8 RRJSS| Volume 2 | Issue 2 | June, 2016 Research & Reviews: Journal of Social Sciences INTRODUCTION Urban greens and lakes with good water quality provide signifcant amenity and recreational use value contributing towards quality of urban life. It is observed that politicians/bureaucrats/industrial houses, especially in developing countries, try to grab these green open spaces for creation of concrete jungle. Scientifc understanding of how urban trees, parks, gardens beneft people is generally found lacking in majority of developing countries. This happens because non-market benefts of such areas are not correctly valued and incorporated in to cost-beneft analysis of so called development projects. Chandigarh is one of the planned cities of India, which is known in the world for its magnifcent parks/gardens/urban greenery and was selected for quantifcation of recreational use value of urban forestry and Sukhna lake. The non-market value of recreational benefts provided by these resources of the city, from the point of view of residents as well as tourists was estimated. Chandigarh city is the frst city of India to have its city emblem (an open hand) established in Sector-1 of the city Figure 1. The focus of two studies, in the form of Ph.D thesis and M.Tech dissertation, was on city’s parks, gardens Figure 2, tree-avenues, reserved forests, Sukhna lake and the Sukhna wild life sanctuary of Chandigarh city. The main objectives were to estimate the recreational use value of above areas from the point of view of residents as well as tourists coming to the city and to assess the predictive abilities of various functional forms for developing suitable models to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) on the part of residents & tourists for the cause of greenery and better environment. Three economic valuation methods i.e., Contingent valuation method (CVM), Travel cost method (TCM) and Hedonic Pricing Method (HPM) were applied. APPLICATION OF CVM AND TCM The mean willingness to pay (WTP) for the betterment of existing green landscape features and for creating new parks/ gardens on the part of each reasonably earning family residing in the city was found at Rs. 153/-per year for a period of fve years, which converts to an annual recreational use value of city’s urban forestry assets to Rs. 2.75 crores (Rs. 27.50 millions) at 2002-03 prices. Contingent valuation method (open ended) was used for this purpose and primary data was collected from The Aesthetic Value of Trees, Boulevards, Man-made Lake and Urban Parks/Gardens in the Planned City of Chandigarh, India Pradeep Chaudhry* Indian Institute of Forest Management, Nehru Nagar, Bhopal Research Article Received date: 03/04/2016 Accepted date: 20/04/2016 Published date: 24/05/2016 *For Correspondence Pradeep Chaudhry, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Nehru Nagar, Bhopal, India, Tel No. 0755 277 5716. E-mail: pradeepifs@yahoo.com Keywords: Intangible benefts, Non market ben- efts, Domestic tourists, City residents, CVM, TCM, HPM, Consumer surplus, Willingness to pay. ABSTRACT Ever increasing urban population, city congestions and busy life schedules, especially in developing countries, are gradually pushing city residents towards urban parks, gardens and lake shores during their leisure hours and morning/evening strolls. Studies involving quantifcation and valuation of the recreational benefts provided by urban green amenities are lacking in most of the developing countries. This article presents a brief account of two research studies conducted in the planned city of Chandigarh, India during 2002-04 and 2012-13 respectively for assessing recreational benefts of city’s green assets and a clean water body in the form of a lake. The results of the study can be used by urban policy makers, planners, bureaucrats, civil society and others in planning and establishing parks/gardens/water bodies/tree patches or combination of these resources in newer cities which would be coming up in near future.