ABSTRACT
Since 1990, ecosystem services have been analyzed, modeled, and valued and their concepts and mechanisms criticized for a diversity of settings and environments. Furthermore, the density of people in urban areas means any ecosystem services assessment in these settings needs to have slightly different considerations to those in rural areas. In particular, urban ecosystem services assessments must engage with both the biophysical and the social issues and the broader notions of value as they manifest within these dynamic social-ecological systems. Generally interdisciplinary teams co-generating knowledge with stakeholders are required to undertake ecosystem service assessments, but this is particularly true of work in urban areas where there will always be a strong social consideration. Typically a necessary core focus of urban ecosystem service assessment is to determine who are the users, beneficiaries, and owners or suppliers of each of the identified ecosystem services.
