Abstract The cultural ecosystem services (CES) framework allows to systematically analyse non‐material human–nature relationships and can help to increase the recognition and scope of various intangible place‐based values. Although the amount of scientific literature addressing CES has increased over the last few decades, studies largely focus only on a limited portfolio of ‘prominent’ CES categories. The objective of this study was to explore a broad range of CES that people use in various landscapes. Reflecting the call to broaden conceptualisations of CES, we aimed to explore which CES contribute to place‐based emotions and eudaimonic values as well. We applied a combination of sociocultural valuation methods, including focus group discussions and intercept questionnaire surveys, in two protected landscape areas in the Czech Republic. The survey included various free‐listing exercises capturing CES in qualitative terms and a preference assessment using indicator statements. To identify a broad range of CES, we employed a combination of deductive and inductive approaches to CES classification. Visitors to the case study areas use and value a wide range of CES: free‐listing exercises identified 13–15 categories of them. In the context of reasons why people go to nature or visit their favourite places, Recreation, Ecophilia and Aesthetics were the CES most often mentioned. Our results also uncovered that many CES contribute to place‐based emotions and eudaimonic values, with CES Mental and physical health being the most prominent category. The exploratory nature of the research and the inclusive approach to CES classification facilitated the emergence of uncommon categories such as Ecophilia, which appeared among the most frequently mentioned CES. Our results confirm that using plural methods and within‐methods pluralizing approaches such as different question framings can enrich the CES diversity to be captured. We suggest that providing evidence about the use of CES can support better‐informed environmental management and landscape planning that seeks to balance the CES‐related multifunctionality of landscapes in protected areas, aligning conservation and landscape management more closely with the actual use and appreciation of CES. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Daněk et al. (Fri,) studied this question.