Contingent valuation of vegetation barriers: a simple case study from Lyon

摘要

Some urban environment elements and measures have combined effects on acoustics (soundscape, noise) and aesthetics, as well as other ambient qualities. Vegetation barriers represent such environmental goods with multiple impacts, constituting a novelty in terms of soundscape element or noise-control measure. Valuations limited in scope to dealing only with the noise impacts underestimate the economic benefits of such measures. However, economic valuations of such multi-effect soundscape elements are still scarce. In this paper we present a case study from Lyon, where contingent valuation of vegetation barriers was attempted. The contingent valuation method is based on surveying of a sample of the affected population, asking them about willingness to pay for a particular public good improvement, in our case vegetation barriers along a walkway between the river Rhone and a busy street. The question about willingness to pay for installing vegetation barriers was asked after a short scenario introduction about the installation and its costs for the households living in the particular area. The contingent valuation was part of a larger study on acoustics and psychological aspects of noise.