This paper examines the influence of public greenspace on the life satisfaction of residents of Australia's capital cities. A positive relationship is found between the percentage of public greenspace in a resident's local area and their self-reported life satisfaction. On average, it is found that a resident has an implicit willingness-to-pay of $1,168 in annual household income for a one per cent (143m 2) increase in public greenspace. The relationship between public greenspace and life satisfaction however, is non-linear. Additional results suggest that the value of greenspace increases with population density and that lone parents, the less educated and those living in high rise dwellings benefit to a greater extent from the provision of public greenspace than the general population. In all, life satisfaction data supports existing evidence that public greenspace is welfare enhancing for urban residents and adequate allowance should be made for its provision when planning urban areas.

The life satisfaction approach has recently emerged as a new technique in the suite of options available to non-market valuation practitioners. Employing data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this paper examines the influence of scenic amenity on the life satisfaction of residents of South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. Measuring scenic amenity on a 10-point scale, it is found that, on average, a respondent is willing-to-pay approximately AUD$12,000 in household income per annum to obtain a one-unit improvement in scenic amenity. However, on closer inspection, we find that the relationship between willingness-to-pay and the level of scenic amenity is not linear. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to value scenic amenity using the life satisfaction approach and is the first paper to use this approach to value any type of environmental good or service in SEQ. As such, this paper represents a genuine contribution to a small, yet growing, body of literature.

Making use of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey coupled with air pollution data generated by The Air Pollution Model (TAPM), this paper employs the life satisfaction approach to estimate the cost of air pollution from human activities in South East Queensland. This paper offers at least three improvements over much of the existing literature: (1) within-(as opposed to cross-) country variations in air pollution are considered; (2) very high resolution air pollution data is employed; and (3) weather variables are included as controls within the life satisfaction function. A strong negative relationship is found between ambient concentrations of PM 10 and life satisfaction, yielding a substantial willingness-to-pay for pollution reduction.

Over the past decade research on urban thermal inequity has grown, with a focus on denser built environments. In this letter we examine thermal inequity associated with climate change impacts and changes to urban form in a comparatively socio-economically disadvantaged Australian suburb. Local urban densification policies designed to counteract sprawl have reduced block sizes, increased height limits, and diminished urban tree canopy cover (UTC). Little attention has been given to the combined effects of lower UTC and increased heat on disadvantaged residents. Such impacts include rising energy expenditure to maintain thermal comfort (i.e. cooling dwellings). We used a survey of residents (n=230) to determine their perceptions of climate change impacts; household energy costs; household thermal comfort practices; and dispositions towards using green infrastructure to combat heat. Results suggest that while comparatively disadvantaged residents spend more on energy as a proportion of their income, they appear to have reduced capacity to adapt to climate change at the household scale. We found most residents favoured more urban greening and supported tree planting in local parks and streets. Findings have implications for policy responses aimed at achieving urban climate justice.

No abstract