Browsing by Subject "participatory planning"

Citizen participation in urban planning has increased in recent decades. In Finland, it is one of the primary objectives of the national Land Use And Building Act (Maankäyttö- ja rakennuslaki), which means participatory planning required in all land use planning. General plan is a document that provides general guidelines for land use and assigns land for different purposes to form a basis for detailed planning and construction. In Helsinki, the latest general plan was accepted by the City Council in 2016. One of the topics that received the largest attention throughout the process was the city's decision to turn its highway-like entry routes into city boulevards that favour pedestrians, cyclist and public transport. This Master's Thesis examines citizen participation in the Helsinki general plan in 2016 with the focus on the city boulevard question. It examines the discussion which took place between the city planners and three groups: other public officials, neighbouring municipalities and individual citizens.The data for this thesis comes from the document called interaction report, in which the planners summarise the comments from these stakeholders and respond to criticism. Through the method of rhetorical analysis, the thesis will seek to answer how the planning decisions are justified, how the planners respond to criticism and how is the planning situation framed for different interest groups. The analysis shows that the main ways to justify the city boulevards were the city's jurisdiction to make this decision, and the collaboration and investigations that had gone into the process. The city boulevard were framed as a city development project that brings growth and benefits everyone. This thesis, more generally, explores the questions of general planning and participation, and gives important insight into the citizen participation process in Finland.

This thesis offers views on the resident interests and participation in energy refurbishment processes by qualitatively analysing nine thematic resident interviews. Urban areas and buildings largely contribute to energy consumption and carbon emissions. The ageing building stock across Europe offers a window of opportunity for large scale energy refurbishments. Urban sustainability and participatory planning, the framework theories of this thesis, are both threaded by the lack of social focus, reflected in the lack of residential focus in housing refurbishments. Residents' main interests include economic reasoning, quality of life, and energy and environment. Economic reasoning includes concern of costs, interest in energy bill savings and stable living costs, and property value increase, indicating a rising market demand. Quality of life includes building condition, comfort, visual aspects, ease of maintenance, interest in technology, and preference on either shared or private systems. Environmental motivations vary and seem to correlate with one's faith in the effect of individuals and communities in solving climate issues. Good process practices facilitating trust include: activation of different information channels when refurbishments are approaching, personal and technical planning support, and a strong house strategy communicating residents the justifications and their areas of interest. Neighbourhood examples motivate residents and help them plan their own projects. As refurbishments make residents more proudly develop their houses and neighbourhoods, resident ambassadors can be used to replicate the experiences. Sharing and networking are already in place, but lack of promoting the sense of community may hinder such development. Existing co-planning reflects residents' strong position as stakeholders. Differences in participation power are found between housing cooperative boards and other residents. The boards dominate planning, justifying it with technical expertise and the difficulty of including everyone. This is accepted if an open communication culture is on place, as house meetings offer other residents a place to get informed and participate in decision making. The idea of including residents into planning is emerging. Participation benefits include residents offering good ideas, gaining knowledge, and achieving a stronger sense of community. Information and inclusion make residents more engaged to the development, speeding up decision making. A process model for participatory refurbishments is presented. Apart from the resident drivers active in house and neighbourhood levels, four challenging resident groups are identified: the unsocial, the objectors, the uninformed, and the unheard. Resident segmentation offers a good tool for identifying motivators to engage residents, as well as identify their needs as project participants.

The archipelago is a unique urban green space and a popular place to visit in the city of Helsinki. Nevertheless, multiple factors, such as urban expansion, recreational and environmental values create pressure on the development of the Helsinki archipelago. Visitors form an important group of stakeholders considering the development and future of the area. This qualitative interview study examines what do the visitors value in the Helsinki archipelago and what value the islands’ biodiversity has for them. A value framework by Himes and Muraca (2018) was applied as a theoretical framework in this thesis. The values of visitors are divided into categories of instrumental, relational and intrinsic values. The data were collected via 20 semi-structured interviews at three different islands in Helsinki archipelago. The interviews were conducted in August 2021. The results are analyzed with thematic method and are supported with quantified data analysis by applying the co-occurrence analysis with Atlas.ti 9.0 software. For the visitors interviewed, the most frequently emphasized value of the Helsinki archipelago is related to nature. In general, the islands are seen as an accessible recreational day-trip destination, where nature provides an environment to relax and recover. Many visitors enjoy sharing the experience with family or friends – sometimes even with strangers. A contrast to the constructed urban environment is important for the urban residents. Bridges to, or excessive infrastructure on the islands are not desired. The main value of biodiversity in Helsinki archipelago emerges via new experiences that are different from elsewhere in the urban environment. Additionally, biodiversity facilitates an immersive nature experience that supports well-being. Biodiversity in the archipelago has also intrinsic value: The archipelago is a valuable place for the ecosystems and biota to flourish. For the visitors, the archipelago is a pristine natural environment worth maintaining as it is.