Browsing by discipline "Regional Studies"

East Usambara Mountains situated in North-Eastern Tanzania, are globally recognized tropical forests that have a high biodiversity value. The Amani Nature Reserve encloses a high concentration of endemic species within versatile biodiversity. The aim of this study is to measure the ecotourism possibilities and potential of the Amani Nature Reserve and to provide sustainable areal development and livelihood option and outline the regional characteristic important in terms of ecotourism. The data for this study was gathered during a field trip in Tanzania, in January-March 2012, as part of an internship for WWF Finland, Coastal East Africa Initiative. The qualitative methods used included a structured questionnaire, semi-structured and in-depth interviews, field observation and literature analysis. Also, several discussions between different regional stakeholders were carried out. Six villages in the East Usambara Mountains are studied. The study concludes that the Amani Nature Reserve has high potential for ecotourism development and the area offers diverse nature related activities albeit the current visitor statistics are low. The overall results indicate the high value and possibilities with regional biodiversity, the locals' positive attitudes towards tourism but also the areal weaknesses; poor infrastructure, lack of facilities and services. The locals' willingness to cooperate and participate in ecotourism functions and existing cultural assets were also recognized. The Amani Nature Reserve's location, uniqueness and existing facilities strongly support the future ecotourism development. However the locals' knowledge on tourism impacts and conservation issues should be reinforced because there are currently multiple threats towards these tropical forests such as population growth and forest fragmentation. Ecotourism could reinforce forest conservation, local empowerment and sustainable livelihoods. In order to safeguard the ecotourism resource base, the environment, the ecotourism actions need to follow the ecotourism objectives and principles and consider different spatial environmental, social and economic characteristics. According to these principles the locals must be integrated in actions and decision-making processes at all levels and careful ecotourism planning, management and monitoring must take place. The ecotourism network development in Tanzania is highly possible because of the country's spectacular natural beauty and political stability. In order to safeguard the remaining life supporting wildlife also different stakeholders and locals should be engaged to work in cooperation seeking sustainable conservation means, such as ecotourism.

Ecosystem services are benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Ecosystem services can be classified to provisioning, supporting/regulating and cultural services. The target of ecosystem services framework is sustainable management of nature. By applying the ecosystem services framework we can identify ecosystem services and understand the way in which nature benefits people. Ecosystem service approach can be applied for example in landscape planning. This research focuses on urban ecosystem services. Urban landscape is constantly developing. Therefore, decisions that strongly affect ecosystem services are required in landscape planning process. Especially, green areas are decreasing due to new urban structure. Via the concept of green infrastructure, green infra can be designed particularly to produce ecosystem services that support thewhole city structure. Before this is possible, ecosystem services and structures that creates them must be identified. Ecosystem services mapping produce background information for planning. There is no single mapping method as we can map ecosystem services for example by demand, supply or production potential. The objective of this case study was to examine the ecosystem services potential in Kivenlahti by using GIS data. Research was carried out producing two mappings both based on same method but different datasets. First dataset, the green infrastructure map, is based on aerial photos and field surveys. The other dataset is 'Corine Land cover'. Hypothesis was that using different data would create different results. Both green infra and Corine land cover data were compared to ecosystem services in order to find out different land cover types' capacities to provide the individual service. The relation between land cover classes and ecosystem services was valued on a scale 0-3. 0 stands for no potential to produce ecosystem service and 3 that potential is high. Based on these results and using GIS, it was possible to survey single ecosystem services, ecosystem service sectors and to find out where ecosystem hot-spots and blind spots are located. There are five ecosystem hotspots recognized in the area. Blind spots include densely built areas. Both forests and ocean have high potential to produce major of provisioning, supporting/regulating and cultural services. The meaning of provisioning services is least important whereas cultural services are significant. The variance of supporting and regulating services is wide. The most significant difference between the two mapping methods is that the grid size in Corine land cover is 25 meters whereas the green infra data is very detailed. On the other hand, Corine data covers the whole Finland therefore it is possible to conduct the research in other areas. The findings in the research can be used as a background information in upcoming planning process. Ecosystem hot-spots should be included into planning of green infrastructure. Functional ecosystem service network supports in various ways city structure. In addition, well-planned and functional green infrastructure ensures sustainability of ecosystem services in the future.

New transportation links tend to have a major impact on the location decisions of businesses. Although the decision-making process of the location of businesses is too complex to fully open up with a theoretical framework, accessibility in all of its different forms seems to be one of the key factors for all industries. Globalization and the development of ICT were believed to diminish the importance physical location for businesses. However, the impact has been the opposite. In the new urban form, it is possible to find relational economic spaces, which do not depend on borders or predefined areas. Still the predefined area remains a key factor in the coordination and identification of the business. With Kehärata, a commuter railway link set to open in 2015, a new horizontal transportation rail-link and several highly accessible locations will emerge in Vantaa and in the Helsinki region. The purpose of this thesis was to research how Kehärata will affect the locations of workplaces and businesses in Vantaa. The research methods were thematic interviews and GIS analyses. 10 thematic interviews were conducted with real estate investors, businesspeople, construction company representatives and local politicians. The GIS analysis showed that already in the current state, the workplaces in Vantaa form various regional patters in different industries. During the last decades, the workplaces in the Helsinki Metropolitan Region have moved strongly towards a polycentric form and so-called Metapolis structure. This kind of urban form has also been in the core of the new paradigm of urban geography research. The thematic interviews showed that Kehärata is a welcomed improvement to the horizontal transportation network in Vantaa and in the whole region. The urban form in Vantaa is already now polycentric, but Kehärata will increase the number of sub-centers even further with areas like Vehkala, Leinelä and Kivistö, which are highly dependent on the railway. From the point of view of firms, all stations cannot be equally appealing. In this situation the new polycentric urban form should be seen as a resource, where the locations with highest accessibility are developed within the city. However these locations should not be homogenous, but rather be differentiated through branding and urban planning. Differentiated areas within the city enable high level of specialization and make it possible for firms to gain agglomeration benefits. For instance the development and future prospects of Aviapolis area was highlighted in the interviews as very positive. According to the GIS analysis, the amount of workplaces accessible by train in Vantaa, will increase approximately by half after the railway is operational (From one third, to almost half of all workplaces in Vantaa). Additionally new railway connections have the tendency to concentrate workplaces near the stations, so the workplace accessibility by rail is probably even higher in the future. However car transport has had a major impact on the current urban form of Vantaa. The accessibility by car and by train are very different in nature and with Kehärata, two overlapping transportation networks are formed to the city. Despite of the negative environmental impacts of private cars, the city has to be still strongly planned also form the point of view of car owners. Interviewees were hoping that the new station areas would be built as compact urban environments, but contradictory they also saw that good logistical accessibility (with trucks) was one of the key benefits of the current economic environment in Vantaa and it should be supported also in the future. The somewhat poor imago of Vantaa was not seen as an obstacle when firms located to Vantaa, but it was seen as a problem when attracting new residents to the city. In the post-industrial society, the importance of employees to firm location is higher than ever and through tax income it is also a key factor in the public finance of cities.

This thesis explores territorial stigma in the Helsinki capital region from residents' perspective. The aim of the study is to find out, whether there are stigmatised neighbourhoods in the region. Another purpose is to analyse what kind of neighbourhoods are stigmatised and what kind of people experience the stigma. In this study people are considered to experience the stigma if they are unwilling to tell where they live. The analysis focuses on the socioeconomic structure of the neighbourhoods and the socioeconomic status and the cultural orientation of the residents. The primary research data is a survey about the wellbeing of residents in the Helsinki metropolitan region conducted in 2012. The experience of the territorial stigma is determined based on the agreement with a statement 'I don't like telling where I live'. Statistical data about the structure of neighbourhoods is provided by Statistics Finland. The study is quantitative, and the main research methods include descriptive analysis, comparison of means and factor analysis. In addition, GIS methods are used to combine and visualise the data. The results show that territorial stigma is an existing phenomenon in the Helsinki capital region. There are mainly two types of stigmatised neighbourhoods: areas with either a very low or high socioeconomic profile. However, the stigma is not very strong since even in the most stigmatised neighbourhoods only a clear minority experiences it. On the individual level the stigma does not seem to be related to respondents' socioeconomic status but rather to their cultural orientation. The respondents who don't like telling where they live find challenges, success and personal development less important than the other respondents. Not all low and high-profile neighbourhoods are stigmatised, however. It seems that the stigma is a problem mainly in those neighbourhoods that have a significantly bad or an elite reputation. In the light of international research the stigmatisation of low-profile neighbourhoods is not a surprise. What makes the Helsinki region an interesting and special case is the stigma attached to living in elite neighbourhoods. The reason for this phenomenon might lie in the 'Finnish mentality' that stresses normality and modesty. This study focuses solely on the existence of the territorial stigma. Previous international research shows that living in a stigmatised neighbourhood may have a negative impact on many aspects of life including social relationships and employment. Therefore it would be important to study the consequences of the stigma and the possible ways to prevent them in the Helsinki capital region as well.

This thesis examines the concepts of accessibility in the process of urban planning. Conducted thesis emphasises the political aspect of the planning and is focused on the use of power. The objective of this thesis is to develop a new approach to accessibility debate. By examining the use of power, this thesis highlights the notion of accessibility as a process, its ongoing nature and the importance of local-historical context. The adapted conceptual framework consists of intertwined theoretical concepts which are related through their connection to the political aspect of urban planning and marginalization. The main perspective is the power analytics by Michel Foucault. Research questions, developed based on literature, are examined with the help of the project of Matkakeskustunneli in Tampere, Finland. Data obtained from this project consists of eight interviews of the key project actors during the beginning of the project of Matkakeskustunneli. Early stages are analyzed with narrative method. The results are presented as local stories on micro level and as research findings on macro level. According to the results, the planning concept of accessibility is dynamic and projects are custom-made. The key in accessibility research is to understand actual political and administrative behavior in each case because of the unique nature of the planning processes. The conducted brings forth that the accessibility should be understood as a part of process of urban planning and special attention should be paid to the local-historical planning context. The empirical results from the project of Matkakeskustunneli indicated that the forming the subject of accessibility requires more attention. This will expand the understanding of those (hidden) starting points which affect to the procedures and planning policies. Moreover, this study argues how the planning of accessibility should be understood as a two-part planning process where each actor has a different position and emphasis and the key points of planning of accessibility are formed in both actor arenas. Results of this thesis also demonstrates how power relations and the use of power affects to accessibility planning in a positive way allthought it requires favorable context.

The aim of this study is to find out about away trips that Finnish ice hockey supporters make within Finland. The idea is also to find out if destination cities of the trips could better benefit from traveling hockey fans. The study aims at finding the basic frame by which the fan organizations choose their destinations, the motives of those who participate and visitors' perceptions of services available at the destination ice halls. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. Not many earlier studies about the topic exist. Literature about sport tourism concentrates mostly on people doing the sports themselves. Academic literature about sport fans, in turn, is usually about the psychological side of fandom. Several studies of Finnish ice hockey fans exist though. Also their point of view is often psychological. Many of Finnish studies are also only thesis-level works. Because of lack of earlier research about the topic, this work can be seen as a baseline research. Fan organizations choose their travel destinations mostly based on game schedule. Trips are mainly made to games played on Saturdays. On other days of the week the destination should be within a short distance. Distance to destination isn't very important on Saturdays unless the destination is very far away. Visiting fans don't spend much time at the destination city on a regular trip. Usually the fans enter the ice hall straight after stepping out of the bus and return soon after the game. However, overnight trips might interest the fans especially if the destination is far away. Previous experience about destinations also affects the choices fan organizations make. Most important reasons for participating in a trip are especially seeing the favorite team play and supporting the team. Traveling itself as a process isn't an important factor while making the decision to travel yet there could be interest to go on overnight trips more often than fans currently do. Also company affects travel decisions as people prefer going to games with friends or acquaintances. SM-Liiga ice halls seem to have all the different service types away trippers need. There's not much demand on a variety of services as visiting fans mostly buy just drinks of food. Supply of these services is good but visitors are less happy with quality, variety and price of the products sold. An important factor for game experience are the seating arrangements at the ice hall. They were found to correlate with happiness with overall game experience. Ice halls are considered safe and security works well. All in all visiting fans are happier with the service they receive at the ice halls than with the services itself. To improve their service in the eyes of visiting fans, the hosts should pay attention to variety of food and drinks and offer visitors seats that are suitable for their needs. Host organizations and local stakeholders could benefit from offering visiting fans moderately priced packages that could include for example transportation, game ticket, a meal and accommodation or some of these services. This way they could get visitors spend more money at the destination city and at the same time income would spread to a larger number of stakeholders.

Involuntary displacements are more common than ever, and the reasons vary from natural disasters, wars and conflicts to environmental degradation and development-induced displacement. Typically, the victims of these phenomena inhabit the Global South, and are further impoverished due to the lack of having a say where and how to live. The lack of social justice and recognition of social development is typical in large-scale involuntary displacements, and also affects to the abilities of people to reconstruct and recover after resettlement. The linkage between forced migration and risk to impoverishment has been widely acknowledged especially in cases that lack participatory measures and proper compensation for the victims. When the impacts are recognized, it is understood that forced resettlement has effects in the economic, social, and physical spheres of life, and can be a major burden for the urban poor. However, involuntary displacement also disrupts the attachments and constructions of sense of place, which have further impacts on social cohesion. The question of community reorganization is crucial in the context where resettlement is simultaneous and combines various heterogeneous groups. The aim of this research is to examine the extent and quality of rehabilitation after involuntary displacement in an urban environment in Sri Lanka. The focus in this research is given to women, as gender is a significant factor in resettlement outcomes, yet it is often ignored in planning and implementation. Gender roles and norms in Sri Lanka are still fixed and conventional, making it an interesting approach to study resettlement and rehabilitation and the daily interactions and perceptions on them. A case study for this research took place in four resettlement sites in the outskirts of Colombo Metro Region, Sri Lanka, which is in the midst of significant urban development plans that aim to relocate tens of thousands of slum dwellers in the need to release prime lands for investments, simultaneously beautifying the city and fighting frequent flooding. The methodological approach applied in this study addresses feminist geography while it looks at rehabilitation measures in the everyday life point of view. It utilized semi-structured interviews of resettled women as a key research method. The case study took place in upgraded underserved settlements that inhabit tsunami-displaced people and development-induced displaced people. Also local experts were interviewed in order to gain a broader understanding of the dynamics and urban policies in the Colombo Metro Region. The case evidences that rehabilitation is a slow process of adaptation, and that physical assets alone cannot improve the livelihoods of slum dwellers. More emphasis should be put into the social relations and community dynamics if participatory measures and development-from-within are to fully deliver. Also full tenure is needed in order to the people to adapt to the mainstream society. For women the question of belonging and reconstructing the sense of place is essential as they spend a lot of their time at home and the immediate environment, and are traditionally in charge of homemaking. Therefore the sense of place and community are essential in the creation of social cohesion and management of the new neighborhood, and along with gender sensitive approaches should not be overlooked if sustainable resettlement is to be pursued as a consequence of ever more crowded cities of the South.

Due to increasing population in cities transportation is facing a major challenge. Passenger car traffic cannot increase at the same rate as urban population increases. Negative externalities like carbon dioxide emissions and congestion are becoming more and more significant issues in urban areas. Only possible way to reduce these negative issues are offering sustainable transportation modes and making them as attractive as possible. Especially leisure trips have increased in past years which means that cities have become more mobile. Active and sustainable mobility like walking and cycling play key roles in transportations strategies. City of Helsinki has started to support cycling over the last few years by investing cycling infrastructure for example. In the context in which cycling has become important in urban areas several cities have opened bike sharing systems. In addition to upswing of cycling, technological development of bike sharing systems have made it possible for them to succeed. In Helsinki, the bike sharing system was launched in 2016 and in 2017 it was expanded threefold compared to the first year of operation. Understanding how recently opened system works requires a proper analysis which is made possible by the travel data produced by the system. Study design consists of revealing spatiotemporal patterns of bike share usages in Helsinki. The aim of the study is to produce important information to support operational planning of the system. On the other hand, the aim is to express the mobility and the rhythm of Helsinki by a novel data source. According to previous international studies, data mining of travel data produced by bike sharing systems has revealed clear activity patterns of bike share usage. The results show that the use of bike sharing system in Helsinki has been a success compared to other European cities for example. According to the results, bike share trips have been short which is typical to bike sharing systems. Temporally, the usage was most active during summer and spatially in the city center as well as near subway stations. The usage was found to vary considerably between weekdays and weekends. On weekdays, the usage peaked at morning rush hour and again at afternoon rush hour. At weekday morning, the rhythm of the city seems to be routine, whereas at weekday afternoon and evening mobility patterns are more complex. Spatiotemporal activity patterns revealed imbalances between departures and arrivals in few bike sharing stations. Cluster analysis revealed eight different activity patterns among bike sharing station usage. The bike sharing system has been a great success in Helsinki. City bikes are used as a part of multimodal travel chain, moving from one place to another and for leisure trips. Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of bike share usage supports planning of bike share station network. It also tells a story of the mobility and rhythm of Helsinki by a novel data source.

Helsinki is a densely built and populated Finnish city, which faces special land use management needs due to its capital status. The expected population growth causes pressure to the amount, quality and regionally equal distribution of the city´s recreation areas. The Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) method was developed to solve recreation areas´ management problems caused by a rapid increase of recreation areas´ users in United States. The ROS method developers believed that by offering diverse recreation possibilities the injurious environmental and recreational impacts caused by the increase of the users would be minimized. The method is based on an idea whereby a high quality recreation experience is best ensured by offering diverse recreation possibilities. According to the method´s theory, a recreation area´s physical features determine the recreation activities and experience possible. The purpose of the thesis is to explore the diversity of summertime outdoor recreation possibilities in Helsinki by using the ROS method. By examining the recreation conditions´ state of development or naturalness I will form a spectrum representing different recreation opportunities in Helsinki. I will also explore the main arguments for promoting diverse recreation possibilities according to the research literature. The materials of the analyzes consisted of open spatial data determining recreation areas´ physical environment, social and managerial settings. Variables of recreation areas´ physical environment consisted of the size of the area and the impacts of the surrounding land use. The social conditions of recreation areas were examined through their theoretical population pressure. The impression of naturalness, access to the recreation areas and their service facilities determined the managerial conditions. The variables were analyzed by GIS methods, most importantly by distance analyzes. The importance of diverse recreation possibilities is rationalized by three main arguments in the research literature. The diversity of recreation possibilities is justified most importantly by the high diversity of recreationists. Also the so called “problem of relying on averages” and the realization of environmental justice in recreation are key arguments to promote diverse recreation possibilities. The actual diversity of Helsinki´s recreation possibilities is low on a city level since most of the recreation areas´ land area has both natural and urban features according to the different variables. The edges of the ROS scale are strongly represented in the study area. The most natural recreation areas of Helsinki are located in Östersundom, Isosaari and Pikku Niinisaari. The most urban recreation possibilities of the city can be found from the southern parts of Central Park and from small and fragmented recreation areas typically close to the main roads and railway line. It is to be expected that the most developed recreation areas in Helsinki will face increasing population pressure in the near future. It is also likely that a considerable part of the current environments offering most natural recreation possibilities will develop more urban, when the remaining natural possibilities will centralize in to the archipelago. The decrease of environments offering natural recreation possibilities may increase the recreation use of surrounding cities´ natural recreation areas. There are already some references of the trend in Helsinki.

To date, Turkey has one of the highest refugee populations in the world. The Syrian conflict has played a major role in this as over 2,5 million Syrians have taken refuge in Turkey. Most of Syrian refugees are residing in the largest city of Turkey, Istanbul. Turkey is a signatory member of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, however has an exception for permanent residency granted only for European refugees. Thus, under Turkish refugee policy, Syrians are merely granted temporary protection that guarantees them a temporary residency permit. However, the policy does not cover; at the time of this research; the right to work. Syrian refugees, undocumented Syrians and Syrian Palestinians are especially vulnerable in Turkish society due to the lack of permanent residency and legal work. This research identifies how Syrian refugees create home as well as the factors that influence their home-making process in Istanbul. The factors are evaluated through the conditions under which Syrian refugees are residing in Istanbul including the right to work, housing and residency. The research also evaluates the refugees home-making in retrospective to their living conditions, feeling of home, legal position, access to a dwelling place as well as cultural identification. Although, this research focuses on the individual experience of home-making for Syrian refugees, it considers and examines Syrian refugees in a context of politicised bodies. As international refugees, Syrian refugees are highly politicized bodies, whose lives are affected by international politics as well as the domopolitics of the country in which they reside. Subsequently, their home and their home-making processes are also politicised. Beyond politics, refugeeness alters one's relationship to home and place, making home a complex concept attached with emotions and potential pain and loss. Literacy identifies that refugees displace their home through space and time. Hence, this research treats home as a socially and culturally produced metaphor that describes a person's belonging within socio-spatial narratives, but of which content is individually chosen to describe or to support a person's identity and psychological environment. The method of this research was a combination of two field trips to Istanbul, Turkey, fourteen in-depth interviews and qualitative analysis. The main reference of the research are the fourteen in-depth interviews that included ten men and four women; aged from 20 to 40 years old; Syrians residing in Istanbul. The interviewees were selected through social media online connections and face-to-face acquaintances during the field trips. The interviewees time of residence in Istanbul varied from two months to over four years. The eleven influencing factors identified in this research can be more commonly divided into two categories: the common factors and the personal factors. Common factors related to the responder's habitation environment; such as the city of Istanbul and the Turkish society. These common factors included: the city itself, the Turkish culture and society, the legislation, working life, housing, discrimination and relationships with their family and friends as well as with the Turkish people. The interviewees considered these factors as the ones that impacted everyday life and which they could not 'escape'. Personal factors that were identified are related to interviewees personality, world views and emotions. The interviewees could be divided into four main categories of personal factor denominators: their relationship to Syria, sense of belonging, definition of home and views of the future. This research concludes that displacement has an impact on how home is perceived and reflected by the interviewees. Its findings are in accordance to previous research literature on home-making among refugees, but it questions refugee policies that emphasis on repatriation as the most favourable long term solution for refugees as well as the position of housing as a most influential factor in refugees' home-making, by stating that other factors such as relationship to family and friends and earning a living, are higher in importance for those who have arrived into a new country less than two years ago.