With the positive and negative consequences of rapid global urbanization,
the main task of the state is to ensure the long-term quality of life of its citizens. Currently,
reforms undertaken by post-Soviet states aimed at environment-related projects are facing
increasing resistance and protest from local populations.
In 2020, the authors of this paper carried out a study on the Maly Taldykol lake group,
located in the south-western planning region of Nur-Sultan. The purpose of this work was
to conduct an assessment of ecosystem services to inform effective management decisions
in urban planning. A strategy of combined research methods was applied. Because of the
lack of data, the challenge was to explain, summarize, and verify the data obtained by one
method through the application of another method. Analysis of the data showed that the
annual costs associated with the creation of artificial “islands of nature” through the expansion of green areas is 20 times less than the losses associated with the development of the
territory of Maloe Taldykol and the consequential loss of natural landscape.
The results revealed that keeping these ecosystem services in their natural setting reduces the cost of providing these services in an alternative way, and avoids the negative
impact of an ill-conceived decision. The uniqueness of this interdisciplinary study lies in the
cost-benefit analysis of the findings of the assessment of ecosystem services, which result in
the most effective management decisions in urban planning
