding the willingness to pay entrance-fee assumed to use for the improvement of parks. Although all the public parks in Lahore have no entry fee. Moreover, a change in the frequency of visits was measured due to hypothetically implemented entrance fee. Cleanliness was a highly recommended suggestion by the people and the most famous quality of the park was to improve the physical and mental health. The findings are useful in planning, designing, and managing urban parks to fulfill the needs of people and improving the quality of citizens' life.