Understanding residents’ perspectives on cultural ecosystem service supply, demand and subjective well-being in rapidly urbanizing landscapes: a case study of peri-urban Shanghai

Context Cultural ecosystem services (CESs) play a critical role in maintaining and improving human well-being in rapidly urbanizing landscapes. Few empirical studies, however, have comprehensively identified and revealed the interactions between urbanization, CES supply, CES demand, and subjective well-being (SWB). Objectives The study aimed to understand human–ecosystem interactions from a bottom-up perspective through an analysis of residents’ perceived supply and demand of CESs and SWB at different urbanization levels. Methods Questionnaire surveys including public participation GIS were adopted to obtain residents’ perceived provision of CESs, importance of CESs and SWB in a peri-urban area of Shanghai. Multiple statistical and spatial analyses were performed to uncover their relationships. Results Residents identified cultural heritage and education as the highest supply of CES, whereas aesthetic and recreation were of the highest demand. Urbanization had a significant negative correlation with the supply of recreation, aesthetic, education and social interaction but had a significant positive correlation with the supply of cultural heritage. The demands of recreation and social interaction were significantly lower in areas with moderate urbanization level. In these areas, CESs were dominated by high supply–low demand and low-degree matches, whereas residents’ SWB was lower. Conclusions The variations of the CES–SWB relationship in our study indicate the development trajectory of social–ecological systems in the context of urbanization. Thus, policies adapted to local conditions are needed to foster landscape sustainability in rapidly urbanizing areas.