The Influence of Values on Preferences for Ecosystem Services in Urban Green Spaces: Evidence from Chinese Residents

Urban green spaces (UGS) play a critical role in enhancing urban resilience and livability by delivering a wide range of ecosystem services. Understanding residents’ preferences for urban green space ecosystem services (UGES) and their underlying drivers is essential for advancing human-centered and equitable UGS management. Existing studies have largely emphasized socio-demographic and contextual factors, while the role of personal values as deeper psychological drivers of UGES preferences remains insufficiently examined. Values are deeply rooted beliefs that shape cognition and behavior and, as such, provide a powerful theoretical lens for interpreting human–ecosystem interactions. Based on 1080 responses from a nationwide online survey, this study investigates how value orientations influence residents’ preferences for UGES in China. The results show that personal values have significantly greater explanatory power for UGES preferences than demographic variables. Specifically, self-transcendence is positively associated with preferences for regulating and cultural services, whereas self-enhancement is positively associated with preferences for provisioning services. These patterns indicate that prosocial and egoistic value orientations underpin preferences for ecosystem services characterized by public versus individual benefits, respectively, suggesting that UGES preferences represent external expressions of individuals’ underlying value structures. The opposing value dimensions of conservation and openness to change both exert positive effects on preferences across all three UGES categories, indicating that UGES preferences are jointly shaped by pluralistic value systems. In the context of intergenerational value change and evolving societal expectations, UGS planning should therefore prioritize diversity and inclusivity. Overall, this study demonstrates the central role of value orientations in shaping residents’ UGES preferences and highlights the potential of integrating value-based perspectives to enhance preference-sensitive management and value-oriented governance of UGS.