Valuing green infrastructure and public spaces

Green infrastructure and public spaces play an important role in enhancing quality of life and community wellbeing.

Green and public spaces help improve physical and mental health, increase urban amenity and property values, and provide habitats for our unique plants and animals.

The valuation framework

The Framework for Valuing Green Infrastructure and Public Spaces (PDF, 1 MB) provides a standardised, robust and comprehensive way to identify and quantify costs and benefits associated with green infrastructure and public spaces.

The department developed the framework with NSW Treasury, leading economists and policy makers. It provides a way for practitioners to accurately value these important assets and will help deliver lasting change for our communities.

The framework will help ensure that green infrastructure and public spaces are planned for, costed and delivered as part of future projects and programs. The framework is a companion to the NSW Government’s Guide to Cost-Benefit Analysis.

The framework includes:

• typical costs and benefits of green infrastructure and public space
• recommended approaches to value selected benefits
• recommended parameter values to apply benefit transfer
• other guidance on sensitivity testing, reporting results and commonly used non-market valuation techniques.

Read the framework

The framework is complemented by technical appendices for recommended approaches (PDF, 1.7 MB).

To find out more about valuing green infrastructure and public spaces, download the Framework for valuing green infrastructure and public spaces frequently asked questions (PDF, 124 KB) about the project.