Urban parks and open spaces are valuable resources. They can help improve the quality of life in urban areas, have essential environmental functions and, by increasing the attractiveness of the places in which people live and work, can have economic benefits. They are, however, under threat.

The 2001 Public Parks Assessment by the Urban Parks Forum, jointly commissioned by DTLR, Heritage Lottery Funds, English Heritage and the Countryside Agency, showed that urban parks in the UK are in serious decline.

The significance of urban open spaces has been placed high on the research agenda, with many existing studies focusing on the analysis of existing literature on the economic, social, ecological and health benefits of urban open space. These links have, however, been established almost entirely on the basis of experience in countries outside of the UK.

With funding from the RICS Education Trust, Neil Dunse, formerly of the University of Aberdeen (now at Heriot Watt University), and colleagues Carolyn Dehring and Michael White, explored the effects that urban parks and open spaces have on residential property values within the UK, using Aberdeen as a case study area, measuring the effect on residential property values of proximity to the city’s urban parks and amenity green spaces.

This research adds to the current debate by calculating the economic benefits and improving the understanding of the link between accessibility to various types of urban open spaces and residential property values.

It provides evidence that residents in Aberdeen do see extra value in open green spaces, which is reflected in the premium they are prepared to pay to secure a property that has this advantage.