Browsing by study line "Human & Urban Geography and Spatial Planning"
Now showing items 1-20 of 65
-
Airbnb:n mahdolliset vaikutukset Helsingin vuokra-asuntomarkkinoihin : vuokra-aukkoteorian näkökulma (2020)Short-term rental platforms have become widely popular in recent years, but their growth has left cities to face a variety of problems. Studies have shown, for example, that short-term rentals have led to an increase in long-term rental prices. When more and more apartments are used as short-term rentals, the supply of long-term rentals decreases. This causes more pressure on the long-term rental market and leads to increased prices. In this study I examine the possible impacts of Airbnb, the biggest and most popular short-term rental platform, on the rental market of Helsinki. First, I analyse how many apartments have been removed from the long-term rental market to the Airbnb market, and second, how likely it is that the number of Airbnb rentals rises in the future. Presumably, renting through Airbnb becomes more popular when the potential income from Airbnb rentals is larger than from long-term rentals. In Neil Smith’s terms, this difference between actual and potential rental income constitutes a rent gap. Therefore, I also analyse whether renting short-term in Helsinki is more profitable than renting long-term. In addition, I discuss the current city and tourism policies of the city of Helsinki in the light of the results of the above research questions and give recommendations on issues to be taken into account in the future. This study uses AirDNA’s data of Airbnb rentals in Helsinki and long-term rental price data from KTI Property Information Ltd, and it focuses on data from year 2019. Data analysis is conducted using statistical and geospatial methods. The results of this study show that in 2019 there were a significant number of professional Airbnb rentals in Helsinki, 863 in total. However, their number varied substantially between the districts of Helsinki. There was a large amount of professional Airbnb rentals especially in the city centre and Kallio area. On the scale of the whole of Helsinki, professional Airbnb rentals comprise approximately 0,5 % of all rental apartments whereas in some districts in the city centre the percentage was considerably higher, in the Kamppi district as much as 3,9 %. Based on the results, the number of Airbnb rentals will likely grow in the future because Airbnb rental income was, on average, greater than long-term rental income in each of the study areas. In most areas, the rent gap was substantial. However, the size of the rent gap varied significantly, between 50 and 1350 euros, based on the location and amount of rooms of the apartment. Some policy recommendations can be made based on the results of this study. When designing future policies, it is important to acknowledge that a sizeable part of the Airbnb rentals in Helsinki is professional and that the number of professional rentals will probably continue to increase. Since the number of professional rentals is still quite small on the city level, the impacts of short-term rentals in Helsinki are presumably not yet significant. Nevertheless, in the future problems can arise especially in the city centre and Kallio area, as these areas have a lot of professional Airbnb rentals. Since only professional Airbnb rentals are disadvantageous for the long-term rental market, assigning certain restrictions would be justifiable in order to prevent future problems and to promote sustainable tourism. Restricting Airbnb activity could be done by enforcing current regulations more rigorously or setting a yearly renting limit like many other European cities have done. This would help to inhibit activity that is against the current legislation and to support the real sharing economy.
-
(2023)Kaupunkien toiminnalle on tärkeää tunnistaa asukkaiden kokemukset omasta asuinympäristöstään. Mun Espoo kartalla -kyselystä mielenkiintoisen tekee se, että asukkaat itse tuottavat tiedon suunnittelun tueksi. Kyselyn avulla arjen kokemukset saadaan kanavoitua suoraan kaupungille. Tässä tutkielmassa tarkoituksena on analysoida asukkaiden esittämiä ideoita siitä, miten omaa asuinympäristöä toivotaan kehitettävän. Tutkielman keskeinen kysymys on, mihin espoolaiset vetoavat kehitysideoissaan ottaen huomioon, että tarkoituksena on vakuuttaa suunnittelijat oman idean puolelle. Tutkielmassa pohditaan, miksi asukkaat ovat valinneet tietyn tavan oikeuttaa oman ideansa ja eroavatko käytetyt oikeutukset toisistaan sosioekonomisesti. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan osallisuutta suomalaisessa kaupunkisuunnittelussa, sillä myös kyselyyn vaikuttavat vakiintuneet ideologiat siitä, miten kaupunkeja tulisi suunnitella. Tämän jälkeen tutkielmassa perehdytään Boltanskin ja Thévenot’n oikeuttamisteoriaan, jonka mukaan osallistujat perustelevat väitteensä käyttämällä suhteellisen rajoitettua joukkoa moraalisia periaatteita. Teoria havainnollistaa, mitä pidetään perusteltuna argumenttina erilaisissa sosiaalisissa konteksteissa. Työn aineistona on Espoon ja Aalto-yliopiston yhteistyönä syksyllä 2020 käynnistetty Mun Espoo kartalla -kysely. Kyselyyn jätettiin yli 4600 avovastausta kehitysideoista. Lisäksi kyselyssä kerättiin sosiodemografisia yksilöitä kuvaavia taustamuuttujia. Menetelmänä on teorialähtöinen sisällönanalyysi, jossa avovastaukset koodattiin vastaamaan käytettyjä oikeutuksia. Kehitysideoista nousi esille toistuvia aiheita, joita asukkaat oikeutuksesta riippumatta toivoivat. Eniten kehitysideoita liittyi liikkumiseen, liikuntaan ja virkistysalueisiin, paikallisluontoon ja asuinalueiden kehitykseen. Lähes puolet vastaajista pyrki esittämään oman ideansa koko yhteisön etua ajaen, eli julkisen oikeuttamisen kieliopilla. Kehitysideoissa käytettiin erityisesti kodin ja teollisuuden oikeutusmaailmojen argumentteja. Tulosten perusteella vastaajat omaksuivat julkisen oikeuttamisen maailmojen logiikan ja ajattelevat niillä olevan eniten kommunikatiivista valtaa vaikuttaa suunnittelijoihin. Avovastauksista merkittävä osa oli myös teknisiä kommentteja, joissa vastaaja ei perustellut kehitysideaa lainkaan. Sosiodemografisten muuttujien analyysin perusteella ihmisten kokemukset omasta ympäristöstään eivät ole irrallaan sosioekonomisista eroista. Analyysin keskeisimmät tulokset olivat, että julkisen oikeuttamisen kieliopin käyttö sekä perustelut ylipäätään kasvoivat koulutuksen myötä. Tulokset myös osoittivat, että kyselyn vastaajat edustavat melko rajattua espoolaista väestöä. Vastaajista rakentuu kuva kotimaisia kieliä puhuvina, korkeasti koulutettuina ja työssäkäyvinä espoolaisina. Ideoille keskeistä on myös, että vastaajat ovat toimijoina strategisia. Vastaajat tiedostavat, että hyvin muotoillulla idealla ja oikeutuksella voi parantaa mahdollisuuksia sille, että kaupunki toteuttaa idean. Kuten tulokset havainnollistavat, usein kuitenkin vain tiettyjen ryhmien ideat pääsevät esille. Pyrinkin tutkielmalla tuottamaan keskustelua, jossa tunnistetaan, että osalla asukkaista on muita enemmän resursseja ja kommunikatiivista valtaa ottaa osaa osallisuuden hankkeisiin.
-
(2023)Suomen aluekehityksen myötä maaseutualueet hiljenevät ihmisten keskittyessä suuriin kaupunkeihin ja kehyskuntiin. Matkailulla on pyritty monilla maaseutualueilla parantamaan elinvoimaa ja taloudellista kehitystä. Matkailun myötä syntyy uusia palveluja sekä työpaikkoja. Matkailun kehittämisen ja onnistumisen kannalta on tärkeää, että paikalliset asukkaat suhatutuvat siihen positiivisesti ja tukevat sen kehittämistä. Tutkimukseni kohdistuu Rantasalmen kuntaan, joka on maaseutumainen kunta Etelä-Savossa. Matkailu on Rantasalmella kasvattanut taloudellista merkitystään tasaisesti ja sen matkailukohteet ovat saanet näkyvyyttä myös eri medioissa. Vaikka Suomessa kotimaanmatkailu on merkittävä matkailualan kannalta, COVID-19 pandemian myötä kasvanut kotimaanmatkailu on vaikuttanut matkustajamääriin Suomen sisällä. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää mitä mieltä Rantasalmen asukkaat ovat kuntaan kohdistuvasta matkailusta ja miten he kokevat matkailun vaikuttavan kunnan kehitykseen. Ihmisten suhatutumista matkailuun tutkin sosiaalisen vaihdon teorian avulla. Tutkimusaineistona on internetissä jaetun kyselylomakkeen vastaukset, jotka analysoin laadullisen sisällönanalyysin keinoin. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella vastaajilla on yleisesti ottaen positiivinen suhtautuminen Rantasalmelle kohdistuvaan matkailuun. Matkailu koetaan taloudellisesti merkittävänä ja sen kehittämiseen suhtaudutaan positiivisesti. Matkailijoita toivotaan saapuvan enemmän ja matkailun laajenevan kunnan alueella nykyistä laajemmalle alueelle. On kuitenkin myös negatiivisia asioita, kuten matkailusta aiheutuneet haitat ympäristölle. Kunnan kehityksen suhteen matkailun koetaan olevan hyvin merkittävässä roolissa kunnan taloudellisen selviytymisen suhteen. Tämän tutkielman perusteella Rantasalmella vastaajat suhtautuvat matkailuun pääosin positiivisesti, mutta huolenaiheitakin on. Huolenaiheet tulisi ottaa huomioon matkailualaa kehitettäessä. Matkailua ollaan valmiita kehittämään tulevaisuudessa lisää ja matkailun koetaan olevan kunnan kehityksen kannalta hyvin merkityksellinen. Matkailua halutaan kehittää yhteistyön voimalla sellaiseksi, että se hyödyttää laajemmin koko kuntaa ja eri toimijoita.
-
(2022)Megatrendit muuttavat asumistarpeita, jolloin kaupunkien asukkaiden vaatimukset ja toiveet muuttuvat. Samalla yritykset pyrkivät vastaamaan tähän muuttuneeseen kysyntään. Vastaavasti yhteiskunnallisilla toimijoilla, kuten valtiolla ja kunnilla on muuttuvat asuntopoliittiset tavoitteensa, joilla pyritään vastaamaan megatrendien tuomaan muutokseen. Helsingin kaupungilla on tavoite kehittää kerrostaloasumista houkuttelevammaksi. Uusien asumisratkaisujen kehittelyssä nähtiin kaupungilla hyödylliseksi myös kokeiluja koordinoiva ohjelma, joka kartoittaisi yhteistyökumppaneita ja alati muuttuvia asumisen tarpeita. Ratkaisuna luotiin Kehittyvä kerrostalo -ohjelma. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää Kehittyvä kerrostalo -ohjelman taustalla olleet asuntopoliittiset tavoitteet ja ohjelman hankkeisiin vaikuttaneet yhteiskunnalliset muutokset. Neljä megatrendiä, jotka selkeimmin esiintyvät Kehittyvä kerrostalo -ohjelman hankkeiden tavoitteissa ovat: asuntokuntien muutos, kulutuskulttuurin muutos, ilmastonmuutos ja ympäristökysymykset sekä teknologioiden ja prosessien muutos. Kehittyvä kerrostalo -ohjelman hankkeet olivat kehitysteemoiltaan hyvin monipuolisia vastaten lukuisiin tutkimuskirjallisuudessa ja yhteiskunnallisessa keskustelussa olleisiin ilmiöihin ja megatrendeihin. Hankkeissa itsessään oli myös samaan aikaan useita erilaisia kehitysteemoja. Helsingin kaupungin Kehittyvä kerrostalo -ohjelman merkitys osana asuntopoliittisia interventioita on yhdistää eri sidosryhmät samaan ohjelmaan. Vaikka tavoitteet olivat eri toimijoilla erilaiset, on mahdollista kannustaa rankentajia ja muita yrityksiä innovaatioihin. Käytännössä pelkällä säätelyllä ei pystytä takaamaan innovaatioiden toteutumista, sillä säädöksien kaltainen ohjaus määrittää lähinnä rakentamisen minimitason. Kehittyvä kerrostalo -ohjelman kaltainen interventio helpottaa innovaatioiden syntyä sekä mahdollistaa kunnianhimoisemmat asumiskonseptit. Vaikka tässä tutkimuksessa käsiteltiin sitä, kuinka lakien ja säädösten avulla voidaan ohjata rakentamista toivottuun suuntaan sekä sitä, milloin nämä muutokset ovat tapahtuneet, näiden muutosten vaikutus itse Kehittyvä kerrostalo -ohjelman hankkeisiin on yhä selvittämättä.
-
(2022)In the current trajectory of human induced global warming, the domains of climate change mitigation and adaptation remain fundamental to the future of human and natural systems. Mitigating the global warming is not only vital but coping with the unavoidable impacts of the global temperature rise will be less disastrous. In terms of the realities of climate change impacts, the climate policies must be implemented. However, the success of mitigation and adaptation efforts might be dependent on how the people and communities are encountered in climate policies. Thus, it is not only crucial how the distribution of climate change burdens and benefits continues, but as important to recognize the multiple entry points to just transition. This thesis contributes to the emerging field of scientific climate justice debate that raises questions of just adaptation and in which ways it is addressed in climate change adaptation policies under the agenda of just transition. The focus of the thesis is particularly on European climate change adaptation dialogue, in the platform of a public consultation organized by the European Commission. With an interpretive approach, the study explores the perceptions of just adaptation in a number of 22 position papers contributed by European and international civic organizations. The analysis is guided by the (1.) the addressment of adaptation injustices and (2.) just adaptation as a transformative pathway. In the prism of environmental and climate justice concerns, and transformative features of adaptation, the results are discussed under the geo-graphy of Carriers of Just Transition. The civic organizations who contributed to the public consultation consider adaptation and just transition important to achieve. At the same time, the civic organizations seem to have adopted a strategy of no-regrets: they actively reclaim on adaptation measures to prepare for the medium and long-term climate impacts while considering that the mitigation efforts of today seem to be failing. At the same time, just adaptation is considered as a way of conserving the present state, while the agenda of just transition seems to be adopted as the desired pathway of fair adaptation. The European adaptation policy dialogue nests in the carriers of just transition – the systemic pathways of consolidating the current European state rather than transformational change.
-
(2023)In my thesis I look at how persons living without an own car experience their daily mobility and what kind of strategies and practices concerning daily mobility are their households using to manage their daily lives. In focus is also a question of the significance of the place of residence to mobility, which I investigate through the concepts of urban structure and car dependence. I chose the city of Porvoo as my study area, because as a small city it does not have the public transportation services at the level of the largest Finnish cities, but on the other hand its dense city center may support carless daily mobility. I use the concept of accessibility strategies, which means the ways in which individuals can maintain access to the variably time and space bound activities of their everyday lives and overcome or adapt to their time-geographic constraints. Knowing the practices of carless households is important for the targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of transportation in Finland. It is still important to remember the nature of carlessness as varying from being voluntary to being involuntary. Urban structure sets the conditions which may favor some travel behavior and prohibit other kinds. These conditions include distances between activity locations, or the relative ease of using different travel modes. Urban structure may enable alternatives in travel mode choices or prohibit them and support mostly private car use. Discussions may also consider car dependence, which has been defined as the dependence on private cars of areas, urban structure, transport systems, as well as individuals and daily trips. As a method for data collection in this qualitative thesis I used thematic interviews. Interviews may help to understand the practices and subjective experiences of a group of people in a certain place, and meanings they attach to an activity of a geographical nature. I interviewed seven persons living in Porvoo, representing their carless households, of which some lived in the city center and others outside of it. I analyzed the interview transcriptions using coding, thematic analysis and typification. Almost all of the interviewees utilized a strategy in which they had taken proximity to daily destinations and activities into consideration when moving to their current place of residence, which enables short distances by walking or cycling. I studied the use of information and communications technologies to substitute physical mobility by looking at remote work practices: high levels of remote work were done, and more than before, when the remote work possibilities were expanded due to COVID-19 pandemic. All of the households had received support for mobility from their social relations, but the significance of this strategy to everyday life varied considerably, from a weekly need of getting car rides to a rare occasion of borrowing a car. Central daily mobility practices were walking and cycling, trip chaining, and choosing activities from a close proximity to home. The daily mobility experiences of households living in Porvoo city center, or its immediate surroundings were characterized as being problem-free. City center’s short distances and bus connections to Helsinki were seen as advantages to mobility. The most pronounced challenges to daily mobility appeared within those living outside of the city center, due to experiences of a decline in the service level of local public transportation. Local buses did not offer satisfying levels of accessibility to those who would have needed them for their daily trips. The finding of the problem-free nature of daily mobility of the ones living in or next to city center is in line with a finding from literature, which sees downtown areas of middle-sized Finnish cities as representing a car independent urban structure.
-
(2023)This thesis is an ethnographic exploration into co-production evaluation. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate outcomes of a knowledge co-production workshop in the context of Finnish urban planning using a co-production evaluation framework. For the context of the research, the status of allotment gardens in urban planning was studied. Central concepts also include participation and the status of knowledge in the urban planning context. I collected my research data by participating in the workshop process as a co-facilitator and co-producer in a garden workshop held in Pähkinärinne allotment plots in June 2022. I carried out the research using qualitative research methods, participatory observation. Field notes and the material and data the garden workshop produced are the main body of data. The results show that the workshop did produce a tangible outcome, a usable concept for the Pähkinärinne allotment gardens. When situated in the Finnish urban planning context, analysis shows that implementation may be difficult due to institutional and governance barriers. Intangible impacts were produced in the form of social learning. This entailed the identification of existing social networks in and outside of the allotment plots and their development through social capital. These effects fare better in the Finnish context through self-governance and self-organization. As a conclusion, it can be said that the knowledge co-production process was a successful process but in the Finnish urban planning context bottom-up initiatives can be difficult to implement due to institutional barriers and city-led planning and participation.
-
(2021)Africa has recently increased its share of the global market, and the continent’s potential has been recognized globally. The continent has experienced a lot of oppression and forced changes in history, and it is currently developing its new identity with relatively young states and its fast-growing population. African Union (AU) is calling pan-African ideology to bring together the African people in their blueprint and master plan Agenda 2063, where the cultural heritage is at the core. Culture is also at the core of the creative economy, and the creative economy's share of the global economy is growing. Due to globalization and digitalization, the knowledge from other cultures is spreading rapidly, which is the basis of a cultural shift both at local and global levels. This research investigated the culture and the creative economy as builders of society in Kenya. Kenya has been very successful in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), the state takes its cultural heritage seriously in its development programs and their focus is especially on the potential of the youth in the creative economy. Kenya has a vast cultural diversity in the state with its officially recognized 44 tribes. This cultural diversity plays a significant role in the creative economy. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, 2020), the creative economy has no single meaning, as the concept is constantly evolving. The basic elements of the concept are from human creativity, ideas, and intellectual property, knowledge and technology. The creative industries include such as music, film, video, arts and crafts and performing arts. These elements are the basis of the creative economy, in addition, they have a significant commercial and cultural value. The research was conducted in Kenya during January and February 2021, and the data was collected from two main geographical research areas, the city of Nairobi and Taita-Taveta County. The geographical research areas were chosen by their cultural diversity, the creative economy and their urban and rural statuses. Nairobi has a classification of a creative city where the digital creative economy is booming, and the city is attracting people around East Africa. Taita-Taveta respectively is a rural county near the Kenyan coast, where the creative economy is mainly in the traditional form, for example, crafting and basket making. The research combined the elements from the ethnographical, hermeneutical and critical approaches by using unstructured, structured interviews and observation, as the methods combined qualitative methods with numerical data. The results show that the culture and the creative economy do build the society in Kenya. It is seen in each level of society, for example, among the families, tribes, counties and even the government. Each level influences and controls the way culture and the creative economy build the society in Kenya. The meaning of the community arose in culture and the creative economy shifts, as they provide help in the mitigation and adaptation into new situations. With the exponential population growth, the share of the youth is rising, culture and the creative economy have the potential to provide jobs for the youth in the future. There are challenges with culture and the creative economy in Kenya. First, to preserve the cultural diversity in Kenya among the youth. Second, to target the governmental policies to the right actions and towards the right groups, which would then support the sector itself. Due to attitude shifts, the role of the youth is a significant point to consider. Furthermore, there is a vast gap between the government and the community, which causes a lot of harm to the creative economy, as the policies do not support the creative sector. If these significant points are solved, there is a vast potential for the culture and the creative economy to continue building the society in Kenya.
-
(2020)Socio-economic segregation has been increasing in Helsinki for decades and the relation between socioeconomic factors and educational outcomes have been discussed frequently recently and have been an important topic for politicians and researchers. An increasing segregation and dwindling school results in the more disadvantaged areas of Finland have been connected in various reports. The main objective in this master’s thesis is firstly to investigate the spatial socio-economic differences between school catchment areas of the 26 municipalities in the Uusimaa region. And secondly, the relationship between educational outcomes and socio-spatial segregation in Uusimaa, as the former research evidence has only documented the socio-spatial differentiation within the municipalitan core of the region. The aim is to analyze the relationship of the four different socio-economic variables of basic level education, higher education, unemployment and low income households in each school catchment area and present them with help of four different maps created in GIS. Lastly data consisting of educational outcomes from first year pupils (N=1 920) from 41 different schools in the Uusimaa region provided by Kansallinen koulutuksen arviointikeskus were analysed. The data consisted of two standardized tests, one regarding mathematics and one about the finnish language. These two tests were part of a longitudinal evaluation which started in the fall of 2018. The core finding of this study is that Helsinki is by far the area with the largest socio-economic differences between the school catchment areas in the Uusimaa region, where eastern Helsinki often displayed low socio-economic levels and where western Helsinki and southern Espoo often presented a high socio-economic level compared to the rest of the Uusimaa region. And that the educational results regarding the Finnish language had a stronger correlation with the socio-economic data compared to the mathematical educational outcomes. These findings offer new insights for Finnish educational policies and demonstrate the need for supporting schools in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in different types of urban and rural areas.
-
(2020)Segregation is usually treated as a place-based phenomenon based on residential locations, but during the last ten years more emphasis has been put on understanding segregation as a multi-contextual phenomenon, where mobility in urban space affects the individual’s exposure to segregation. Such research has not yet been done in Helsinki, where socio-economic and ethnic segregation has been on the rise since the 1990’s, but there is anecdotal evidence of for example young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods not being as mobile in the urban space as others. The aim of this study is to find out how socioeconomic differences and experiences from the past are linked to how people move around and use urban space in Helsinki. A survey study was carried out (N=1 266) in spring 2020 for the purposes of this research. The study is based on a self-selected sample, so the results cannot be generalized for the whole population. Spatial mobility is analyzed with four measures: which parts of the city the respondent usually moves around in, how often they visit the city center, how many of their everyday activities are located near their home, in the city center and in other neighbourhoods and municipalities, and how many of the listed places in the survey they had visited during the last year. The main research methods are linear regression, correlation analyses and statistical tests. Spatial mobility varies based on education, age, family background and mobility practices in the youth. These factors explain at most a quarter of the variance in mobility. Cultural and economic capital also correlates with mobility, but their explanatory power diminishes when education and age are controlled for. The spatial mobility is low for them who had small activity spaces in their youth, and especially for them who still live in the same neighbourhood. Those who live in the outer suburbs are among the least mobile and many of the respondents in Northeastern and Eastern Helsinki do not regularly visit Southern Helsinki. Even though there are many different factors that influence the level of mobility that are not ad-dressed in this study, the results confirm that family background and past experiences affect the individuals’ mobility practices. The results indicate that people who live in disadvantaged neighbourhoods risk exposure to segregation in different contexts of everyday life as a result of low mobility. As people with low education are underrepresented in the study, it is possible that there are some kind of immobilities in the city that have not been covered in this study. The results underline the need for more research in multi-contextual segregation and the experiences and conceptions of the city, especially regarding children and young people.
-
(2023)The green transition is necessary in mitigating climate change. However, it is not a problem-free development pathway from global justice and social sustainability point of views, as the manufacturing of green technologies require great amounts of minerals from the developing countries. Competition for mineral natural resources is creating growing pressure to increase mining activities, which in many countries involves environmental and human rights issues. This is feared to cause environmental destruction, and inhumane working and living conditions for the people in the mining areas, creating new global inequalities. To avoid this trajectory, demands for a just green transition, in which the benefits and harms of energy systems would be more evenly distributed globally, have been presented. The political pressure to implement the green transition is great. Therefore, many actors worldwide have committed to various carbon neutrality goals and cities play a key role in this. By the decision of the majority of the city councilors, also the city of Helsinki has set an ambitious goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, which requires a fast implementation of the green transition. In this master's thesis, the discussion minutes of the Helsinki city council in the years 2019–2022 were studied with an interpretative approach using discourse analysis as a method. The purpose was to find out how the green transition is discussed in the council and which factors influence the perceptions of the green transition presented there. In addition, the purpose was to research whether the council discussions propose any solutions to solve the challenges of global injustice connected to the green transition or whether those problems were recognized at all. As a result, three different discourses of unproblematic discourse, critical discourse, and must-do discourse were interpreted from the data. The unproblematic discourse viewed the green transition in a positive and/or neutral light, emphasizing the possibilities in climate change mitigation. Economic perspectives were also strongly present in this context. The identified critical discourse covered economic and social grievances related to the green transition, which were considered to be related to security of supply, economy, and ecological and social sustainability. In the third, i.e., the must-do discourse, the meaning of green technology was formed through the mitigation of climate change, which was seen threatening all life on Earth. In this view, global warming itself was seen as the greatest social and justice issue. Discourses and perceptions of Helsinki's green transition are strongly influenced by the city's way of focusing its emission calculations only on reducing the city's direct CO2 emissions. Thus, the social global effects caused by Helsinki's green transition cannot be verified with the city's current evaluation methods. Consequently, the councilors discuss the green transition from a strong local perspective.
-
(2021)Globally, there is a constant shortfall of financial resources in conservation, which has partially been supplemented by combining conservation and conservation-compatible businesses. Many protected and conserved areas in sub-Saharan Africa are largely funded by revenues generated within the area, mainly through ecotourism. While ecotourism revenues are bringing in money into the system, dependency on this single type of revenue source is making conservation areas – or even the whole protected area system – vulnerable to changes in visitor numbers, which are prone to different political or socio-economic disturbances (such as conflicts, economic recession, and epidemics). A sudden substantial decrease in revenues or increase in costs may threaten the existence, extent, and quality of conservation areas in terms of biodiversity conservation. Collecting and analysing economic information on protected and conserved areas can help investigate their long-term sustainability and resilience to financial threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic outcomes. In this thesis, I assess how conservation costs and revenues vary between different types of protected and conserved areas, how financially self-sufficient they are, and how economically resilient these areas may be in the face of global changes. The analysis is based on financial data from different types of protected and conserved areas in South Africa: state-owned national parks (South African National Parks, later SANParks), provincial parks (Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, later Ezemvelo) and private conserved areas. With the use of simulation modelling and resilience theory, I discuss how potential economic resilience varies between protected areas. The findings indicate that there are significant differences in the cost-revenue structure of different kinds of protected and conserved areas, and especially between public and private. Ezemvelo receives most of its funds from the provincial government, whereas SANParks covers the majority of its costs from tourism revenues. Private game reserves again need to cover their costs independently. According to the findings, size is an important attribute to predict the per hectare net income and running costs of public protected areas but has no significant influence on those of private game reserves. For public protected areas, the running costs per hectare are significantly higher for protected areas less than 1000 hectares. Based on the economic modelling and resilience theory, I concluded that private game reserves are generally financially more viable, but their vulnerability lies in their lack of embeddedness within a larger system (e.g., a conservation organization) that could support them during difficult times and require and encourage a long-term commitment to conservation. The economic resilience of public protected areas is more closely tied to the political atmosphere regarding conservation funding: self-generated revenues form only a part of the budgets of public protected areas. In addition, protected areas which have large fixed costs and depend on high tourism revenues are likely to be less economically resilient. Because of the higher running costs and resultant sensitivity of net income to changes in costs and revenues, parks that are home to the “Big Five” species (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo) are in a more vulnerable position in the face of disturbances, as the pandemic. To address the threats that upcoming socio-economic disturbances pose to the funding base of protected and conserved areas, more focus should be given to the economic resilience of these areas, especially in countries and occasions where the areas rely on self-generated revenues.
-
(2019)European Union is a notable political actor that strives for governing and producing EU territory through spatial policies and planning. So far, spatial planning has been a technology to govern the terrestrial environment, but now marine space is seen as the new frontier of spatial planning. In 2014, EU has given a directive of maritime spatial planning (MSP), which aims to that every coastal member state had established spatial planning practices to their national marine areas by 2021 according to EU’s spatial agendas. The MSP has been looked at as a managerial tool helping to enhance the ecological condition of the seas, but not as a policy that produces spatiality. In this research, EU’s MSP policy is used as to research Europeanization of space in ‘EU’rope. The aim of this research is to interpret how understanding of ’EU’rope as a territorial entity is shaped through the structure of the maritime spatial planning policy and the meanings attached to it, in order to create a perception of the future development of EU and marine areas in general. The research is conducted from a social constructionist approach as an interpretive policy analysis. The concept of policy integration is in-built to MSP and is used as an indicator to Europeanization in this study. The policy integration effort is seen to steer social networks of actors that create the MSP in practice. Therefore, semi-structured theme interviews were conducted to the actors carrying out the MSP process in Finland. These actors’ understanding of the Finnish MSP is seen to construct ‘EU’ropean space in and through the domestic MSP process. Accordance with the hermeneutic traditions, comprehensive contextualization is conducted in this research in order to understand the maritime spatial planning policy. The research suggests that the spatiality and territoriality of marine areas produces different kind of planning practices than is seen in the terrestrial environment. The EU’s MSP policy is a policy tool for the EU territory, but at the same time, it is used as a tool to carry out domestic regional objectives as well. In Finland, the coastal Regions have benefitted from MSP and gained more power over the Finnish marine territories and the MSP may be used as to reinforce Regional planning. By adopting MSP policy, EU has changed the spatial governance structure of marine Europe. It has transformed heterogenic marine areas in Europe into single entity in order to be spatially governable by EU. These spaces have therefore been submitted under larger decision-making processes than before and EU is able to harness the national marine territories for the benefit of the whole Europe, and mainly due increasing economic growth in the territory. By means of policy integration efforts, the MSP creates new kinds of socio-spatial dimensions to Europe in where political bargaining over domestic marine spaces becomes a norm for the domestic maritime spatial planners. The research suggests that the territorial policy integration efforts reinforce the objectives of the EU directive in transnational collaboration, and this new platform of negotiation can be predicted to unify neighbouring domestic planning practices and goals in some extent.
-
(2020)Abstract This thesis explores the everyday spatial practices in the gentrified and micro-segregated Eastleigh, Nairobi. Gentrification is one of the most important aspects of urban studies, as well as social geography contributing to significant socioeconomic changes in many metropolitan cities in the world. Although the emerging empirical studies indicate socioeconomic impacts of gentrification, less research has been conducted to examine social and economic interaction in gentrified spaces in the Global South. Additionally, there are limited studies on how cultural diversity influences gentrification. In the case of a diversified neighbourhood, such as Eastleigh, assessing the effects of culture on gentrification is significant. Therefore, this study aimed to see by observing and interviewing residents, whether the developments in Eastleigh can be analysed and interpreted through the theoretical framework of gentrification and micro-segregation. The study used descriptive research to build on literature and graphics to collect data on gentrification indicators and socioeconomic interactions. The qualitative part of the study entailed observation, questionnaire survey, and key Informant interviews, while quantitative analysis was based on the graphical presentation of data. The outcomes of the study strongly suggest that an increase in the housing variables, the influx of wealthy population, increased employment, and shift in consumption trends are the significant indicators of ongoing gentrification in Eastleigh. The empirical studies indicate that social interactions in gentrified spaces appear to be marginalized due to cultural differences that have a strong impact on social and economic agents. The review made similar observations regarding social interactions between the new-comers and the long-time residents. The results of the study also found out that the reason for social and economic inequalities among the residents and the gentrifies was cultural differences which hindered access to social and economic services. However, since this study is one of the initial studies on gentrification in Eastleigh, Nairobi, more and in-depth studies are recommended
-
(2021)Finland and Estonia form a cross-border region in Europe. Unlike other cross-border regions, which share a land border with their neighbor, Finland and Estonia are separated by the Gulf of Finland. The distance is close enough to facilitate regular travel by ferry on a weekly or monthly basis, but for Estonian immigrants living in Finland, daily commutes are unlikely. Given that Finland is the top migration destination for Estonians, the cross-border region of Estonia-Finland poses an interesting case study. In this thesis, the integration and transnationalism of Estonians living in Finland are studied through a spatial mobility lens. First, a theoretical framework is proposed to facilitate empirical research. The framework jointly examines integration and transnationalism by partitioning them into separate domains: social, structural, cultural, civic & political, identity, and spatial. The aim of the framework is to narrow the socio-spatial gap in migration literature, by focusing on the interwoven nature of the social and spatial perspectives. Using data from a comprehensive survey about Estonian immigrants living in Finland, the proposed theoretical framework is operationalized for multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). Three MCA analyses are performed: 1) social integration with host society (Finland), 2) social transnationalism with the sending society (Estonia), and 3) spatial transnationalism between the host society (Finland) and the sending society (Estonia). MCA results show that transnationalism and integration vary both across and within domains. MCA results are connected to one another using correlation analysis and general linear model (GLM) analyses. Correlation analysis and GLM demonstrate that for the study population, integration in the host society and transnationalism with the sending society are inversely associated. This inverse relationship carries over into the spatial domain and can be seen based on which country an immigrant does certain activities (e.g., visiting family, working, accessing healthcare, enjoying leisure time). Immigrants with strong social connections to the host society are more likely to do activities in Finland whereas immigrants with strong social connections to the sending society are more likely to do activities in Estonia. Some immigrants exhibit a multilocal mobility pattern, in which they do activities equally in both Estonia and Finland.
-
(2021)The cooperation between Finland and Estonia is most visible in the collaboration between the capitals of the countries. The twin city development of Helsinki and Tallinn and the planned tunnel infrastructure between the cities have caused societal debates in both countries. The societal debate on the themes gained new importance when Estonia became part of the EU and NATO in 2004. The tunnel infrastructure connecting the cities became a major news topic from the mid-2010s onwards, and it was also an important part of news coverage regarding the cooperation between the countries. The progress of the public and private tunnel projects sparked interest in the major daily newspapers in both countries. The theoretical background of the thesis is based on the theories of cross-border cooperation, twin cities and spatial planning. The theoretical framework of the thesis revolves also around the strategic framing and anchor infrastructures used in the media as part of territorial cohesion. Discursive framing and regional branding in the media are both important parts of regional formation. The aim of the study was to find out the discourses used in framing the twin city and tunnel connection in the largest daily newspapers of Finland and Estonia. The conclusion of the dissertation is that geographical reality can be interpreted by studying discourses and societal significance. Media discourses convey a broader societal debate on the topics. The material of the study was articles in the online publications of Helsingin Sanomat and Postimees from 2004-2020. The study examined the articles according to the framework of content analysis and critical media discourse analysis. The study examined the forms of discursive framing through media discourses. Based on the data analysis, the tunnel infrastructure is a more newsworthy topic than the twin city. The tunnel plays an important role in shaping the discourses in the research material. The tunnel is framed as a foundational part of the twin city and wider regional context. The tunnel connection gains relevance by forming the area and enabling growth. Improving accessibility and connection to Central Europe are major parts of the Finnish tunnel discourse. Economic perspectives are part of the discourse in both journals. Major political actors in both countries, such as ministers and mayors, are most prominently present in the research material. Political agency is embodied in the framing of anchor infrastructure. The entry of the privately funded tunnel project in 2016 changes the themes of the articles. The private tunnel project is causing occasional opposition from countries’ politicians and officials, manifested in confrontation represented in the media. In Finland the criticism of the private project is focused on the alignment of the tunnel, whereas in Estonia on security policy concerns caused by foreign funding. The largest daily newspapers in Finland and Estonia serve as a platform for the societal debate. Their articles delimit and frame the topics of societal debate. The means of strategic framing and raising the news value of the topic become the focus of the research material as the media focuses more on the tunnel connection after the mid-2010s. The discursive framing of the twin city takes place through a tunnel infrastructure. The discursive framing that emerges in the media reflects the geographical significance of different actors.
-
(2021)The topic of this thesis is participatory budgeting and its connection to the discussion between neoliberalism and participatory governance in the context of city development. Helsinki started its own model of participatory budgeting in 2018 and has pledged to continue the concept in the future. I examine whether Helsinki’s participatory budgeting has the potential to support the ideologies of neoliberalism or participatory governance. In practice, I am exploring the views from the city government and active members of Helsinki’s neighborhood associations. Neighborhood associations had a significant role in the original participatory budgeting of Porto Alegre. I used interview and qualitative survey to collect my data. Neoliberalism has influenced the inequality between regions and the so-called crisis of democracy. Direct involvement of citizens is seen as a solution to these problems. Neoliberalism and participation have a paradoxical relationship: they have received similar criticism. In participatory governance participation means deliberative decision-making based on exchange of knowledge, but in neoliberalism participation can be a rhetoric tool to cover up actual decision-making or a city branding technique. Porto Alegre’s original model of participatory budgeting is seen as a part of participatory governance, but many of the international models seem to be more compatible with neoliberal ideology. The city government has not reserved enough resources to the participatory budgeting. The execution was rushed and showed signs of rationalization. According to the interview and the qualitative survey, inequality between regions might be the downfall of Helsinki’s participatory model. The active members of neighborhood associations see the benefits of participation budgeting but only from the perspective of certain regions. Currently, Helsinki’s participatory budgeting works better as a branding technique than as a method of decision-making. It seems to be more compatible with neoliberalism than participatory governance.
-
(2023)Urbanization, densification of the built environment, community degradation, and privatization and commercialization of space have shaped the urban development of Helsinki and also worldwide. These environmental, social, and economic problems have increased political pressure to find appropriate uses for existing spaces. The development of urban commons, i.e. shared, often non-commercialized spaces in urban environments, has entered the policy arena in recent years. This master's thesis examines how the ideas underlying urban commons are intertwined with contemporary neoliberal urban policy and planning. The ideas underlying urban commons include notions of social processes and socio-spatial relations that allow us to reimagine urban space and to figure out in what ways and by whom it is owned, managed, and utilized. The study aims to find out how the interrelationships between urban commons and neoliberalism are manifested in urban space and in the objectives behind the creation of urban commons. I approached the topic from the perspective of public administration and therefore examined in more detail two projects/actions managed by public sector organizations in Helsinki: Circular Green Blocks and Enhancement of the Sharing Economy in Zoning Plans. Data was collected through seven semi-structured interviews with planning and policy professionals and from several planning documents. Discourse analysis was used as a method of analysis and enabled the discovery of the meanings and representations of the world that underlie talk about urban commons. The results of this study show that the development of urban commons is intertwined in complex ways with neoliberalism in urban politics, which became evident through five discourses uncovered. The discourses of welfare and the right to the city revealed attempts to create a more spatially and socioeconomically equal as well as open urban space. Creating space that supports sustainable economic development was another key objective manifested in the discourse on the green economy. The support for the private sector in policymaking revealed an entrepreneurial discourse that indicated that urban space was sometimes treated as a commodity. A managerial discourse revealed a shift in urban governance and the role of the public sector, which showed that urban space was also sometimes treated as something non-political. The study concludes that the development of urban commons is influenced by neoliberal ideals, but also by ideas that can be considered as going beyond neoliberal ideology. For example, ideas of equality and welfare that reflect the tradition of welfare state policies in Finnish politics. The study encourages further research on the governance of urban commons, power relations in policymaking, and discourses among other actors in planning.
-
(2023)Today, issues related to nature and the environment are increasingly topical and therefore also play a greater role in land use planning and urban planning. In this thesis, I study the different concepts of nature behind urban planning, i.e., the ways in which nature and its relationship to humans are defined. These many different conceptions of nature, such as dualism, materialism, idealistic conception of nature, external and frightening nature, economic and resource -focused thinking, ecomodernism, biodiversity perspective, posthumanism, continuum thinking or ecosystem service thinking, also have a direct and indirect impact on urban planning and what kind of nature and green areas are planned. In this thesis, I examine four partial general plans (in Finnish, osayleiskaava) for the city centre areas of Southeast Finland: the partial general plans for the centre of Kotka, the centre of Karhula, the city centre of Kouvola and the centre of Lappeenranta, which are all fairly recent plans. The main objective of my thesis is to find different conceptions of nature in the materials of these general plans, such as plan descriptions and various impact assessments. The method used in this analysis is qualitative content analysis. With the help of theory-based qualitative content analysis, I identify various conceptions of nature related to previous theory and research from the above-mentioned planning documents. In the analysis and results -section of my thesis, I attach the results of the content analysis to the theoretical framework concerning conceptions of nature. In the results of different conceptions of nature, especially the perspective of cultural ecosystem services, technology-oriented ecomodernism and biodiversity perspectives emerged from many text documents. The economic view of nature as a resource was also emphasised in many texts. In addition, dualistic conceptions that emphasize the dichotomy of man and nature and materialistic conceptions focusing on material reality were reflected as a broader way of thinking. On the other hand, posthumanist concepts related to equality between humans and nature are not as strongly visible in the results.
-
(2023)Climate change has been identified as one of the most critical challenges of our time globally, but studies show that the adverse effects are already culminating in sensitive areas such as southern Africa. The increase in drought and extreme weather phenomena confuses the region's hydrological cycle, which poses challenges to countries dependent on surface water. The transboundary river network requires cooperation from governments in decision-making on water use. Studies show that water scarcity often leads to increased cooperation between states, but the situation is not excluded from conflict. Water diplomacy activities aimed at cooperation have been identified in Finland as an effective way of resolving water conflicts, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seeking better implementation of the paradigm within the institution. This Master's thesis examines policy documents of Southern African actors identifying water and climate-related conflict risks. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with conflict research in geography and the basis for resource conflicts and transboundary water cooperation. In addition to the theory, the thesis examines Southern Africa as an operating environment in its own chapter. The material used in research is official documents defining the use of waters by South Africa, Namibia and two regional institutions, the Southern African Development Community, and the Oranje-Senqu River Commission. The relationship between the actors and their approach to the risks identified in the literature has been examined through content analysis and interpretative policy analysis. The thesis has been carried out as a mandate towards a Water Cooperation and Peace – Finnish Water Way project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Environment. The Finnish Environment Institute and the Finnish Institute for International Affairs coordinate the project. The study's key findings indicate that the documents defining water use in the region are outdated. In international research, climate change has been identified as a key risk in the region, but only the relevant Southern African Development Community document has comprehensively addressed the issue. South Africa is launching a new strategy in 2023, in which, according to the draft used in thesis, the theme has also been taken fully into account. According to the results, Namibia has been active as a single actor in the climate change debate as early as the turn of the 2010s. According to the study's results, the scarcity of water resources and the challenges associated with their distribution impact the region's political power balance. However, despite the asymmetrical nature of power, the initiatives taken by the actors are, in principle, cooperative and therefore peace-building. According to the paper, the region has strong institutions, and decision-making is based on both regional and international norms.
Now showing items 1-20 of 65