Browsing by master's degree program "Master's Programme in Urban Studies and Planning"
Now showing items 21-34 of 34
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(2024)As a part of global biodiversity loss, pollinating species are declining rapidly. This decline is driven by the loss, degradation and fragmentation of semi-natural grasslands and meadows, primary habitats of pollinating species. Therefore, ensuring connectivity between habitats becomes crucial. As urbanization is putting pressure on green spaces, planners need tools to find areas where conservation efforts are most critical. In this thesis, I aim to 1) model the connectivity network of pollinator habitats in the city of Tampere and 2) evaluate the usability of my analysis for urban planning purposes. Using Least Cost Path (LCP) analysis, I modelled ecological connectivity for pollinating insects in the Tampere region. Connectivity in this context means how easily pollinating insects can move between different areas. I examined two distinct groups of pollinators in my analysis: butterflies (Family: Lepidoptera) and bumblebees (genus: Bombus). Relying on land cover data and green infrastructure maintenance class data, I first identified suitable habitats for my model taxa. Then I created a map layer indicating how resistant different areas were to pollinator movement, based on expert opinions. Using the habitat patches as starting and ending points of movement and the resistance layer to bring more realism to the non-habitat matrix of my model, two fixed distances that pollinators are known to travel were utilized – 200 m and 500 m, respectively. Then, to evaluate the usability of the LCP analysis for planning purposes I conducted a SWOT analysis together with city experts. Results show a shortage of pollinator habitats in Tampere’s city center. This lack of pollinator habitats has led to a division of the connectivity network into two parts: a western and an eastern network. Road verges and areas under power lines appear to play a connecting role for both butterflies and bumblebees, linking larger habitat patches together. The most significant limitations to my analysis include an administrative approach to habitat definition, generalist model taxa and the use of relative data values, i.e., expert opinion. While my results have limitations and should be considered together with other material, they provide valuable insights into identifying important meadows and forested areas for pollinators and addressing connectivity gaps.
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(2021)Collisions and near accidents between pedestrians and cyclists can result in serious injuries and death but have received limited academic attention. Using an online survey, this thesis aimed to increase knowledge of such events, assess the sense of safety of pedestrians and cyclists in traffic as well as identify safety-related constraints to the uptake of walking and cycling with practice theory. Practice theory considers human behaviour to be guided via participation in established social practices constituted by interconnected elements of meaning, material and competence. As such, this thesis contributes to debates concerning barriers to walking and cycling from a safety perspective. The survey was directed to Finnish cities with over 100,000 population and asked frequent pedestrians and cyclists to report details of collisions and near accidents between pedestrians and cyclists that they had experienced in the previous three years. Additionally, the survey asked questions concerning respondents’ sense of safety in traffic when walking or cycling. Survey data was analysed with chi-square tests of independence and ordinal logistic regression. Constraints to the uptake of cycling and walking and ways to overcome them were identified with a practice theory analysis. This involved examining the implications of survey results for the elements constituting the practices, their interrelations and how the practices influenced each other. According to the results, near accidents are roughly 50 times more frequent than collisions. Only 16 respondents had experienced a collision, whereas roughly a third had experienced at least one near accident. Additionally, shared paths were associated with more collisions and near accidents compared to separated spaces, and respondents felt less safe and less willing to travel on them compared to separated paths. The most common type of collision and near accident involved both road users travelling in the same direction. Constraints to cycling and walking were found to surface from meanings of danger associated particularly with shared infrastructure, a material element of the practices. These issues are evidenced by a high near accident frequency, low sense of safety and low willingness to travel on shared spaces. In addition, these issues were exacerbated by a lack of competences concerning space sharing, resulting in poor rapport and respect between pedestrians and cyclists. Significant effects regarding sense of safety were detected between pedestrians and cyclists and across age and genders with ordinal logistic regression, suggesting variance in how different groups experience meanings of danger. Intervening in the material element of the practices by preferring the provision of spatially separated infrastructure was considered to have potential to help overcome these constraints due to their associated safety benefits and respondents’ more favourable position toward them. In addition, working to develop a shared code of conduct for travel on shared environments could further mitigate constraints. Overcoming these constraints could assist the promotion of active travel and help improve the sustainability of transport while improving traffic safety and increasing physical activity.
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(2020)Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan vantaalaisista asuinalueista vallitsevia mielikuvia verkkokeskusteluissa. Työssä kysytään, millaisia mielikuvia yhdeksään vantaalaiseen asuinalueeseen keskusteluissa liitetään ja mitä sisällöllisiä teemoja sekä laadullisia sävyjä niihin tyypillisimmin sisältyy. Lisäksi verrataan, miten mielikuvien sisältö ja laatu vertautuvat alueiden sosioekonomisissa taustatekijöissä esiintyviin eroihin. Tarkoituksena on tarkastella mielikuvien ja alueiden sosioekonomisten taustojen mahdollista yhteyttä, joka voisi kiihdyttää asuinalueiden sosioekonomista eriytymistä toisistaan. Mielikuvan käsitteellä tarkoitetaan yksilön mieleensä jostakin kohteesta muodostamaa tietorakennetta, joka ohjaa hänen käyttäytymistään. Kun kohde on maantieteellinen paikka, puhutaan paikkamielikuvista. Mielikuvista voi sosiaalisessa vuorovaikutuksessa muodostua maineita, jotka ovat kulttuurisesti jaettuja ja uusinnettuja käsityksiä kohteestaan. Asuinalueiden maineilla on huomattu olevan vaikutusta siihen, miten yksilöt suuntaavat muuttopäätöksiään kaupunkiseuduilla. Tämä voi kiihdyttää alueellista eriytymistä, joka edetessään voi aiheuttaa negatiivisia vaikutuksia sosioekonomisesti huono-osaisilla asuinalueilla asuvien hyvinvointiin, elämänkulkuun ja toimintamahdollisuuksiin. Työn tutkimusalueiksi valittiin yhdeksän sosioekonomisesti erilaista asuinaluetta Vantaalta. Niitä käsitteleviä keskusteluketjuja kerättiin Vauva.fi-keskustelufoorumilta 91 kappaletta, joista analysoitiin alueisiin liitettyjä viestejä ja niiden ilmauksia sisällön ja sävyn mukaan. Sisällönanalyysin pohjalta kävi ilmi, että sosioekonomisesti kaikkein hyväosaisimpiin asuinalueisiin (Hämevaara, Vaarala ja Ylästö) liitettiin kaikkein eniten positiivisia mielikuvia ja sosioekonomisesti huono-osaisimpiin asuinalueisiin (Hakunila, Koivukylä) eniten negatiivisia mielikuvia. Poikkeustapauksiakin löytyi: sosioekonomisilta taustoiltaan keskiarvoinen Tikkurila nähtiin varsin positiivisena erityisesti liikenneyhteyksien ja palvelujen osalta. Samoin Korso nähtiin yleisellä tasolla enemmän positiivisesti kuin negatiivisesti. Sosioekonomisesti huono-osaisemman Myyrmäen alueen palvelut ja liikenneyhteydet nähtiin hyvin positiivisesti, mutta rauhallisuus ja väestö negatiivisesti. Sosioekonomisesti hyväosaiseen Kivistöön taas liitettiin paljon negatiivisia mielikuvia sen uuden keskusta-alueen suhteen. Alueella ei nähdä olevan niitä palveluja ja asuinmahdollisuuksia, joita siltä on odotettu. Tuloksien pohjalta näyttää siltä, että asuinalueiden sosioekonomisen taustan ja niistä johdettujen mielikuvien välillä on tiettyä yhteyttä, mutta se ei ole automaattinen. Alueesta voidaan johtaa sosioekonomista taustaansa positiivisempia mielikuvia sekä päinvastoin, jos alueista tulkitaan niitä vahvistavia merkkejä. Alueellisen eriytymisen ehkäisemisen kannalta olisikin tärkeää, että huono-osaisia asuinalueita kehitettäessä myös mielikuva- ja mainetyöhön panostettaisiin kokonaisuuden onnistumiseksi.
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(2024)Tutkielmassa tarkasteltiin pääkaupunkiseudun kerrostalolähiöiden asuntokannan sekä sosioekonomisen aseman yleistä kehitystä ja näiden välistä yhteyttä 2000-luvulla. Sosioekonomisen eriytyminen eli segregaatio on noussut 2000-luvulla keskeiseksi teemaksi sekä kaupunkitutkimuksessa että -politiikassa. Tutkielmassa eriytymiskehitystä tarkastellaan pääkaupunkiseudun kerrostalolähiöiden tasolla, joiden kehittäminen ja segregaatiokehitykseen puuttuminen on nähty nousevaksi kaupunkisuunnittelulliseksi trendiksi Helsingissä. Tutkielmassa merkittäväksi kerrostalolähiöiden kehittämisen taustavaikuttajaksi kaupunkisuunnittelullisten ideoiden lisäksi nähtiin myös kaupunkien yleinen pyrkimys kasvuun, joka toimii monen toimijan motiivina kehittää ja rakentaa kerrostalolähiöitä. Tutkimusasetelmassa luotiin teoreettinen taustamalli, jolla selitetään kerrostalolähiöiden kehittämisen kaupunkisuunnittelullisia motiiveja 2000-luvulla. Mallin taustalla on näkemys siitä, että kerrostalolähiöiden sosioekonomisen tason kehitys saattaa olla polkuriippuvaisella tavalla urautunutta, jolloin eriytymiskehityksen suunnan muuttaminen näyttäytyy haastavana tehtävänä. Tutkimusaiheen taustalla vaikuttaa kerrostalolähiöiden kehittämiseen liittyvä kaupunkisuunnittelullinen ajatus, jonka mukaan kerrostalolähiöiden asuntokantaan vaikuttaminen sosiaalisen sekoittamisen periaatteen mukaisilla toimilla, voi toimia lähiön attraktiota lisäävänä tekijänä ja siten vaikuttaa myös monipuolistavalla tavalla lähiön asukasrakenteeseen. Pääkaupunkiseudun kerrostalolähiöiden kehitystä tarkasteltiin uudenlaisella kahden aluetason vertailulla, jolla pyrittiin vastaamaan myös kysymykseen siitä, millainen aluetason valinnan vaikutus on siihen, miten tarkasteltava ilmiö näyttäytyy. Kehityksen tarkastelu suoritettiin lähiöiden ominaisuuksia kuvaavien lukujen muutoksen kautta vuosina 2000, 2012 ja 2019. Asuntokannan ominaisuuksien ja sosioekonomisen tason yhteyttä tarkasteltiin regressioanalyysillä, joka toteutettiin tutkimusalueiden asuntojen ominaisuuksien osuuksia kuvaavilla compositional data -muuttujilla Tutkielman tuloksina havaittiin, että pääkaupunkiseudun kerrostalolähiöt ovat 2000-luvulla eriytyneet sosioekonomisesti muista alueista, siten että yhä useampi lähiöistä kuului matalan sosioekonomisen tason ryhmään. Samanaikaisesti asuntokannan ominaisuuksissa ei ole tapahtunut kovin merkittäviä muutoksia, minkä katsottiin kertovan siitä, että eriytymiskehitys on tulkittavissa urautuneeksi. Samanaikaisesti kerrostalolähiöiden vuokra-asuntojen osuus oli kuitenkin yleisesti kasvanut, minkä tulkitaan kertovan yleisestä asumisen finansialisaatiosta näillä alueilla. Analyysi paljasti aikaisemmistakin tutkimuksista tutun omistusasumisen sekä pientaloasumisen osuuksien positiivisen yhteyden alueen sosioekonomiseen asemaan. Uutena muuttujana tarkasteltiin asuntojen huonelukujen yhtyettä sosioekonomiseen tasoon, ja tuloksena havaittiin, että suurten perheasuntojen osuudella on suora sosioekonomista tasoa kasvattava yhteys ja pienillä perheasuntojen osuudella taas sitä laskeva yhteys. Tulokset korostuivat aluetasovertailussa siten, että aluetason valinnalla on vaikutus siihen, miten voimakkaana eriytymisilmiö näyttäytyy. Kun kerrostalolähiöitä tarkastellaan tiukalla aluerajauksella, jolloin alueella ei ole paljon pientaloja, näyttäytyy eriytymisilmiö voimakkaampana kuin laajemmalla aluetasolla tarkasteltuna, minkä katsoa kertovan kerrostalolähiöiden ydinalueiden 2000-luvun urautuneesta kehityksestä.
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(2024)Informal settlements have been widely seen as a challenge to sustainable development programmes in the Global South. Due to their dense informal waterfront settlements with comparable and associated issues of environmental, economic, and social sustainability/justice that surround urban redevelopment and planning, the cities of Lagos and Manila were selected as the study areas. In both cities, the ways of addressing the problems of the informal settlements have remained fragmented. To enhance redevelopment, various planning strategies have been adopted but largely with the same result of forceful eviction and displacement of people, despite differences in how the problems are approached. This thesis utilizes eight (8) published scientific papers relating to urban redevelopment and planning strategies in Lagos’ and Manila’s informal waterfront settlements. The research findings reveal that Lagos and Manila authorities moved to redevelop the waterfront area to ensure environmental protection and reduce natural hazards. These cities adopted public-private partnership to enhance redevelopment and modernize the waterfronts to promote investment, and prevent loss of life and properties. The findings reveal that the top-down planning approach adopted pushed the informal settlers into bad living conditions which is worse than the fear of natural disaster outbreak along the coastline, which the government cited for redevelopment. This generated new ways of politics and democracy where social movements have challenged and protested against the government. The social groups mediate for justice and call on the stakeholders to embrace community-led planning approaches. This thesis concludes that there is a need to have win-win relationships among the stakeholders to have a better planning process. It recommends more research on informal waterfront settlements as it uncovers a wide gap in the literature. In addition, sea level rise was only mentioned without in-depth discussion in Amakihe’s article, to justify the reason for waterfront settlers’ eviction. I recommend future studies to look into the sea level rise as part of the discussion on informal waterfront redevelopment.
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(2020)This Master’s thesis studies the mechanisms connected to negative changes in educational outcomes in upper comprehensive schools in Helsinki. What are the factors associated with negative changes in educational outcomes of individual students during the transition from 7th to 9th grade? There is an increased socioeconomic and ethnic segregation in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, and the differences between schools’ levels of success have also been growing throughout the 21st century. There is little research on combining schools and city development in Finland. The aim is to examine is there an association between decreasing individual educational outcomes and socio-spatial or school segregation, and to look at what is the role of individual factors and social context in decreased educational outcomes. Studying pupils and schools is a good way to capture local processes of differentiation and neighbourhood effect, because children and youth are especially prone to neighbourhood and school effects due to their ongoing process of socialization, localized lives in their neighbourhood and shared institutions, such as school. This study is conducted quantitatively, and the main method in this study is hierarchical linear regression. The data is from Metropolitan Longitudinal Finland research, which studies the success and wellbeing of pupils in upper comprehensive schools in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. The study was conducted during the Fall of 2011 and the Spring of 2014 tracking the same cohort when the pupils were in their 7th and 9th grades. The results suggest that there are no differences found between schools, but some of the qualities describing neighborhoods indicate that some neighbourhood effect might be found. There are indications that pupils with decreased educational outcomes are more likely to study in schools that are located in low income areas than higher income areas. Also, for pupils with decreased educational outcomes, attending a school that is located in Northern or Southeastern Great districts is more likely than attending a school in Eastern Great district. Based on the results, pupils with negative change in educational outcomes are more likely to spend time with friends of own area than with school friends. Boys have a bigger risk for a negative change in educational outcomes than girls, and the change of school is connected to decreased educational outcomes. Mother’s education and immigration background was not found to have connection with decreased educational outcomes. Decreased educational outcomes have a connection with a low parents’ pedagogical ethos, but no connection with peers’ pedagogical ethos was found. The results are significant from the perspective of urban and educational politics and planning. The indications that the educational outcomes in upper comprehensive schools in Helsinki are differentiated in neighborhood level for example between Great districts, and in individual level between genders, challenge the goals of equal educational opportunities. Also, urban planning should be targeted to prevent socio-spatial differentiation of neighborhoods, in order to combat differentiation in schools’ composition of pupils. In future research, the starting level of educational success could be studied more closely- does decrease in educational outcomes implicate different educational paths for pupils that start with high starting level than pupils that have lower starting level in the beginning? This study provided information that there are no differences between schools found currently, but the processes of differentiation are not stable, so the processes should be observed continuously.
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(2024)Helsinki’s residential social mix has undoubtedly altered how socio-economic classes, and, more recently, how ethnic groups situate throughout the city. Analyzing the residential patterns of Vietnamese speakers within the Helsinki Metropolitan Region, the study asks how the Finnish Vietnamese have managed to preserve their heritage culture and language as a result. The results find minimal clustering and relatively high levels of spatial assimilation amongst the city’s Vietnamese speakers. These findings bring attention to the Vietnamese’s comparatively high labor market participation during the core years of integration to Finland, which likely prompted the group’s proportional upward spatial mobility within the Helsinki Metropolitan Region. This, however, does not account for the disproportionate, yet, marginal population growth taking place in certain residential areas since 2000. Considering how the city’s social mixing policies and goals shape the experiences of migrants, the research further analyzes how these mechanisms may be affecting processes of heritage culture and language preservation for migrant communities.
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(2021)Uudenlaiset sopimusperustaiset suunnittelun tavat ovat nousseet 2000-luvun aikana osaksi suomalaista hallinto- ja suunnittelutoimintaa. Uudet suunnittelun tavat ovat nostaneet esiin kysymyksiä sopimusperustaisen suunnittelun demokraattisesta legitimiteetistä eli kansanvallan mukaisesta hyväksyttävyydestä. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelen sopimusperustaisen suunnittelun legitimiteetin ongelmia ja mahdollisuuksia strategisen kaupunkiseutusuunnittelun kontekstissa. Mistä riippuu se, onko uusissa toimintatavoissa demokraattisen legitimiteetin ongelmaa? Tutkimukseni tuottaa tietoa niistä tavoista, joilla relationaalinen legitimiteetti muodostuu uusien hallinnon toimintatapojen tapauksessa. Analyysini mahdollistaa esimerkiksi niiden päätöksenteon ja suunnittelun legitimiteettiä koskevien periaatteiden kriittisen tarkastelun, joihin nykyisenkaltaista sopimusperustaista kaupunkiseutusuunnittelua tehtäessä sitoudutaan. Valtion, kaupunkien ja kuntien välinen MAL-suunnittelutoiminta ja sitä ympäröivä keskustelu tarjoaa lähestymispisteen sopimusperustaisen suunnittelun legitimiteetin analyysille. Käsittelen sopimusperustaisen MALsuunnittelun legitimiteettiä tukeutuen teorioihin demokraattisuudesta ja osallistumisesta. Analyysini mukaan MAL-suunnittelu edustaa institutionaalisen kontrollin ja episteemisen realismin arvoja. Johtopäätöksenä esitän tulkintani legitimiteetin relationaalisesta muodostumisesta MAL-suunnittelussa. Uusien hallinnon innovaatioiden hyväksyttävyys ja tehokkuus riippuvat toimintatavan suhteesta muihin hallinnon osiin ja oikeuttavan yleisön arvoista. Jaettujen näkemisen tapojen kiinnittyminen osaksi instituutioiden käytäntöjä ja poliittista kulttuuria ovat keskeisessä osassa paremman legitimiteetin rakentumiselle sopimusperustaiselle suunnittelulle. MALsuunnittelun kannalta keskeinen imaginaari on toiminnallinen kaupunkiseutu suunnittelun, hallinnon, elämisen ja talouden tilallisena yksikkönä.
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(2024)Both public and private sector have increased their efforts to construct leisure functions for public spaces during the past few decades. In the literature, the process is known as domestication or pacification of public spaces - often with a critical outlook. Recently, many scholars have pushed more nuanced understandings of domestication where everyday homemaking of public space is also recognised. Leisure spaces are constantly being contested and negotiated which causes loosening of previously tight boundaries of inhabitation and encourages previously unattainable ways of homemaking. The thesis builds on these themes by looking at both looseness and tightness of domestication from the perspective of users. The strands of River Aura in Turku provided a case study area where leisure functions have largely replaced previous port and manufacturing functions. The city has branded the river as "the common living room of Turku" and has encouraged spending more time by the river. Many of the measures take advantage of the existing historical context, both pre-industrial and industrial, to generate artificial leisure identity for the city centre. The thesis utilized on-site individual interviews (N=44) and off-site group interviews (N=14, three groups) to analyse user perception of the riverfront leisure spaces. Most of the on-site interviewees expressed profound satisfaction over domestication in terms of seating, amenities, and atmosphere. However, they had detailed hopes to add more inclusive and adaptive furnishing at the riverfront. Therefore, their focus on domestication was usually on the practical everyday matters rather than on large-scale urban developments. Based on the analysis of the group interviews, the materiality and the circulation interact daily through loose and tight domestication. Meanwhile, the atmosphere seems to be a more fundamental feature formed by a long-term interaction between the materiality and the circulation. Thus, the users were quite ambivalent regarding any attempts to change the atmosphere and instead expected public sector to assist residents in transforming the materiality and the circulation according to their wishes.
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(2019)In current city policies, cultural events take part in urban, social and economic development contributing in place making and city branding. This master thesis examines the role of the forthcoming Helsinki contemporary art biennial within the city strategies to fulfill social, economic and environmentally sustainable development. The vision of the city of Helsinki is to be the world’s most functional city, creating the best conditions for residents and visitors as well as an attractive knowledge hub for companies and individuals. The potential of achieving some of the strategies’ objectives through the contemporary art biennial is analyzed through interviews with experts of Helsinki Art Museum and benchmarking the city of Helsinki with other long-term biennial cities, specifically, Venice, Berlin and Liverpool. For the benchmarking, it has been used data provided by the European Commission’s on line platform “Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor”. Helsinki biennial takes part in the place-making, city branding as well as in the strategic plan for the city. Overall, the event is efficiently related to most of the objectives of the city strategies, of which the maritime strategy, the project for youth social inclusion, exercise and mobility, health and welfare promotion. The convergent outputs of the analysis of Helsinki provided positive scenarios on the creation of new jobs within the creative economy and revealed that human capital and education sectors might undertake a significant increase. Yet, a broad overview on the strategies for the city of Helsinki 2017-2021 revealed contrasting aspects within the sustainable development principles. The new jobs created through the maritime strategy seem not completely fulfill the ambitious aims of the city strategies to create new captivating jobs through new companies and startups. Furthermore, in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, environmentally sustainable alternatives for the Biennial in the island of Vallisaari should be carefully considered.
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(2019)This master’s thesis studies the residential mobility patterns of the “second generation”, i.e., the native-born descendants of immigrants, in Finnish cities. The focus of the study is on the first-time departures from the parental home, and especially on their timing and destination neighbourhood types, which will be reflected through the theoretical framework of spatial integration. The study aims to provide new empirical knowledge on the home-leaving second generation which will be used to reflect whether the classic theory of spatial assimilation manages to depict their residential mobility patterns in relation to the native-born Finns and first-generation immigrants. The study analyses the differences in the timing and destination neighbourhood types of the home-leaving event using register-based longitudinal data on individuals between ages 16 and 32 in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku regions over the period 1999–2015. The neighbourhoods are classified either as concentrations or non-concentrations based on their share of inhabitants with an immigrant background. The study employs mainly discrete-time event-history methods in analysis. The impacts of the demographic and socioeconomic attributes on the home-leaving patterns are evaluated with logistic regression analysis. The results suggest a general similarity of residential mobility patterns for the home-leaving second generation and their native-born Finnish peers while the first-generation immigrants remain a distinct group, especially by moving more often to concentrations compared to the two other groups. Among the second generation, the classic straight-line assimilation theory manages to depict the best the home-leaving patterns for the individuals with Western and West Asian and North African background. There is a small delay in the timing of the home-leaving for all individuals with an immigrant background compared to the native-born Finns which cannot be completely explained by the differences in their demographic and socioeconomic background. The parental neighbourhood type appears as a significant predictor for the destination neighbourhood type; having lived in a concentration as a child suggested increased odds of home-leaving to a concentration as well. One possible explanation for this is discrimination in the housing markets which is both impacting the possibilities for the young adults to pursue their independent housing careers and the neighbourhoods where they are growing up in. The remaining differences in the timing, after taking the differences in the demographic and socioeconomic background into account, is small but significant enough to be taken into account in further studies.
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(2020)The themes of this thesis are alternative, informal, and uncommercial cultural spaces, the scenes using the spaces, and the individual scene participants. The study’s frame is Helsinki between 2000–2019. The study combines relevant theoretical discussion from subculture research tradition and urbanism. The key concepts of the thesis are ‘scenes,’ a cultural definition of ‘subculture,’ ‘alternative cultural spaces,’ ‘DIY culture’ (‘do it yourself’), and ‘enclaves.’ The thesis presents Helsinki’s ‘DIY landscape’ to consist of interconnected actors—scene participants—who are part of a network that revolves around making, performing and facilitating music in a specific urban infrastructure—the city, Helsinki—and in which the alternative cultural spaces create physical ‘hubs’ for the scene. The data has been collected online via a combination of oral history recollections and qualitative surveying. The data was collected in collaboration between Helsinki City Museum and Music Archive Finland in fall 2019. The data consist of 70 individual responses. The data is treated through the epistemology of qualitative research and oral history, and therefore is seen to include both ‘factual’ information and the informant’s subjective interpretations, their experience. On a practical level, the analysis has been conducted mainly via qualitative content analysis (QCA), but also geographic information system (GIS) has been used. The study aims to explicate a widely recognized but poorly known cultural phenomenon. The study’s key results are as follows. Four types of alternative cultural spaces have existed: dedicated buildings, rooms, outdoor venues, and even a ship. All of the study’s 34 spaces have hosted live music events and a variety of other cultural, political, and social activities. The spaces have been acquired for use by renting, squatting, and asking permission, and in two cases are owned by the facilitator. With some exceptions, they are located in the fringe areas of Helsinki’s city center, have a relatively short lifespan (maximum of five years in a set location) and share ‘aesthetics of necessity’ that roots meager or non-existent funding and the use of subcultural symbols and art. The spaces follow certain ‘DIY operating principles’ that aim to create an encouraging and inclusive atmosphere for DIY participation. The spaces, and their users, have faced a variety of challenges, setbacks, and problems. These are rooted in funding, the deficits of the buildings and their facilities, and to other citizens, the police, and the City of Helsinki. The City’s role emerges from the data as ambivalent—a constrainer and enabler. According to the responder’s experience, the City does not have a uniform policy towards the use of vacant urban space, and DIY culture overall is not recognized. For the scenes, the alternative cultural spaces function as platforms where cherish—often ‘marginal’—music and subcultures. Some of the participants connect political and societal ideals to the spaces and DIY activities. DIY activities emerged as—sometimes self-purposefully—social and communal by their nature. In the spaces between scene participants take place socio-cultural ‘cross-fertilization,’ which sometimes leads to new organizational groups and even scenes forming. These might relocate their practices elsewhere, and thus DIY culture spreads to new locations in the urban infrastructure. For the individual scene participants, crossing with the scene represents an important part of finding a social reference group. Some of the responders described going through a ‘DIY phase,’ which is a several yearlong period in their youth when life orientations and identity are intensively connected to DIY culture. The meaningfulness of scene participation lasts to later life, even if the participant’s active years are foregone. For some, the skills and knowledge acquired in the scene creates a basis for a more professional career in cultural production. As the reasons for the diminish or end of the DIY participation are given the closure of an alternative cultural space focal for the participant, challenges in activities, and major life events. In the discussion, the thesis suggests the concept of ‘urban DIY enclaves’ in the toolboxes of urban planners and designers. The DIY enclaves differentiate from the broader urban landscape by their condition, aesthetics, political messages, and subcultural symbols. Socially they have been constructed to advance DIY culture and cherish the creative lifestyle associated with it. The concept is suggested as a device for acknowledging the existence of DIY culture; in other words, its need for space, and its participants’ eagerness to participate in the construction of the urban and cultural landscape.
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(2021)The Master´s thesis examines the conceived value patterns the city officials use in the context of land-use regulation of small forest fragments. As a theoretical framework, the study utilises Boltanski and Thévenot´s theory on the common worlds with complementary literature, such as Thévenot’s cognitive formats and engagements. In light of extensive scientific research, urban greenspaces have multiple positive impacts to both urban structure and wellbeing of the residents. Small greenspaces, so-called forest fragments with no appointed recreational activities are, nevertheless, often presented as potential sites for infill construction. This appears especially in cities where strong population growth causes pressure for urban development. This Master´s thesis complements existing research in this regard by revealing the diversity of valuation that form the basis to differing interests, perspectives and decisions that direct urban land-use policy in these forest fragments. The empirical phase has been conducted among city officials in the City of Espoo (FI), who represent different operative units and positions. The analysis was conducted through an exploratory and semiquantitative Q methodology. In the study, the respondents (N=27) validated statements (Q=35) related to planning decisions on small forest fragments. The factor extraction was conducted by principal component analysis. The seven analysed factors form consistent value patterns, which may be used when describing and interpreting the justification of urban planning regulation in forest fragments. In each individual value pattern, either valuation of the local landscape, public good or personal advantage is emphasised. From the common worlds, argumentation based on the industrial or the market worlds highlight personal affinity, whereas, for instance, the civic or the domestic world form a basis for argumentation on social values and the common good. Human-centred biophilia is the most explanatory of the value patterns. Based on the valuation, forest fragments are seen as an integral part of the urban structure especially due to their cultural ecosystem services, such as recreational possibilities, effect on residents´ environmental consciousness and stability of the local landscape.
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(2020)Espoon kaupunkirakenne tiivistyy yhä enemmän asukasmäärän kasvaessa. Viheralueiden tärkeys osana terveellistä ja viihtyisää kaupunkiympäristöä on huomioitu Espoon strategiassa valtuustokaudelle 2017-2021. Kaupunkirakenteen tiivistyminen aiheuttaa kuitenkin usein painetta rakentaa viheralueille. Viheralueiden väheneminen ja pirstoutuminen voi vähentää asuinympäristön viihtyisyyttä. Asukkaiden kokemusten kerääminen voi antaa tärkeää tietoa asuinympäristöjen viheralueista, jotka usein etenkin Suomessa koetaan merkityksellisinä paikkoina. Espoon kaupunkisuunnittelukeskuksen yleiskaavayksikössä onkin Kaupunkikeskustatyön yhteydessä tarkoitus selvittää viheralueisiin liittyviä arvostuksia, sekä kokemuksia eri kaupunkikeskusten viheralueista. Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää viheralueisiin liittyviä kokemuksia ja merkityksiä Espoon viiden kaupunkikeskuksen asemanseuduilla asukasnäkökulmasta. Tulokset toimivat viheraluesuunnittelun tukena Espoon kaupunkikeskustatyössä. Tutkielmassa on pyritty vastaamaan siihen, millaisia viheralueita Espoon kaupunkikeskuksissa arvostetaan, mikä merkitys lähiviheralueilla on, sekä millaisia kokemuksia asukkailla on viheralueista muun muassa sosiaalisten arvojen osalta. Kaupunkikeskusten (Espoon keskus, Espoonlahti, Leppävaara, Matinkylä-Olari ja Tapiola) välisiä eroja tarkastellaan asemanseutujen viheralueiden osalta. Näitä viheralueiden käyttöön vaikuttavia tekijöitä tutkittiin karttapohjaisen PPGIS-kyselyn avulla, jossa asukkaat saivat paikantaa kartalle erilaisia viheralueita, sekä kertoa kokemuksistaan. Kyselytulokset kertovat, että kaupunkikeskusten asukkailla on läheinen suhde luontoon. Vastaajajoukon (N=616) vastausten perusteella Espoon kaupunkikeskuksissa lähiviheralueet ovat hyvin tärkeitä ja vaikuttavat asuinpaikan valintaan. Asukkaat arvostavat etenkin hyviä ulkoilureittejä, asuinympäristön vehreyttä, hiljaista ja rauhallista ympäristöä, sekä metsiä. Lisäksi tulokset kertovat millaisia positiivisia ja negatiivisia koettuja laatuja viheralueilla esiintyy. Kaupunkeskuksissa käydään erityisesti hyvin saavutettavissa olevilla ja sellaisilla viheralueilla, joilla on mahdollisuus eri liikuntamuotoihin, sekä virkistymiseen ja stressin vähentämiseen. Liikunta-aktiviteettien ja rauhoittumisen lisäksi moni tarkkailee luontoa. Kaupunkiluonto edistääkin asukkaiden psyykkistä että fyysistä terveyttä liikunnan ja positiivisten luontokokemusten johdosta.
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