Trade-offs and synergies in the ecosystem service demand of urban brownfield stakeholders

Brownfield site redevelopment presents an opportunity to create urban green spaces that provide a wide range of ecosystem services. It is important, therefore, to understand which ecosystem services are demanded by stakeholders and whether there are trade-offs or synergies in this demand. We performed a quantitative survey of ecosystem service demand from brownfield sites that included all major stakeholder groups. Results showed that there was a strong trade-off between demand for services related to property development (e.g. ground strength and low flood risk) and all other services, which were linked to vegetated sites. There was a secondary, but weak, trade-off between demand for services of more ‘natural’ vegetated sites (e.g. with a biodiversity protection role) and those linked to aesthetics and recreation. Stakeholders with a strong preference for biodiversity protection formed a distinct group in their ecosystem service demands. While a ‘development’ vs ‘green space’ trade-off may be unavoidable, the general lack of strong trade-offs in demand for other services indicated that the creation of multifunctional greenspaces from former brownfield sites would be desirable to most stakeholders, as long as these are biophysically possible.