Examining how residents of a highly urbanized and tropical watershed perceive soil resources: Implications for planners and policy makers.

The aboveground component has been widely favored compared to the below-ground component when discussing the importance of green infrastructure in cities. This type of approach can mislead the sustainable planning of cities, as many of the ecosystem services conferred to the aboveground component depend, at least in part, on the functioning of its soil. Urban soil condition can be linked to important ecosystem processes that ultimately contribute to the global sustainable development goals and major societal challenges. Understanding how urban dwellers perceive soils of the city can allow planners and policy makers to make better-informed decisions regarding soil resources considering the views of residents. This work was conducted in the most urbanized portion of the Rio Piedras Watershed (RPWS) in Puerto Rico. We selected five of the 13 sampling sites under San Juan Urban Long-Term Research Area (San Juan ULTRA). In these sampling sites, we performed door-by-door surveys or online surveys in single family-houses depending on the availability of residents. This sampling scheme generated 274 interviews directed to the person involved in the yard management decisions. To examine their awareness and knowledge about soils, we asked: 1) which are the benefits provided by soils at the yard and city scale, and 2) from what sources (if any) the interviewee has read or heard information about soils. Additionally, we asked multiple Likert-scale questions regarding how residents perceive and value soil resources at both the yard and city scale. Preliminary results show that scale influences the type of ecosystem services provided by urban soils that they mentioned, with cultural and provisioning services being more prevalent for soils in yards. For the Likert-scale questions, participants showed an overall positive perception and valuation of urban soils.