WSC Speaker Series talk: The intangible amenity benefits of small stormwater management systems: A case study of living streams

Presenters

• Madsym Polyakov, The UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, the University of Western Australia and CRC for Water Sensitive Cities
• Saloomeh Akbari, The UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, the University of Western Australia
• Sayed Iftekhar, The UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, the University of Western Australia and CRC for Water Sensitive Cities

Abstract

Living streams are elements of water sensitive urban infrastructure that offer an alternative to traditional stormwater management conveyance but also generates a variety of other benefits such as water quality, biodiversity, aesthetics, and amenity. Making decisions about investment in living streams by local governments or private developers requires information about the economic value of all benefits generated by such projects.

In this study, we use the hedonic pricing method to estimate the amenity value the living streams provide to the residents in two newly developed suburbs in the Perth metropolitan area. We use the hedonic pricing method to estimate the capitalised amenity value of living streams established in two greenfield suburbs, Harrisdale and Piara Waters. We found that most value is captured by the residents of houses immediately adjacent (within 50 m) to living streams and the value sharply declines with distance. We also found that living streams generate greater value than other types of public open space. Finally, we found that the future benefits of living streams are capitalised in the values of vacant residential lots. This information is useful for making smart decisions and to help policymakers and constructors making better decisions about water sensitive urban infrastructure.

Brief Biography

Maksym Polyakov is an applied economist whose interests focus on the integration of ecology and economics to better understand the choices humans make regarding natural resources and the consequences of these choices for the environment. Maksym is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, the University of Western Australia. His research focuses on the economics of conservation, urban forestry, and economics of water sensitive urban infrastructure. He works on the economic valuation of water sensitive urban infrastructure within CRC for Water Sensitive Cities.

Saloomeh Akbari is a Masters student at the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment. She has a BSc in Agriculture and MSc in Business Administration from the University of Tehran. At UWA, she studies Agricultural and Environmental Economics. Her research project is on the nonmarket valuation of living streams in greenfields suburbs.

Sayed Iftekhar is an environmental and resource economist with broad interests in the interactions between humans and nature. Sayed is Senior Research Fellow at the UWA School of Agriculture and Environment and CRCWSC Project Leader, IRP2 Integrated economic assessment and business case development. He has experience in combinatorial conservation auctions, market design for environmental water buyback and intergenerational equity and risk aversion, nonmarket valuation, and benefit-cost analysis.

This is a free event, no RSVP required.

Hope to see you there!