Assessment of cultural ecosystem services in parks with different landscape Styles: The case study a urban parks of Tehran

A B S T R A C T
"Cultural Ecosystem Services" in the parks include intangible benefits that people perceive subjectively. The research aims to investigate the relationship between the landscape style and the Cultural Ecosystem Services in different parks with a participative approach. The research is analytical-descriptive in terms of practical purpose and research method. For landscape objective-physical assessment, the method of Landscape Character Assessment is used, and for the perception of CES, a social survey was exerted. The statistical population includes visitors to Tehran's parks with different landscape styles. The sample size was estimated to be 400 people based on Morgan's table, and data was collected using the available sampling method (distribution of online questionnaires in social networks). Cultural Ecosystem Services are ranked in different parks using the Wilcoxon test in SPSS software. The results show the difference in prioritizing the perception of CES in parks with distinct landscape styles. Although recreation is the priority in all parks, and the sense of place and spiritual values are not well understood, in the park with a naturalistic style, a better understanding of the park's Cultural Ecosystem Services has taken place. Therefore, the naturalistic can provide the ground for the meaningful connection of people with the urban green space. The natural layer of the park with semi-dense vegetation, the layering of plants in different layers, and the predominance of the natural layer over the artificial layer of the parks are important factors of the naturalistic body.
Extended Abstract 
Introduction
Parks, as the public urban green space, are one of the essential areas of urbanization. The main difference between parks and other urban public spaces is their natural environment. Parks provide places for human-nature communication in urban. "Cultural Ecosystem Services" in parks include intangible benefits that people perceive subjectively. CES has an impact on improving life quality. CES assessment is based on users' perceptions of the benefits of green spaces. Also, CES should be evaluated based on a specific site and green space. Landscape design will affect the perception of CES by changing the environment. There are areas for improvement in the Cultural Services (CS) studies and landscape design in Iran. Understanding how different types of landscapes in parks lead to diverse CS can go a long way in planning landscapes and enhancing the perception of park CS. The research investigates the relationship between the landscape style and the Cultural Ecosystem Services in different parks.
 
Methodology
According to the types of parks, the research selected parks with urban scale in Tehran. The priority for selecting parks was that parks had the same conditions in terms of management criteria like access, amenities, cleanliness, and security. The next point in choosing parks was to place them near each other to be similar in climate and geographical condition. Another essential point that we considered in the park selection is the physical design. According to the landscape design, parks with different styles were selected, which include parks; Taleghani, Melat, Ab & Atash, and the Iranian Garden in Tehran. We did landscape subjective assessment by the method of Landscape Character Assessment. A social survey was used to examine perceptions. It is a questionnaire that has been validated. The sample size was estimated based on Morgan's table, and the data were collected by the available
 
sampling method (distribution of online questionnaires on social networks). Ranking of CS agents in the different parks is done by Friedman and Wilcoxon test in SPSS software.
 
 Results and discussion
According to the Friedman test, there was a significant difference in CS factors ranking in the park. Wilcoxon test was exerted to compare two-factor rankings. Results showed that there is a significant difference in the sense of place and inspiration (ps <0.05) in the Iranian Garden between the recreational factor and all other factors (cultural heritage, social awareness, sense of place, spirituality, and inspiration), cultural heritage, and sense of place, awareness and sense of place. In the Ab & Atash Park, the recreational factor and all other factors (cultural heritage, social, spiritual, sense of place, awareness, and inspiration), cultural heritage factor and spiritual factor, sense of place, awareness, and inspiration, social and spiritual factor, sense of place, awareness, and inspiration were significantly different (p_s <0.05). In Mellat Park, there was a significant difference between the recreational factor and all other factors (cultural heritage, social, awareness, inspirational, spiritual, and sense of place), cultural heritage factor and factors of awareness, inspiration, spiritual, and sense of place, social factor and factors of awareness, inspiration, spirituality, and sense of place, the factor of awareness and spiritual factor and the sense of place, inspiration and spiritual factor and sense of place factor (p_s <0.05). In Taleghani Park, there was a significant difference between the recreational factor and all other factors (cultural heritage, social, spiritual, awareness, inspiration, and sense of place), cultural heritage factor and spiritual factor, awareness, inspiration, and sense of place, social and spiritual factor, awareness, inspiration, and sense of place, the spiritual factor and sense of place (p_s <0.05). There was no significant difference between the mean rank of other factors (p_s <0.05). In all parks, recreation is the priority of the respondents, but the
 
 
importance of the values of cultural services in different parks is various. In Taleghani Park and Mellat Park, the importance of other CS is much greater, and in addition to recreational and social values, values related to the spiritual connection with green space, such as inspiration and spiritual sense, are better understood. The main feature of Taleghani Park and Mellat Park in terms of design style is the naturalistic body of these two parks. The Iranian Garden is almost at the top in terms of recreation, but other CS (inspiration, cultural heritage, spiritual, awareness, and social values) have been perceived very poorly. People do not interact properly with the park. In Ab & Atash park, the sociality of the park is quite evident.
 
Conclusion
If CS is examined in two objective dimensions (recreational, social values, and cultural heritage) and subjective dimensions (inspirations, sense of place, and spiritual values). It is observed that subjective dimensions of CS significantly impact promoting a sense of well-being. Although subjective dimensions of CS are weak in all parks, in the park with natural bodies (Taleghani and Mellat) are strong. The natural layer provides a better platform for a meaningful relationship with nature. In this way, given the living conditions of urbanization, people also fully understand the need for natural environments. Semi-dense and layered vegetation and semi-open spaces, a variety of plants, arched paths that create a variety of landscapes, etc., create a favorable landscape for the promotion of CS. Complexity and naturalness are among the factors that make the landscape more suitable for communication with nature. Therefore, a natural layer can be more important than an artificial layer in park design. Also, creating a human activity environment in a natural layer leads to more event-oriented communication between users and the natural environment.
 
Funding
There is no funding support.
 
 
Authors’ Contribution
All of the authors approved thecontent of the manuscript and agreed on all aspects of the work.
 
Conflict of Interest
Authors declared no conflict of interest.
 
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all the scientific consultants of this paper.