Major Social Characteristics of Nature as a Public Good in Urban Context

Čaldarović, Ognjen and Šarinić, Jana. (2010). Major Social Characteristics of Nature as a Public Good in Urban Context. Društvena istraživanja : časopis za opća društvena pitanja, 19(4-5). pp. 733-747. ISSN 1330-0288

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Abstract

A key element for our discussion is an attempt to calculate "the value" of nature "as such" in the urban context. In other words, what kind of values could be "added" to nature as a public good in the urban context in the sense of jeopardizing its "value"? In calculating the value of the natural environment in an urban context, the usual elements of constructed environment as well as some new elements are used as the new potentially interesting elements of transformation of nature in an urban context. It is true that the calculation of the values of natural elements in the cities represents a very difficult problem. We must admit that it is possible to conceptualize the immeasurable value of nature "as such" as well as its parts in the urban context as a sum of already usable values (use-value), as a sum of unusable values (non-use value), and as a sum of direct (visible, recognizable, direct) values that – regardless of whether their exploitation exists or not – represent a potential for direct usage. Also, this kind of calculation must take into account the values of indirect (unnoticeable) values. One interesting aspect for our discussion is the idea of "exploitation" of the use value element of nature as a public good in the urban context. The context is usually marked with processes of privatization, corporate investments and interventions, the emergence of gated communities, excessive transformation of the natural to the limits of unrecognizability of the natural – which seems to be a total loss of the intrinsic value of nature in the urban context – a natural presence that has an important aesthetic, perceptive and usage value for the inhabitants of urban settings. In this paper, we try to evaluate the presented elements of the natural environment in an urban context, especially with regard to the city with its public aspects, and public spaces that constitute the very essence of urban life.

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