Grading the ecosystem services : an analyze of the ecosystem services in the public parks of Tokyo

Sammanfattning: This is a masters thesis of 30 hp made in the course Master Project in Landscape Architecture (course code EX0814) in the programme Landscape Architecture – Master´s Programme at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU) in Alnarp, Skåne prefecture, Sweden. It was made in collaboration with a transfer student program at Chiba University in Matsudo, Chiba prefecture, Japan. The aim of this study was to evaluate ecosystem services in some of the parks of Tokyo, Japan. The meaning of the ecosystem services term has been used since 1976 when the report ”Man's Impact On The Global Environment” was released. The report brings up different aspects from meteorology, oceanography, ecology, chemistry, physics, biology, geology, engineering, economics, social sciences, and law (Knox, 1976). The definition of the ecosystem services is what we, as humans, can gain and benefit from the nature (Naturvårdsverket, 2018). An ecosystem service Questionnaire was created in this study and it is built on previous research on ecosystem services. A selection of the parks in central Tokyo gave 11 parks to analyze. Those parks where visited, graded with a pointsscale, and compared together by me. The conclusions of the study reveals that all parks in Tokyo where well maintained and clean, but it lacks effort in the terms of the ecosystem services. There is a clear division where the bigger parks that got the higher grade and the smaller parks that gets the lower grade. There is a need for a wider and deeper continuing research in the subject of ecosystem services in Tokyo.