Estimating the conservation and tourism value of urban parks: a case study of Artesh Park

Urban gardens and forest parks have a lot of ecosystem services, recreation, and tourism for cities, and valuing these services is very necessary because it can show the importance of their protection. In this regard, the aim of this study is to estimate the conservation, heritage, and tourism value of Artesh 06 Garden (former Saltanat Abad Garden) in the east of Tehran. Due to the limitation of visits and the limitation of data, among the valuation methods, the benefit transfer method and alternative cost method were used, and the required data were extracted from previous studies and experiences according to the meta-analysis method. The results show that the value of preservation of heritage services per visitor per year is about 110 thousand Tomans and the value of conservation-tourism services per visitor per year is about 62 thousand Tomans and the total value of the heritage and conservation services and tourism of Artesh 06 Garden is estimated to be about 172 thousand tomans per visitor per year. Therefore, maintaining the 06 Garden in the form of a regeneration scenario can have benefits and annual economic value between 1021 and 1892 billion Tomans for the people of Tehran and Iran.