Skip to main content
Login | Suomeksi | På svenska | In English

Browsing by Subject "nature-based solutions"

Sort by: Order: Results:

  • Intergenerational justice and learning about urban green space management: a study about upper secondary school students in Kumpula, Finland 
    Castellazzi, Eugenia (2023)
    Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract To aim for a just and sustainable society, it is essential to consider how we manage cities and to reflect on the role of young people as agents for successful future generations. The school system must take on the responsibility of developing a sense of social justice amongst young people. However, few learning activities are established to promote learning about environmental and intergenerational justice issues, and are usually limited to a top-down approach based on STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). In this work, I argue that education in sustainability needs to be opened to a relational approach that introduces new justice perspectives, becoming a driver for active citizenship and public participation. The thesis is based on ten workshops conducted in Kumpula, Helsinki, involving 197 students from two upper secondary schools. The novelty of this work consists in addressing a specific range of upper secondary school students (16 to 19) and combining cognitive and relational learning activities to elicit reflections on environmental justice. I used a learning activity based on a Role-play method to actively involve students in working with justice perceptions and nature-based solutions. The analysis is based on a mixed methods- approach where the statistical analysis (pretest-posttest) and qualitative content analysis support each other. The innovative integration of cognitive and relational learning contributed to a deeper knowledge of urban green space management. This approach elicited new recognition justice perspectives by enhancing the participants’ awareness of community values and needs, comprehending both humans and non-humans. After the learning activity, students were generally more willing to make their voice heard by policy makers and to participate in public discussions. Based on the findings, more resources and time would be needed to build a long-term project in order to assess the permanence of relational and cognitive learning and more widely the efficacy of this approach for transformative learning.
  • Resilient urban housing business ecosystem and role of nature-based solutions : “Nature becomes one with the city, and city with the nature” 
    Harmanen, Janina (2024)
    The objective of this thesis is to study resilient urban housing business ecosystems and the role and use of nature-based solutions (NBS) in these ecosystems. Thesis aims to gather knowledge on how nature-based solutions are perceived in urban residential building and planning regime and how these solutions are valued to increase urban resilience. Thesis aims to provide knowledge on who are the actors in key role in designing, implementing, or using nature-based solutions in the case cities urban built environment and residential buildings of the business ecosystem. The benefits from nature-based solutions are presented and challenges hindering the mainstreaming of nature-based solutions as well as ways to overcome them are addressed. This thesis is a qualitative study with an empirical research approach. The empirical part of the study consists of data collected from 11 expert interviews, and two expert workshops. Altogether the empirical data corpus consisted of 15 transcripts. The interviews were semi-structured, thematic interviews where experts from different organizations of urban planning and construction industry were interviewed. Two separate workshops were held during August of 2023 in both case cities Helsinki and Turku. Workshops consisted of researcher presentations and focus group work, and the expert participants represented versatility of the field. Study applies reflexive thematic analysis method for qualitative data analysis. It is a systematic and flexible method that is used for identifying, analysing, and reporting meaning-based multifaceted and conceptual patterns within data by generating codes and themes. Several actor groups and key actors were identified based on the analysis. Also, an open role for a champion was recognized from the analysis. Several benefits derived from NBS and barriers for mainstreamed use were identified. Multiple solutions such as land use planning, urban governance practices including green factor, and economical incentives help to increase use of NBS in urban settings, and to answer the future of more resilient city. Urban resilience can be increased through inclusion of NBS and the associated delivery of ecosystem services in urban areas. Urban greenery and green spaces are highly relevant for well-being of residents. A holistic approach for urban planning and residential housing building is called for with increase in implementation of NBS. City should be designed for people as well as to other species. Experts share a vision of greener and more sustainable city where nature becomes one with the city, and city with the nature. There is still need for more research on long-term review of follow-ups and next steps taken from pilot projects to answer how nature-based solutions could be transferred from experimentations for everyday use and how this knowledge could be transferred for wider audiences.

Yhteystiedot

HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO