Browsing by discipline "Aluetiede"

Multiple changes have occurred in the landscape of the cities and brought new challenges to the use of land in the urban areas. Urban areas have become more compact, population has grown and whereas the amount of public spaces have decreased. Many public spaces have turned into quasi-public or even private spaces. Urban planners and decision-makers must take into account the needs of even more different actors than before. When the number of public spaces has decreased, some of the groups using it, have become more easily excluded from it. A battle of the right to be and use the public spaces are fought between different groups. Adolescents are one of these groups that often tend to be excluded, even though public spaces are significant for their free-time. They also lack places where to be or meet each other. In addition, knowledge about the meanings and qualities of the places where adolescents spend time is scarce. This master's thesis is a case study of Vuosaari suburb in the Eastern Helsinki. The aim is to explore the public and quasi-public spaces where the local adolescents spend their time. Furthermore, qualities and meanings as well as adolescents needs in those spaces are studied. The data used in this study was collected through interviews and place mapping. In place mapping adolescents could mark the places where they hang out on the map and describe them in written form. The study is based on the idea of subjective construction of space and place perception, which are also affected by cultural and environmental factors. Adolescent's perception of public and quasi-public spaces is explored through theory of affordances. Affordance implies to the possible threats and possibilities that one might find from the surrounding environment. The public and quasi-public spaces that are used by adolescents in Vuosaari are moreover classified into loose spaces, spaces of doing and tight spaces. Loose spaces are free from the adult control whereas in the tight spaces and spaces of doing adolescents are under adult surveillance. Tight spaces are aimed to certain kind of doing and it is not possible to differ from the activities designated beforehand. In the spaces of doing it is possible to perform different activities more freely. However, challenging the norms of those spaces leads to sanctions. The study found that adolescents use different kind of public and quasi-public spaces. How they use and value them is dependent on their needs and preferences. The findings suggest that socializing and activities play a major role for adolescents in the public and quasi-public spaces. Also accessibility and closeness of home are important factors for adolescents when choosing the hangout places. Ambiguity characterizes the spaces adolescents prefer. They are sometimes used to expose oneself in front of others, but on the other hand adolescents seek places where they can avoid adult control. Therefore, especially loose spaces, that offer possibility to avoid adult control, proved to be important for adolescents. Additionally, social and functional affordances were valued as well as spaces where those affordances could be found. Adolescents should not however be bundled into one category, since they have different needs in public and quasi-public spaces. Their needs are dependent on factors such as gender and personal preferences. Hence, urban planners and decision-makers ought to offer as diverse public and quasi-public spaces as possible. Furthermore, adolescent's use of public and quasi-public spaces should be accepted.

This paper addresses the issue of participation through neighbourhood-based organisation. Although neighbourhood-based organisations have long traditions in Finland the development of participation culture has created new opportunities to engage in civic activity. The purpose of the study is to describe characteristics of Kallio-liike, which is a new organisation in Kallio area in Helsinki. The study focuses on how activity is organised and what the main purposes and means of organization are. In addition, the ways in which collective action arises from local context are examined. The data consists of seven thematic interviews with activists of Kallio-liike. Interviewees were selected carefully in order to get as broad a view of the activity of Kallio-liike as possible. The study is based on qualitative research methods. Content analysis is used for processing and organizing the data. The field of participation is extensive. Participation in urban planning and decision making is realized through both formal and informal methods. Neighbourhood-based organisations are understood as a way of independent participation which can be studied as place-based activism. As a collective action, in a neighbourhood-based organisation the sense of community as well as common means and ends are linked to the expressions of urban space. There are divergent opinions about the role of community organisation in society. However, its contribution to the formation of civic society is generally acknowledged. The purpose of the participation in urban planning and decision making is not straightforward. Indeed, critical debate on the planning theory has led to changed conceptions of the purpose of participation. The emergence of Kallio-liike is linked to an eviction order which was directed at a food and clothes distribution point located in Kallio neighbourhood. The order provoked wide discussion in the media and divergent opinions about the development of the neighbourhood and urban space were expressed. These differing viewpoints were used to encourage citizens to join Kallio-liike's activity. Sense of community among Kallio-liike's activists was based on the idea of an open and inclusive urban space. The need for new neighbourhood-based organisation was justified by the requirement for an alternative agent for the local scale. Kallio-liike is an informally organised civic activity network organised around a public Facebook profile. Even though the unity of the Kallio-liike is elusive, claims for the urban space and a carnivalistic style are common features shared by all Kallio-liike's activity. Activity is based on voluntary work and its success is largely dependent on networks, sensible use of communication technology and feasible models of events. The purpose of Kallio-liike is to reinforce the sense of community in the area and to create better opportunities for independent civic activity at a local scale. Various events have a central role in the activity of Kallio-liike. Firstly, events bring citizens together in a natural way and encourage sociability, and secondly, they function as a means of political communication. Research results show that Kallio-liike reflects characteristics that are typical for the mobilisation of collective action in the 21th century. In addition, the study reinforces the conception of internet as a useful tool in the creation and execution processes of civic activity. What is more, it is suggested that neighbourhood-based activity has more potential than previously thought. Finally, this study highlights citizens' motivation for participation and this raises the question about the meaning of independent participation as a part of urban planning.

Pro gradu -tutkielman lähtökohta on Helsingin, Espoon, Vantaan ja Pääkaupunkiseudun Kierrätyskeskus Oy:n 4V – Välitä, Vaikuta, Viihdy, Voi hyvin -hanke, jonka puitteissa järjestettiin lapsille ja nuorille sarjakuvatyöpajoja vuosina 2008 ja 2009. Tutkimuksen aineiston muodostavat sarjakuvatyöpajoissa tuotetut piirrokset aiheesta onnellinen kaupunki. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on muodostaa kokonaiskuva lasten onnellisesta kaupungista sarjakuva-aineiston pohjalta ja pohtia visuaaliseen aineiston roolia tutkimuksessa. Tutkimuksen keskiössä ovat lapsi, lapsen tuottama aineisto ja lasta koskeva tutkimus sekä visuaaliseen aineiston havainnointiin liittyvät tekijät. Tutkimus koostuu kahdesta laajemmasta kokonaisuudesta: onnellisen kaupungin representaatiosta ja tutkimusprosessin haasteista. Onnellisen kaupungin representaatiota lähestytään maantieteellisten ulottuvuuksien ja paikkojen kautta. Visuaalisen tutkimuksen haasteita eritellään tutkimusprosessin eri osat kattaen. Pro gradu -tutkielman tutkimusote on aineistolähtöinen ja menetelmäpainotteinen. Tutkimuksen ytimen muodostavat laaja sarjakuva-aineisto ja sen analysointiin käytetty sisällönanalyysi. Sisällönanalyysissä yhdistyvät kvalitativiiset ja kvantitatiiviset menetelmät; piirroksissa esiintyvien elementtien havannointi ja kuvailu matriisin ja elementtien suhteellisten osuuksien laskeminen. Tutkimuksessa korostuvat lasten rooli aineiston tuottajana sekä tulkinnalliset ja menetelmälliset haasteet, jotka ovat vaikuttaneet saatuihin tuloksiin. Tutkimuksen perusteella lapsille annettu ohjeistus sarjakuvatyöpajoissa vaikuttaa heidän piirtämäänsä kuvaan onnellisesta kaupungista tuottamalla dualistisen ja arjen paikkoja korostavan kuvan kaupungista. Sarjakuva aineistotyyppinä puolestaan painottaa toimintaa ja henkilöhahmoja rakennetun ja luonnonympäristön sijaan. Nämä taustatekijät huomioon ottaen lasten onnellinen kaupunki on sosiaalinen kaupunki, jossa fyysisen ympäristön rooli on tarjota toimivat puitteet lasten arjen toiminnoille. Fyysinen kaupunki näyttäytyy lapselle mahdollisuutena leikkiin ja harrastuksiin, mutta rakennetun ympäristön rakenteet ja arkkitehtuuri eivät korostu. Onnellinen kaupunki saavutetaan usein kaupunkilaisten yhteisten ponnistelun tuloksena kestävän kehityksen teemojen värittämänä. Lasten onnellinen kaupunki on yhdistelmä erilaisten reaali- ja mielikuvitusmaailmasta poimittujen ympäristöjen piirteitä, mistä kertovat piirroksissa toistuvat satuhahmot ja -paikat.

This thesis studies residents’ participation in urban park planning processes and planners’ interests in participation and involvement. The data used in the empirical part of the thesis is compiled by quantitative analysis of nine thematic planning authority interviews. The importance of green infrastructure has grown since urban areas are becoming increasingly built environments. The value of the green areas and the need for functional parks are growing in developing urban areas. People are increasingly interested in participating in the development of their own living environment. The current planning practice underlines residents’ opportunities to participate in the planning, but these opportunities to participate vary depending on the park planning case, and not even planners have an agreement in which case residents could and should be more involved. Participation process in park planning is influenced by legislation, previous course of actions and significance of the plan both in townscape and economically. The empirical part of this thesis offers views of other factors that have also affected the participation process in three urban park planning cases in Helsinki region. These factors are objectives set in previous phase of the planning and zoning process, affordances of the plan, resources and timetable, approaches and collaboration between the participants, and the attractiveness of the participatory method. Four different ways to see the purposes and benefits of the participation process by authorities and planners are presented. In the first view planners see participation as a method directed by legislation, where the most important actions are the conveyance of information to the residents and decision justification. In the second view the objectives in participation are in bringing residents’ experimental knowledge into the plan and improving the quality of the plan. In the third view, participation interests are in communicative learning, opening planning policy, and increasing residents’ own action-taking. In the fourth view direct participation is seen as a key part of the democratic system of society. According to interviewees challenges in participation are related to organizing participation, reconciliation of interests, fragmentation of the governance, and uncertainty of the meaning of participation itself. Participatory methods in urban park planning often aim solely to inform residents about the plan. Furthermore, participatory park planning can also achieve stronger sense of community among residents and increase the trust between residents and municipality governance. Participatory park planning requires mutual understanding of the purposes in the participation, an inspirational method, and adequate resources.

The study examines two public-private-partnership projects, one located in Helsinki and the other in Berlin. Both projects have the private company of the project working as the executive party and as a moderator, a transmitting link between the citizens and the city offices. Both projects include the citizens at the 'round table', to take part in conversations and negotiatins as at least seemingly equal members with other citizens and leaders of the project. The cases are projected against two theoretical frameworks. The first one concerns the neoliberal ethos and the way of organizing power systems that grew with the ideology. The so called new public management has caused devolution, privatization of public services, borders between sectors becoming blurred, working in projects and a customer-oriented relation to the citizen. The second framework considers the changing role of the planner towards allowing more participation. The meaning of social spaces and experiental knowledge in planning has grown in regional and urban planning, which considerably molds both the planning profession and the planning process. In this thesis I examine how new public management and the growing demand for participation can be seen in two planning related projects. The thesis focuses on how the city offices benefit from the moderators, how face to face contacts and the presence of moderators affect particiation and finally, what kind of motives the city offices have in promoting citizen participation. As my primary sources I use semi-structured expert interviews with the project workers and one citizen representant, as well as questionnaires on participant experiences. I analyze the experiences and perceptions of the people involved in the projects by comparing them both within and between the two projects. The material is complemented by observation. My study shows, that moderators are useful to city offices by adding time and knowledge resources to the projects. Moderators add expertise and work force to short-term tasks and can work thematically or spatially in a more specified manner than officials. Moderators also create relatively neutral spaces for conversations among citizens as well as between citizens and officials. The study suggests that there is tension between offices and citizens. Citizens would like to witness to have an impact in the matters they take part in, whereas the official cannot promise that to happen. A moderator assists in creating communication, softens tension and adds knwoledge and time resources to tasks in which participation plays a central part.

Urbanization and population ageing are megatrends of our time. We need a lot of new information concerning ageing and urbanization because cities are growing and the amount of the elderly in them is on the rise. Children were the focus of urban planning in the post-war era. The city was seen as an unsafe growing environment, and that led to the creation of suburbs. Nowadays, it is justified to ask, should the focus of urban planning be in drafting environments for the elderly since the age distribution is focused on them, too. This thesis is positioned in the intersection of ageing and urbanization and considers how urban design should respond to these challenges. Place attachment covers meaningful experiences relating to certain environment. Meaningful everyday environment encourages one to exercise as well as positively affects one’s mental well-being. In age-friendly city planning, place attachment is seen as a factor positively affecting active ageing and well-being. My thesis asks how ageing population becomes attached to places in the Helsinki metropolitan area, what role the environmental quality has in becoming attached to a place and are different demographics within the ageing population becoming attached to places in different ways. With these questions I evaluate whether or not the Helsinki metropolitan area is an environment that supports active ageing from the point of view of place attachment. This thesis is positioned within the discipline of humanistic geography, which dictates that environment is experienced through the meanings one has attached to it. Experiences of place attachment are examined within the age group of 55 to 75 years old in the Helsinki metropolitan area municipalities of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa. My analysis is based on qualitative data of Aktiivi research by Aalto University, which has been compiled with a map-based questionnaire using the PPGIS method (Public Participation Geographic Information System). My thesis uses a mixed methods approach. By analyzing the contents of the qualitative material I am evaluating which factors play a role in place attachment. I classify the features of place attachment in to five different categories: personal, social, aesthetic, functional, and atmospheric places. I evaluate these results with Pearson’s χ2-test to find out are there differences in how different demographics become attached to places. The most important results of my work can be summarized into four main points. Firstly, the work gives new structure to the phenomenon of place attachment on a new way theoretically. The model categorizes the components of the environmental quality into visible form. Based on the results, the main factors are functionality, personal elements, and aesthetics. Secondly, the numerous mentions relating to attributes of places (functionality, aesthetics) prove that the process of place attachment can be affected by the tools of planning. Urban planning can affect the aesthetics of environments as well as the possibilities they offer and in this way environments that support active ageing can be created. Thirdly, based on statistical analysis, the meaning on social environments was emphasized in the lowest income bracket whereas the meaning of aesthetic environments was emphasized among those with higher education degree. This suggests that there is a socio-economic dimension, which should be taken into account in urban planning. Fourthly, the results of this thesis strengthen the notion that PPGIS is a working tool for the planner when balancing between land use changes and conserving places. The strength of the study design is that it does not only ask which areas should be treasured, but also why they should be treasured. The Helsinki metropolitan area has good requirements for age-friendliness for now. The area can be planned in an age-friendly manner especially when considering the functional and aesthetic aspects of places. Additionally, it is vital to recognize the diversity of the ageing population and not to think of them as a homogenous group. PPGIS is one way to develop cities sensitively by listening to their inhabitants. The ageing inhabitants are experts in developing their everyday environment. In the future the discussion of age-friendly urban planning is going to focus on suburban areas since those areas are facing endeavors of densification and those are the areas the elderly wish to live.

The formation of urban structure is a complicated process and its outcome, that cannot be easily forecast, is not necessarily optimal. This creates a need to understand the process and gives a reason to control it by urban planning. As the circumstances are in constant change, the plans have to anticipate the time to come – partly far into the future. Research is needed to support planning to understand the factors that affect the urban structure better. Accessibility, that seems to be one of the key factors in the processes of land use change, seems to provide a suitable tool for planning and research: when suitably defined, it can connect the properties of transport and land use systems as well as the economic, social and environmental goals. The availability of services is closely connected to the quality of living environment, so studying the accessibility of them can produce new notable information for the needs of urban planning. The aim of this study was to explain how changes in urban structure cause changes in the accessibility of services by walking, mass transit and car in the long term, and study how these changes could affect the use of the services both from the perspectives of the users' possibilities and the potential the services produce. The public library network in Helsinki region was studied as an example. Studying the accessibility of public libraries is useful as such, as they provide many types of positive impacts, but public libraries are also a convenient example in studying the accessibility of services as they are a service actively used in everyday life and information about the use is available. Distances in the accessibility measures were measured as travel time. Accessibility was measured both in travel times to the nearest library and in potentials of making a library trip calculated by library trip forecasting models based on the real behaviour of their users. Comparison was made between the years 2014 and 2050, during which the population and the transport system are expected to change as in the created scenarios, which are based on the new Helsinki City Plan. In addition, the possible effects to the accessibility of the public libraries by possible cost cuts in the service network were inspected by simulating the effects of the cuts. Based on the results the public libraries in the study area seem to be relatively well accessible by all the inspected transport modes. The changes in the transport systems seem to have minor effects on the accessibility when measured in travel time to the nearest library, but when the effects are measured in the potentials of making a library trip, they seem to be a bit more significant – by mass transit, accessibility would improve and by car, it would deteriorate. The forecast change in the population would increase the number of people accessing the nearest library in half an hour, but the proportion of this group to the total population in the area would be smaller than before. The attraction of libraries affect to the potentials they produce, but the impacts are concentrated on the surrounding areas of the libraries and on the traffic routes, where the accessibility is relatively good to begin with. Even though excluding some of the smallest libraries from the service network would have relatively small effects on the accessibility in the aggregate, the effects on individual level and for sustainable accessibility could be significant. Based on the study results more significant than the changes in the transport system or in the attraction of the services seem to be how near population and services are located each other: the prerequisites for multimodal accessibility cannot necessarily be guaranteed if the distances are long. Based on the study results, to prevent the deterioration of the preconditions of the goals of Finnish regional planning and the qualifications for sustainable accessibility due to the forecast population change – in other words to keep the current standard of service – some changes in the service network would be needed. However, as there was only one type of service inspected in this study and as there is uncertainty if the scenarios will happen in the future, the conclusions that can be drawn from the results are restricted. Still, studying the accessibility of a single service is useful as such as the needs for different type of services are different, and if it will give some hints of the future accessibility of services in general at the same time, even though just in a few scenarios, it can be easier to be prepared for the future.

To prevent the ongoing climate change we need to shift our energy use from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The fast evolution of energy technology has opened up the possibility to make small-size renewable energy investments also in private households. Concept of energy citizenship is strongly associated with energy microgeneration. Energy citizenship is a concept, where sustainable energy consumption and increased awareness can combine with decentralized energy systems. Micro-level energy investments can make people more attached to renewable energy both economically and psychologically. Smart-metering helps to keep track of the household's energy production and consumption. Understanding about energy will rise when the contact to energy is habitual. This might have positive sociopsychological effects in people, leading to changes also in patterns of consumption. In the beginning of year 2013 a community energy project started in South Karelia. Altogether 21 households ordered solar photovoltaic panels from Germany. The project was non-commercial and independent. The aim of this study is to find out if the energy investment has launched any changes related to energy citizenship. The study also analyses the community energy project as a process and the actions of a local energy company as part of the project. The national energy policy will also be briefly discussed. The method of this study is a semi-structured interview, which was used to map out the views of project coordinator, energy company and micro producers. The material of twelve interviews is analyzed primarily with qualitative content analysis. The material gives clear signals that solar energy producers have been affected by sparks of energy citizenship. Many of the micro producers are actively monitoring their households' energy production and consumption which has led to upgraded level of knowledge. People are also scheduling some of the energy consumption according to when the solar panels produce energy. The most important result of this study is that investing in energy production can potentially lead to further positive changes in households' energy use. Based on the results of the study, communityled decentralized renewable energy projects can have a positive impact in both climate change and energy attitudes. Making an own investment and building solar panels with one's own hands makes people more attached to energy which is a fertile soil for sprouts of energy citizenship. Solar panels are not the final answer to climate change, but decentralized energy production can be part of the solution – especially because it has effects also on producer-consumers. Dichotomy between centralized and decentralized energy production is useless because both are needed. Instead of helping the progress of certain forms and scales of renewable energy, we could build supportive conditions for renewable energy in general – solar energy included.

This thesis concentrates on the place-based conservation and how its implementation suits the marine realm characterized by large-scale patterns and wrapped in scientific uncertainty. There is still great amount of information missing which affects the conservation design. Furthermore, as the science behind marine conservation lacks behind its terrestrial counterpart, the theoretical foundations on which marine conservation and MPAs are laid on is based greatly on terrestrial conservation practices and experiences with terrestrial species and habitats in mind. The social aspect of conservation and marine protected areas (MPAs) is often neglected in research. Also the incorporation of locals to the management is often lacking. For the long-term success of any given MPA, the social component should be a major part of managing MPAs as non-compliance to regulations often follows when the local communities are excluded or not fully incorporated. Furthermore, tensions between and among different stakeholders can weaken the functioning of any MPA. Part of this study aims to shed light on the perceptions and attitudes the fishermen have with respect to the management of Watamu MPA. The setting for the study is Watamu Marine National park and Reserve in Kenya to which I conducted a field trip in February-March 2016. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fishermen in two landing sites - Watamu and Darakasi. In addition, a literature research was conducted to gain more holistic picture of the areas ecology and the outcomes of the marine park. Theoretical framework is based on political ecology and draws influence particularly from its Marxist roots of nature-society dialectics and materialist philosophy. Also emphasis is given to the concept of boundaries with 'power of maps' framework that questions the use of place-based conservation as the only valid approach to conservation. Most of the fishermen in both landing sites were favorable of conservation and understood the need to protect, but simultaneously did not perceive major benefits from the Watamu MPA. Especially with respect to the marine park, some division among the fishermen was detected. Many wished the park would be opened for seasonal use for fishing purposes. Still, the marine park has shown to be delivering tangible conservation outcomes which is why it should stay closed. Adaptive management is thus needed to find common ground between ecological factors and social needs.

This study focuses on looking at different factors that have been shown to explain why certain farms are vulnerable to crop-raiding by primates. The type of wildlife value orientations present among the study sample are also looked into in this study. Furthermore, how these wildlife value orientations affect how the community members perceive and react to human-wildlife conflicts is also discussed. The data collection was conducted in May and June 2015 around Ngangao indigenous cloud forest in the Taita Hills, southeast Kenya. The study is both qualitative and quantitative. Semi-structured household-based questionnaires were used in the primary data collection. Also, 11 local experts were interviewed and two workshops were held where the participants were given topics about wildlife issues and solutions to discuss about. Statistical analysis as well as spatial analysis using GIS were performed in this study. The findings of the study are that the closer a farm is to the forest boundary and the less neighbouring farms there are between the farm and the forest, the more vulnerable that farm is to crop-raiding by Sykes' monkeys. The study could not prove that a specific type of food crop grown in a farm or the type of land use between the farmland and the forest boundary is explaining vulnerability to crop-raiding by primates. Moreover, strong determinants that explain the vulnerability of a certain farm to crop-raiding by vervet monkeys, yellow baboons or bush-babies were not found in this study. The majority of the studied households practice subsistence farming as their main livelihood. Therefore, crop-raiding by wildlife, such as primates, is a severe threat to the food security and livelihoods of local households. The study points out that a majority of the study participants perceive wildlife in a materialistic way, either as threats or as benefits. A smaller share of respondents represent a harmonius wildlife value orientation. Because majority of the local community is likely to represent similar wildlife value orientations, crop-raiding by primates is perceived as a significant problem. Some community members are believed to have reacted to human-primate conflicts by deliberately setting forest fires in the forests of the Taita Hills to deter the marauding primates away. This study suggests that community representatives, local wildlife management and officials should collectively discuss and address the issue of human-primate conflict in the indigenous forests of the Taita Hills so that the community level perceptions are not disregarded in wildlife management. Possible solutions to human-primate conflicts are, for example, providing the most vulnerable households with compensation, incentives or food relief and tools to practice alternative livelihoods. Moreover, relocation of certain groups of primates and planting wild fruit trees inside indigenous forests could ease the problem. Community wildlife association could work as a platform to address the issue. Additionally, sensitizing the local communities about local nature and addressing the awareness gaps regarding problem wildlife reporting could increase the tolerance to wildlife damages at community level and also support the coexistence of humans and wildlife.