ABSTRACT

This chapter examines issues associated with the collection and analysis of multi-dimensional, historical narrative data relating to freshwater ecosystem services within an urbanised area, to present narrative data in a simple visual manner and reflect upon the richness of discovered social values. To tackle the concerns of a range of stakeholders involved in landscape management, there is a requirement to understand how ecosystems are, and have been, influenced by human actions and how stakeholders express their valuation of ecosystem services across spatial and temporal scales. Conventional ecosystem services assessments ought to be complemented by aspects of socio-cultural attitudes, such as may be found in narratives. Narratives generally present a series of events which may be examined by retrospective analysis to gain an understanding of influencing factors and drivers of actions. The examination of historical ecosystem services presents a challenge due to both the complex and often nebulous nature of ecosystem services.