Environmental conservation and natural resources management are critical global issues of the 21st century. The management of protected public lands emerges as a challenge particularly in developing countries because of the biophysical and socio-cultural importance of these lands. These lands are often referred to as ‘working landscapes’ where the natural systems and the collective actions of local residents have shaped one another in well-balanced interactions for generations. The working landscapes of the Köprülü Kanyon National Park (KKNP) in Turkey have provided the case study for this dissertation. Eleven villages exist within the park with a total of approximately 7,100 residents. The rich natural resources of the park have been contested by local communities, management and concessionaires. The objectives of the research were: first, to understand the fundamentals of the natural and socio-cultural dynamics within protected areas in general, and within the KKNP in particular; second, to examine the social conflicts which complicate the management of the KKNP; and third, to explore potential solutions whereby the stakeholders can cooperate in stabilizing the traditional dynamics of the park’s working landscapes. Qualitative data was collected via 38 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with local residents, managers and concessionaires. The research found that an array of social disturbances and conflicts impact the social fabric and harm the land-human integrity of the site. These include shifting demographics, changing lifestyles of the villagers, pressures from tourism, multiple governmental authorities and instable management. Yaylacýlýk tradition, a semi-sedentary form of pastoralism, has played a significant role in both the traditional ecology and the social relations within the communities of the KKNP; and its abandonment has severely impacted both social and biophysical conditions. Through yaylacýlýk local residents had managed the lands as common property. The establishment of the national park, changing life styles and the pressures on the local agricultural economy brought an end to yaylacýlýk. Now the resources are treated in effect as open pool resources, thus leading to their demise. Throughout the eventful past of the KKNP the local residents have come from being integral elements of the ‘working landscapes,’ to being as antagonistic enemies of the park management. The three ideal characteristic elements of the ‘working landscapes’ of the KKNP (controlled access, coordination and communication) which once were maintained by the yaylacýlýk tradition, can be re-institutionalized within the region through contemporary applications by neutral third party initiatives. Restoration, conservation and efficient management of biophysical resources and the natural environment should be the outcomes of the resolutions of social conflicts which can be accomplished by the restoration of these three elements of the social structure.

Over the past decades, the environmental justice movement has developed growing concerns about the unequal distribution of environmental harms and the uneven access to environmental amenities. The movement rapidly became an academic field that has criticised diverse urban sustainability strategies for failing to address environmental justice issues in its three dimensions: recognition, procedure and distribution. Hence, this thesis aims to explore how this concept could be integrated into the planning of Nature-based solutions in cities through advancing conceptual and methodological contributions. Through an extensive revision of academic literature, several setbacks in the inclusion of environmental justice for urban Nature-based solutions are addressed. This information helped operationalise a distributive environmental justice index that could identify intra-urban injustices related to existing and compounding issues such as the overburdening of environmental risk for socially disadvantaged communities and a lack of access to multifunctional green space benefits. Once these injustices are identified, alternative scenarios for implementing Nature-based solutions are assessed by considering relevant urban planning and policy goals. The last part of this thesis focuses on the level of integration of environmental justice in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation. An extensive review of Urban Climate Action Plans in Latin America reveals that environmental justice concerns are rarely translated into concrete climate actions. Moreover, the transformative potential of Nature-based solutions for ameliorating environmental justice conditions in cities is not fully explored. With these results, potential opportunities and recommendations that could enable environmental justice are discussed, especially highlighting that the integration of diverse social perspectives and realities is integral to the process of giving rise to just and sustainable urban futures.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A presente investigaÃÃo apresenta as geotecnologias como instrumentaÃÃo capaz de tornar mais eficiente a gestÃo pÃblica. O municÃpio de Icapuà foi o cenÃrio local escolhido para a aplicaÃÃo da proposta. Objetivando mostrar que informaÃÃes sistematizadas e espacialmente referenciadas, atravÃs da representaÃÃo de cartografia temÃtica, e de sistemas de informaÃÃes, contribuem positivamente para a gestÃo pÃblica, durante o desenvolvimento da tese, foi construÃdo e publicado o Atlas de IcapuÃ, e projetado o Sistema de InformaÃÃes GeogrÃficas â SIG para o municÃpio. A cartografia foi elaborada atravÃs da vetorizaÃÃo manual de imagens com resoluÃÃo de 50 cm, detalhadamente, permitindo a plotagem de mapas temÃticos do municÃpio como um todo, e das comunidades, em escalas ampliadas. As escalas dos mapas produzidos variam entre 1:5.000 e 1:150.000. Dados SRTM foram utilizados para a obtenÃÃo de dados altimÃtricos e geraÃÃo de MDT, e a Geologia e Geomorfologia foram representadas com base na interpretaÃÃo das imagens e em estudos desenvolvidos por MEIRELES & SANTOS (2011), que tratam da evoluÃÃo geomorfolÃgica da planÃcie costeira de IcapuÃ. A tese de que as geotecnologias configuram importante ferramenta para a gestÃo pÃblica, procurou evidenciar, atravÃs da cartografia produzida e do SIG, os ecossistemas costeiros, setores em processo erosivo, Ãreas de risco potencial, zonas adequadas à expansÃo urbana, Ãreas de preservaÃÃo, e identificar as intervenÃÃes que provocam perdas de biodiversidade e as aÃÃes de conservaÃÃo que podem ajudar na recuperaÃÃo de ambientes degradados. / This research presents the Geotechnology as instrumentation capable of making more efficient public management. The municipality of Icapuà was the local scenario chosen for the implementation of the proposal. Aiming to show that systematized information and spatially referenced through the thematic cartography, and representation of information systems, contribute positively to the public administration, during the development of the thesis, was built and published the Atlas of IcapuÃ, and designed the geographic information System â GIS for the municipality. Cartography was prepared through the manual vectorization of images with a resolution of 50 cm, detail, enabling plotting of thematic maps of the municipality as a whole, and communities, in enlarged scales. The scales of maps produced vary between 1:5,000 and 1:150,000. SRTM data were used for the altimetrics data acquisition and generation of MDT, and the Geology and Geomorphology were represented on the basis of the interpretation of images and in studies developed by MEIRELES & SANTOS (2011), dealing with the geomorphological evolution of the coastal plain of IcapuÃ. The thesis that the Geotechnologies configure important tooling for the public administration, sought to highlight, through cartography produced and GIS, the coastal ecosystems, sectors in erosive process, areas of potential risk, appropriate urban expansion areas, preservation areas, and identify interventions that lead to loss of biodiversity and the conservation actions that can help in the recovery of degraded environments.

The thesis is the result of qualitative field-research, based on semi-structured interviews and observations in the former Prague slums Pod Bohdalcem and Na Slatinách. The research reflects competing visions of various stakeholders with regards to the future development of these last almost fully preserved colonies, which were created for- and by the poor. The thesis also reconstructs and monitors the development of the conflict that arose between the inhabitants of the colonies and the urban planners in the course of the creation of the study "Bohdalec-Slatiny- Brownfield Strašnice", which proposes a new city-district in the area of the former colonies. It further captures the main reason for the dispute, namely the different perceptions of the colonies by its inhabitants and the institutions responsible for urban planning. For the first actor the area in question means 'home', as well as a place with rich history, while for the second it represents mainly a lucrative brownfield. The thesis also compares often incompatible visions of the stakeholders. It further describes signs or strategies of resistance that the inhabitants manifested from the beginnings of the colonies to the present day. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the concept of the right to the city and considers the...