Residents’ perceptions of cultural ecosystem services from urban green spaces: A comparative study of Korea and Germany

• UGS visit patterns vary by social context, lifestyle, and sociodemographic factors. • Respondents value recreation, aesthetics, socializing, health, and quietness. • COVID-19′s impact on UGS visiting frequency differs across cultures. • UGS preferences are influenced by proximity, safety, maintenance, and biodiversity. • Socio-demographic factors influence perceptions of biodiversity and visit patterns. Understanding public needs is crucial for effective management and planning of urban green spaces (UGS). UGS offer cultural ecosystem services (CES) that enhance human wellbeing. However, CES are challenging to measure, and vary across cultures, limiting cross-cultural research. This study examines public perceptions of CES from UGS in Suwon, Korea, and Karlsruhe, Germany, through a map-based PPGIS questionnaire. Respondents were urban residents in both cities, recruited through a combination of online outreach, local postings, and snowball sampling between July and September 2023. Karlsruhe residents visited UGS more frequently and spent more time there both before and after COVID-19 than Suwon residents. Most Suwon residents favored the nearest green spaces, while Karlsruhe residents preferred UGS farther from their homes. In Suwon, higher income was linked to a lower evaluation of biodiversity importance. Age and gender influenced the evaluation of biodiversity importance in both cities. Younger people visited UGS more often than older people after COVID-19 in both cities. In Karlsruhe, female respondents visited UGS more frequently than male respondents, whereas in Suwon, male showed a higher frequency. However, female respondents in Karlsruhe spent more time in UGS than males, while there was no statistically significant difference in Suwon. Education level was significant only in Suwon, where individuals with university education spent more time in UGS after COVID-19 than those without. These findings reflect how cultural and socio-demographic factors shape human-nature interactions, supporting theoretical perspectives such as the biophilia hypothesis, social ecology, and environmental psychology. Integrating these interdisciplinary insights into UGS planning can help create inclusive, culturally responsive, and ecologically meaningful urban environments.