Browsing by Subject "urban 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 is an ethnographic exploration into co-production evaluation. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate outcomes of a knowledge co-production workshop in the context of Finnish urban planning using a co-production evaluation framework. For the context of the research, the status of allotment gardens in urban planning was studied. Central concepts also include participation and the status of knowledge in the urban planning context. I collected my research data by participating in the workshop process as a co-facilitator and co-producer in a garden workshop held in Pähkinärinne allotment plots in June 2022. I carried out the research using qualitative research methods, participatory observation. Field notes and the material and data the garden workshop produced are the main body of data. The results show that the workshop did produce a tangible outcome, a usable concept for the Pähkinärinne allotment gardens. When situated in the Finnish urban planning context, analysis shows that implementation may be difficult due to institutional and governance barriers. Intangible impacts were produced in the form of social learning. This entailed the identification of existing social networks in and outside of the allotment plots and their development through social capital. These effects fare better in the Finnish context through self-governance and self-organization. As a conclusion, it can be said that the knowledge co-production process was a successful process but in the Finnish urban planning context bottom-up initiatives can be difficult to implement due to institutional barriers and city-led planning and participation.

Urban densification is resulting in the rapid loss of urban green spaces and their associated values. Moreover, the remaining urban green spaces are under increasing pressure to meet diverse resident needs and preferences. While past studies have investigated the intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values associated with such spaces, little attention has been paid to the sub-sets of relational values referred to a fundamental-relational (i.e., contributions toward enhanced social resilience) and eudemonic-relational values (i.e., actions, experiences, and habits linked to a “good life”). This study used public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) surveys in a residential neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland to spatially explore and examine the differences between intrinsic, instrumental, fundamental-relational, and eudemonic-relational values in urban green spaces. I analyzed responses from residents and stakeholders (n = 1089) using Chi-square tests for significant associations and density-based clustering. Mapped values indicated that green spaces were primarily valued for their relational value, with an emphasis on eudemonic-relational values. Moreover, there were differences in the spatial distribution of instrumental, intrinsic, and relational values between green space types and values were spatially clustered by land use. Notably, there were few differences in how these values were assigned by different sociodemographic groups. I discuss the implications of these findings for local- and city-scale planning and the use of value typologies in PPGIS surveys. Further research in this field will benefit from the use of further value subcategories, increased geographic scale, and additional study of the influence of sociodemographic factors.

The planetary health approach emphasizes the interconnectedness between human health and natural systems. Urban planners also have the opportunity to promote planetary health through their work by reducing the negative environmental impacts of planning solutions and by increasing decisions that support residents' health and wellbeing. Numerous studies have shown that nature promotes human physical, mental, and social health, underscoring the importance of accessible nearby nature, especially in growing cities. This thesis examines urban planning in the city of Lahti from the perspective of planetary health. The study aims to investigate how nearby nature and its health and wellbeing effects, particularly for children and young people, have been considered and identified in land use planning. Additionally, the goal is to determine how conflicting land use interests are prioritized in decision-making. The research material consists of interviews with officials from the Lahti Urban Environment service area, and the data is analyzed with qualitative content analysis and thematization. The results indicate that nearby nature is perceived as an important part of Lahti's urban structure. Urban greenspaces and nearby nature areas are most concretely taken into account by zoning them as green areas in general and detailed plans. Furthermore, urban planning utilizes surveys of nearby nature conducted in early childhood education institutions and schools to ensure accessibility of nearby nature for children and adolescents. The appreciation of Lahti's planners, nature-friendly organizational culture, functional planning practices, and the recognition of the city's environmental efforts support the preservation of nearby nature areas in the urban structure. However, green areas without zoning are constantly at risk of being allocated for other land use purposes in a growing city. Planners describe their work as a continual search for compromises between conflicting desires, goals, and land use interests. They hold a central position of power and responsibility in making sustainable planning decisions, which can also be guided by planners' own values, attitudes, and expertise. Systems thinking required by planetary health approach along with research findings on the health and wellbeing effects of nearby nature, should be more effectively integrated into urban planning, political decision-making, and public discourse. Although this study focuses on planners in one city, it offers interesting insights into effective urban planning practices and current challenges within the framework of planetary health.

Maisterintutkielma käsittelee pääkaupunkiseudun lähiöiden täydennysrakentamiseen ja asuinviihtyvyyteen liittyviä näkemyksiä mielipidekirjoituksissa. Työssä tarkastellaan millaisia mielipiteitä täydennysrakentamisesta nostetaan esille asuinympäristön viihtyvyyteen liittyen. Työ pyrkii myös kartoittamaan sitä, millaisista täydennysrakentamisen puolista kumpuaa positiivisia ja millaisista negatiivisia näkökulmia asuinympäristön viihtyvyyttä ajatellen. Lisäksi työssä selvitetään millaisia tahoja voidaan tunnistaa osallisiksi täydennysrakentamiseen ja asuinviihtyvyyteen liittyvissä mielipidekirjoituksissa. Mielipidekirjoitusten analysoinnin menetelmänä toimii sisällönanalyysi. Tutkimuksen empiirisenä aineistona toimivat Helsingin Sanomien sähköisen arkiston mielipidekirjoitukset vuosilta 2018–2022. Hakutulosten alkuseulonnan päätteeksi sisällönanalyysia suoritettiin lopulta yhteensä 87 mielipidekirjoituksen pohjalta. Analyysissä tarkasteltiin mielipidekirjoituksen esiin tuomia näkökulmia täydennysrakentamiseen ja asuinviihtyvyyteen liittyen, toisaalta myös mielipidekirjoituksen yleistä sävyä sekä mielipidekirjoittajan taustatietoja. Analysoituja mielipidekirjoituksia ryhmiteltiin teemoihin niistä esiin tulleiden näkökulmien ja aihepiirien pohjalta. Jaottelua tehtiin myös sillä perusteella, millaisia tahoja voitiin tunnistaa mielipidekirjoitusten taustoilta. Aineistosta suoritetusta sisällönanalyysistä selvisi, että mielipidekirjoituksissa nousi esiin tunnistettavina teemaryhminä kaupunkivihreä, kaupunkikuvan esteettinen olemus, historialliset arvot ja identiteetti sekä täydennysrakentamisen vaikutus terveyteen. Mielipidekirjoitusten vallitsevaksi sävyksi voitiin tunnistaa varauksellisuus ja negatiivisuus täydennysrakentamista kohtaan, varsinkin jos se tapahtui kirjoittajataholle itselleen merkityksellä alueella, kuten omalla asuinalueella. Toisaalta vähemmissä määrin mielipidekirjoituksissa tuotiin esiin myös positiivista puolta täydennysrakentamisen tarjoamista mahdollisuuksista kaupunkiympäristölle. Mielipidekirjoittajiksi voitiin valtaosassa mielipidekirjoituksia tunnistaa yksityishenkilö, joskin mielipidekirjoitusten taustoilta pystyttiin havaitsemaan myös paljon kaupunkiympäristön suunnittelijoita, akateemikkoja kuin kunnallispolitiikan toimijoitakin. Tutkimuksen pohjalta vaikuttaakin siltä, että tehokas täydennysrakentaminen koetaan monilta osin haasteelliseksi asuinympäristöjen viihtyvyydelle mielipidekirjoitusten kontekstissa.

This master’s thesis explores spatial and aesthetic experiences and placemaking in two public spaces in Malmi and Malminkartano in Helsinki. It focuses on two case studies through ethnographic fieldwork in order to evaluate the added value of placemaking in the urban planning practices of the City of Helsinki from the citizens’ perspective. The case studies shed light on the possibilities and risks of placemaking, especially in the context of Helsinki neighbourhoods that are subject to densification and suburban regeneration projects. This research was commissioned by the Strategic Urban Planning Department of the Urban Environment Division of the City of Helsinki. This thesis explores three research questions. It aims to understand how the observed placemaking projects affected the spatial and aesthetic experiences in the public spaces in question. It also examines what kind of attitudes arose among informants regarding public space, placemaking, densification and urban planning in the context of the studied neighbourhoods. Lastly, it assesses the potential of placemaking to improve the spatial and aesthetic experience of public spaces in neighbourhoods undergoing suburban regeneration projects. The theoretical framework of this research utilises theories and viewpoints of human geography and philosophy of urban aesthetics. Building on the study of place and space, it employs the concepts of spatial and aesthetic experience to examine sensory perceptions in public spaces. Additionally, it continues the culture and tradition of qualitative urban planning research. The data was gathered through ethnographic fieldwork during the span of the studied placemaking projects between July and October 2021. The fieldwork entailed participant observation, informal interviews and conversations with informants and autoethnographic observations of sensory, spatial and aesthetic experiences in public space. In addition to the ethnographic data, placemaking theory was utilised to formulate the analyses and results. Based on the data, the observed placemaking case studies had a moderate effect on the spatial and aesthetic experiences in the public spaces in question. However, they raised valuable discussions about local viewpoints and provided important place-based knowledge for urban planners. The ethnographic process revealed both accepting and antagonistic narratives within the local communities regarding densification and the urban planning practices of the City of Helsinki. The latter attitudes did not, however, seem to negatively affect the informants’ conceptions of the studied projects or placemaking generally. Instead, place-driven attempts at making public spaces greener, livelier and more engaging were almost unanimously accepted and welcomed. Consequently, placemaking is proposed here as a viable method to develop and improve the experience of public spaces among citizens in neighbourhoods undergoing suburban regeneration projects. Based on the gathered data and theoretical reasoning, this thesis argues that placemaking is an urban development approach, method and philosophy that can create added value to conventional urban planning practices in Helsinki. Placemaking can improve the experience of public space by vitalising its experiential and sensory qualities, and thus complement technocratic urban planning and construction processes. Placemaking can provide planners with place-based knowledge about local conditions and aspirations that is useful for long-term planning goals. Placemaking can be utilised as a participation method that gives citizens more agency and shows faster impact than other means of participation, further empowering them to reclaim public spaces for communal uses. Placemaking can make public spaces safer and more pluralistic by broadening their usership and increasing vulnerable groups’ presence. By engaging in community-driven placemaking, the City of Helsinki can improve its public spaces in multiple ways and develop its current participatory and urban design practices in alignment with its strategic goals of enhancing the quality of life for its citizens.

Due to the great need of improving sustainable urban transport and mobility in emerging cities in Latin America, development assistance in the form of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning is currently carried out by national European development agencies and partnerships. This type of assistance is commonly based on successful European experiences and approaches in the field, aiming to decrease both greenhouse gas emissions, poverty and inequality and in the same time to improve accessibility, quality of life and sustainability for the urban citizens. Whilst the model being successful for these purposes in Europe, the emerging nature and different mobility culture of cities in Latin America have experienced different outcomes of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning. The theoretical discussion of this thesis is based on a critical assessment of Modernisation theory and its manifestations in the urban transport sector. The theory would describe the European model of Sustainable Urban Mobility as the “modern”, whereas the mobility paradigm of emerging cities is “yet to be modernised”. This thesis argues that instead of applying the European mobility paradigm on emerging cities, the concept of Sustainable Urban Mobility and its planning models and guidelines need to be contextualised in order to reach the desired outcomes. Through qualitative content analysis of original data from interviews with grassroot level activists, representatives of civil society and non-governmental organisations in the cities of Bogotá and Lima, this thesis shows that the urban structures and mobility culture in the cities differ significantly from the ones in Europe, that lead to different outcomes when applying the European approaches of Sustainable Urban Mobility planning in the cities. The most critical finding is that due to different socioeconomic urban structures, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and increase of accessibility cannot be reached simultaneously in a short-term timeframe, as the poor people in the outskirts currently cannot afford other transport modes than non-motorised “sustainable” transport. Challenges such as urbanisation and corruption are often considered the main problems for the implementation of sustainable transport measures in emerging cities. This thesis shows that instead of solely focussing on these challenges, one should criticise the non-contextualised methods in use for encountering them and suggests a preventive approach for urban development. The conclusion follows: It is not only the guidance documents in use for development assistance in the field of Sustainable Urban Mobility that needs to be contextualised, but the whole concept.

The thesis explores possibilities for mental health promotion in urban planning trough a case study of the community space in Lapinlahti, Helsinki. Lapinlahti is a former psychiatric hospital, and the area has in the 2010’s been developed through community efforts into a center for mental wellbeing and culture in Helsinki, a “Lapinlahti for all”. The future use of the area has been contested for the past years, with the City of Helsinki and the organizations at Lapinlahti having different views on how the area and it’s cultural and historical mental health legacy should be preserved and developed. In the discussions, statements and visions, the area’s mental health value has also been translated into urban planning, taking many forms. Mental health is a value that has traditionally not been prioritized or regarded as a value of its own in urban planning, and although the relationship between urban form and wellbeing is well known, urban (mental) health is seldom tied to cities physical- and land-use planning (Kim et al, 2022; Corburn 2004). The thesis approaches this topic by analyzing mental health as a planning objective, discussing how different understandings and approaches to mental health have affected the planning visions surrounding Lapinlahti. The thesis uses a theoretical framework of urban governance and critical discourse analysis (CDA) to seek an understanding to the different approaches to the area’s development, and identify the different understandings, connections and visions that surround Lapinlahti. The study identifies three discursive constructions of Lapinlahti: Lapinlahti as a site for cultural heritage, Lapinlahti as a place for mental health, and Lapinlahti as a site for development. The results show that all actors in their development schemes have considered the area’s mental health value from a cultural-historical perspective, viewing the area as a site for mental health history. This history is however understood and manifested in different ways for the actors, influencing different visions for how the area should be developed and what interests and/or values that should guide the development. The thesis continues with presenting three approaches for mental health promotion in urban planning, concluding that planning should be attentive of how the space is governed, the relationship between mental health and the space, and the activities and meanings embedded in space.

In this thesis, I use the concept of “people-centric revitalization” as a compound concept to capture urban development and planning initiatives and aims that are “bottom-up” rather than “top-down” by their nature. More specifically, the concept is used to investigate urban waterfronts, focusing on Makasiiniranta in Helsinki, Finland. The research explores how urban planning and development initiatives can prioritize the needs, experiences, and rights of citizens over purely economic or top-down approaches. By examining the historical land use changes, current challenges, and future opportunities for the Makasiiniranta area, the study highlights the importance of integrating public spaces that are inviting, architecturally and culturally significant. The key data source used are materials related to Makasiiniranta’s international quality and concept competition, which began in 2021. The methodology involves qualitative content analysis and coding, utilizing ATLAS.ti software to identify and interpret patterns from diverse data sources including citizen comments, and expert critiques. The findings emphasize the critical role of citizen participation and human-centered design in creating vibrant, inclusive urban waterfronts.

Kaupungistuminen on nopea ilmiö maailmanlaajuisesti. Kaupungistuminen johtaa myös muutoksiin maankäytössä, mikä usein näkyy kaupunkien tiivistymisenä viherrakenteen kustannuksella. Viherrakenteen ilmalaatuun liittyvistä vaikutuksista on tehty paljon tutkimusta, mutta tutkimuksien tulokset aiheesta ovat ristiriitaisia. Maisterintutkielma käsittelee viherrakenteen vaikutuksia ilmanlaatuun kaupungeissa. Työ pyrkii kartoittamaan mitkä taustalla olevat tekijät vaikuttavat viherrakenteen ilmanlaadullisiin seurauksiin. Lisäksi työ tarkastelee voiko tuloksia soveltaa suomalaiseen kaupunkisuunnitteluun ja jos voi niin millä tavoin. Tutkielma suoritetaan käyttäen systemaattista kirjallisuuskatsausta, joka tiivistää ja arvioi jo valmiina olevaa tutkimusaineistoa sekä kartoittaa epävarmuusalueita. Kokoavan tutkimuksen avulla voidaan selvittää ovatko tutkimusten tulokset esimerkiksi yhteneviä sen osalta, että viherrakennetta kannattaa integroida kaupunkeihin ilmaa puhdistavan vaikutuksen takia Tutkielman aineistona toimii hakulausein sekä sisäänotto- ja poissulkukriteerein huolellisesti ja kriittisesti valitut tieteelliset tutkimukset. Tutkielmaan valikoitui 51 alkuperäistutkimusta. Aineiston analyysissä käytettiin sisällönanalyysiä, joka tarjoaa mahdollisuuden tarkastella asioiden välisiä yhteyksiä, yhtäläisyyksiä ja eroavaisuuksia. Valikoidut tutkimukset koottiin tiivistetysti taulukkoon tutkimuksen läpinäkyvyyden lisäämiseksi. Aineiston sisällönanalyysin perusteella käy ilmi, että viherrakenteen vaikutus kaupunkien ilmanlaatuun on pääosin positiivinen. Neljännes tutkimuksista viittaa siihen, että sillä voi olla myös ilmanlaatua heikentäviä vaikutuksia. Erityisesti viherseinillä ja -katoilla havaitaan eniten ilmanlaatua parantavia ominaisuuksia. Toiseksi tulevat puut, pensaat ja nurmi, ja kolmanneksi suuremmat viheralueet kuten metsät ja puistot. Viherseinät ja -katot aiheuttavat vähiten haitallisia vaikutuksia, kun taas suurimmat haitat liittyvät puihin, pensaisiin ja nurmikkoon. Tulosten vaihtelevuus johtuu erilaisista tutkimusmenetelmistä, tutkimusajankohdista, ilmastollisista olosuhteista, vuodenaikojen vaihtelusta, ilmansaastepitoisuuksista alueella, vuorokaudenajoista, kasvuston sijainnista, viherrakennetyypistä sekä kasvilajeista. Tulosten soveltaminen suomalaiseen viherrakentamiseen on haastavaa, sillä tutkimusten ilmasto-olosuhteet eroavat merkittävästi Suomen oloista. Samankaltaisiin suomalaisiin olosuhteisiin valikoitujen tutkimusten mukaan viherkattojen ja puistojen suosiminen kaupunkirakenteessa, metsien säilyttäminen vilkkaampien teiden varrella ja viherseinien hyödyntäminen katujen varsilla voivat osittain parantaa ilmanlaatua.