Measuring the Economic Value of a City Park System

Source: Trust for Public Land, April 2009
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From the summary:
The Trust for Public Land's Center for City Park Excellence gathered two dozen park experts and economists in Philadelphia for a colloquium to analyze how park systems economically benefit cities. While not every benefit can be easily quantified, this report examines seven major factors:
* Property value
* Tourism
* Direct use
* Health
* Community cohesion
* Clean water
* Clean air

While the science of city park economics is still in its infancy, TPL has worked to carefully consider and analyze these values. After describing the value factor and the rationale for calculating it, this report provides real-life example of the mathematical outcomes, based on the first five test cases undertaken in this program--the cities of Washington, D.C., San Diego, Boston, Sacramento, and Philadelphia.