Urban public green space is a core contributor to cultural ecosystem services in cities, comprising the non-material benefits that people obtain from contact with nature. Due to the many benefits that have been ascribed to it, green space has become subject to debates on justice about its fair distribution and equal opportunities to use it. Teenage girls living in socio-economically challenged neighbourhoods appear to belong to a societal group that is restricted in accessing green space, as well as having less opportunities to influence the governance of such space. Attempting to bring further light to these issues, this study utilises a phenomenological approach in which intersectionality theory is central. It aims to explore how intersections of identity markers, such as age, gender, and place of residence, interact with girls’ lived experiences of green space. It does so by collecting first-person narratives in eight interactive and online interviews with the support of satellite, aerial and street view imagery provided by Google Maps. The result shows the great complexity of urban public green space as a place with room for both feelings of liberty and feelings of exclusion. The girls’ narratives unveil how urban green is an important source for well-being and quality of life, and how connection with nature enables connection with loved ones, the community, and with oneself. Simultaneously, identity markers, such as age, gender, and place of residence, intersect into a synergy of exclusion for teenage girls to fully encounter urban nature. Feelings of urban public green space as a place occupied by others contribute to experiences of it as inappropriate and unsafe for girls to visit in certain places during certain times. This suggests how green space works as an arena for power relations, where the opportunities for girls to benefit from its free use and from cultural ecosystem services decrease under certain circumstances. Narratives and myths that green space is dangerous for girls paint a geography of fear; in which fear of becoming a victim of crime is expressed as a fear of space. This fear increases with preconceptions and self-images that girls are defenceless and weak. Furthermore, these experiences intersect with feelings that their neighbourhoods, and the green wherein, are framed adversely and neglected by planners, politicians, municipalities and the government. Still, the girls express great appreciation and pride over the voluminous public green areas in their neighbourhoods. Despite experiencing less power to influence, they have strong visions and aspirations to impact the design and function of urban nature, which indicates prospects for empowerment and revitalisation of green space. It is concluded that recognising lived experiences of girls is essential when working towards safe and accessible, but also lively and inviting, green space. Furthermore, it is argued that insights from intersectionality is valuable when researching use of green space, as intersectionality is a profoundly spatial concept; in which social categories articulate in relation to place and time, and where power and identity contribute at shaping experiences of green space.

Der Umgang mit Verkehrslärm ist eine wachsende Herausforderung für Städte. Denn während Ballungsräume immer stärker wachsen und somit höhere Verkehrsaufkommen entstehen, gibt es auch immer mehr Bewohner, welche vor den Auswirkungen des Lärms geschützt werden müssen. Ein geeigneter Rückzugsraum zur Erholung der Stadtbevölkerung von Verkehrslärm sind städtische Grünflächen, doch auch diese sind stetig steigenden Verkehrslärmpegeln ausgesetzt. Im Rahmen der Umgebungslärmrichtlinie sollen daher Grünflächen als „Ruhige Gebiete“ geschützt und entwickelt werden. Jedoch sind bisher keine Richtlinien vorhanden, wie diese im Kontext der Lärmkompensation gestaltet werden sollen. Die vorliegende Arbeit betrachtet daher Zusammenhänge und Wechselwirkungen zwischen Lärm und urbanen Grünflächen. Dabei soll untersucht werden, wie Grünflächen gestaltet sein sollten, damit diese einen möglichst hohen Lärmentlastungseffekt erzielen. Hierbei wird geprüft, welchen Einfluss verschiedene Faktoren auf die individuelle Lärmwahrnehmung und die Wahl der persönlichen Aufenthaltsbereiche der Nutzer in Grünflächen haben. Die Einflussfaktoren wurden basierend auf der Literaturanalyse in drei Einflussgruppen aufgeteilt: Die Soundscape als Geräuschumgebung, die Grünfläche als räumliche Umgebung sowie der Nutzer als wahrnehmende Person. Für jede Einflussgruppe wurden mehrere Hypothesen aufgestellt, sodass insgesamt 13 Hypothesen zur Prüfung vorlagen. Eine besonders starke Forschungslücke wurde hierbei bezüglich der Verdeckung der Vegetation aufgezeigt, da es diesbezüglich zwei konträre Theorien gibt, welche beide durch verschiedene Studien gestützt werden. Zur Datenerhebung wurden drei verschiedene Methoden verwendet: Zunächst die Methodik der Soundwalks, bei welcher die Teilnehmer eine vordefinierte Route entlanggehen und an ausgewählten Punkten die Soundscape bezüglich ihrer individuellen Lärmwahrnehmung bewerten. Die Soundwalks wurden im Großen Garten in Dresden durchgeführt und an vier Terminen nahmen insgesamt 33 Teilnehmer teil. Danach wurde ein Set an unterschiedlichen Grünflächen in Dresden ausgewählt, in denen die beiden quantitative Untersuchungen durchgeführt wurden: Zum einen Strukturierte Interviews, bei welchen Nutzer in den verschiedenen Grünflächen bezüglich ihrer individuellen Lärmwahrnehmung befragt wurden. Zum anderen wurden Quantitative Beobachtungen durchgeführt, welche dazu dienten, die in den Grünflächen aufgesuchten Aufenthaltsbereiche einer großen Anzahl von Nutzern zu erfassen. Im Rahmen dieser beiden quantitativen Datenerhebungsmethoden wurden 388 Personen befragt sowie 12.680 Personen beobachtet. Die Auswertung der erhobenen Daten ergab, dass es mehrere Faktoren gibt, welche einen besonders deutlichen Einfluss auf die Wahrnehmung von Lärm in städtischen Grünflächen haben. Zum einen ist dies – recht offensichtlich – der vor Ort vorherrschende Lärm. Dieser kann durch die Höhe der Schalldruckpegel, psychoakustische Parameter, den Anteil an verlärmter Fläche und die wahrgenommene Stärke von Verkehrslärm charakterisiert werden. Je höher diese Werte sind, desto schlechter wird die individuelle Lärmwahrnehmung bewertet. Einen positiven Einfluss hat diesbezüglich jedoch die Anwesenheit von Naturgeräuschen. Aufgrund von Multisensorik hat allerdings auch die visuelle Wahrnehmung einen starken Einfluss auf die Geräuschwahrnehmung. Hierbei ist zum einen die visuelle Qualität zu nennen, denn umso ansprechender eine Grünfläche gestaltet ist, desto geringer wird der Lärm dort wahrgenommen. Zudem wirkt sich eine komplette Verdeckung der Lärmquelle – insbesondere bei Straßenverkehr – ebenfalls positiv auf die Lärmwahrnehmung aus. Dies unterstützt somit die Theorie der Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierung, welche besagt, dass möglichst wenige Sinne einen unangenehmen Reiz wahrnehmen sollen. Daher führt auch eine semi-transparente Verdeckung der Lärmquelle noch nicht zu einer signifikanten Verbesserung der Wahrnehmung, sondern erst eine komplette Verdeckung dieses visuellen Reizes. Der letzte untersuchte Faktor war der des Nutzers. Hierbei konnte aufgezeigt werden, dass Nutzer für lärmsensible Aktivitäten vermehrt auch ruhigere Grünflächenbereiche aufsuchen. Um Aktivitäten durchzuführen, welche ortsgebunden sind und somit fest montiertes Grünflächenmobiliar wie Sitzbänke oder Spielplätze benötigen, werden hingegen auch öfter lautere Bereiche genutzt. Insgesamt konnte in dieser Arbeit gezeigt werden, dass die Auswirkungen des Verkehrslärms bezogen auf die Grünfläche verringert werden, wenn diese möglichst wenige Verkehrsgeräusche, sondern vermehrt Naturgeräusche aufweist, von einer hohen visuellen Gestaltungsqualität geprägt ist und die Lärmquellen an den Rändern komplett verdeckt. Abschließend erfolgte basierend auf diesen Erkenntnissen die Erstellung eines Maßnahmenkatalogs, welcher förderliche Ziele und Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Grünflächen vorstellt. Diese sind insbesondere im Kontext der „Ruhigen Gebiete“ geeignet, um die Lärmwahrnehmung in städtischen Grünflächen subjektiv zu mindern.

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Building a livable city is the top objective of local governments. 'Green City' is concerned, researched, and constructed effectively in some cities around the world. The paper is to identify a green city's benefits to humans and the environment. Moreover, this study also establishes criteria of the green city according to international standards in emerging cities, especially in 5 criteria such as green space and land use, atmosphere, water resource, and energy supply. Finally, the criteria of the green city established are used for scoring and assessing Vung Tau city. Currently, Vung Tau city has 60.9 scores below a green city's standards with 65 scores; however, it can be changed by proposals in development policies to get 69.3 scores. / Việc xây dựng một thành phố đáng sống là một mục tiêu hàng đầu của các chính phủ địa phương. Thành phố xanh “Green City” đang được quan tâm, nghiên cứu, và xây dựng một cách hiệu quả tại nhiều thành phố trên thế giới. Bài báo này sẽ làm rõ ràng những chức năng mà một thành phố xanh mang lại. Ngoài ra, nghiên cứu này cũng xây dựng những tiêu chí của thành phố xanh đạt tiêu chuẩn quốc tế tại các thành phố đang phát triển, đặc biệt là 5 tiêu chí không gian xanh và sử dụng đất; giao thông; không khí; nguồn nước; nguồn năng lượng. Hơn nữa, việc ứng dụng các tiêu chí thành phố xanh cho việc chấm điểm và đánh giá Thành phố Vũng Tàu. Hiện nay, thành phố Vũng Tàu được chấm 60.9 điểm, mức điểm này ở dưới tiêu chuẩn của một thành phố xanh là 65 điểm, tuy nhiên trong tương lai gần với những chính sách phát triển phù hợp thì số điểm này có thể tăng lên đến 69.3 điểm.

The thesis covers the role of the Green Space Factor (GSF) system as a nature-based solution for ecological urban planning in the sustainable city. One main focus for sustainable urban development is the aspect of constructing green spaces and green buildings in order to improve land-use efficiencies and thus minimize negative environmental impacts. Hence, in this study research is made through conducting a qualitative municipal document analysis on how the GSF system is portrayed and implemented in urban planning strategies based on the municipalities of Malmö and Gothenburg. To limit the study, two urban areas are selected for further investigation, the Western harbour in Malmö City and the Freeport in Gothenburg City. The documents included in the study are based on three categories of developing the chosen urban areas: visions, area programs and detailed plans. From the document analysis, several categories or themes were extracted consisting of future goals and vision, actors and trademarks, visionary sustainability, climate change adaptation strategies, sustainable urban development models, green infrastructure, and lastly strategies and design principles of the Western harbour and the Freeport. The results are analysed through the theory of neoliberalised urban climate change adaptation strategies and green fix as crisis management. In order to include the local context of sustainable urban development, environmental policy localization is also included in the analysis of the results. The results from the analysis of the empirical material show that the municipalities of Malmö and Gothenburg have implemented the GSF planning system into the local context of their visions, area programs and detailed plans of both the Western harbour and the Freeport. The GSF system is included in both urban planning strategies through indirect terminologies connected to general sustainable development, such as climate change adaptation, green infrastructure and design principles showcasing the desired sustainability strategies. However, the results present the risk of market-based sustainability trademarking. The study concludes on the mark that it is important for the cities to on one hand implement the GSF system into the overall policies design, and on another hand face sustainable urban development at a variety of spatial scales in order to meet the external requirements originating in the localization of environmental policies.

Parking garages belong to the basic inventory of today’s cities, however their existence and contribution to the urban fabric is marginally discussed under the urban themes of structural transformation, environmental underperformance and socio-cultural fragmentation. This thesis is a study of parking infrastructure in the inner-city of Malmö with a particular focus on rooftops as spaces of opportunities for a sustainable urban development.The thesis aims to investigate whether an integration of parking garages into the urban fabric of their local environment can contribute to a more equal, mixed-use city development through adaptive reuse of the rooftops as public green spaces.Based on a literature review on public space transformation, urban green spaces, its threats and services and an investigation of a specific case study, this thesis identifies parking garages as potential spaces to compensate a lack of urban green and public environment. The study of possible integration of public and green services into the existing structures of parking garages is performed on the level of a city wide analysis, as well as in a particular context of a central district in Malmö. The study shows that the location of parking garages within network nodes of an increasingly mobile society and fragmented city structure could be strategic locations for additional uses. Furthermore an evaluation of parking garage usage has confirmed, that stand-alone, open-roof structures have been affected by vacancy, specifically in the upper floors due to decrease of demand for car parking in the central parts of Malmö. Finally this study concludes that parking garages are overlooked nodes with further potentials for adaptive reuse.

In this research, I explored the spatial relationships between urban green spaces (UGSs) accessibility and the demographic characteristics of the 26 municipalities across Stockholm Region (SR). I selected seven demographic variables for this research: age, gender, employment, income, education, country of birth and household status. I collected spatial and demographic data from available open-access online sources. I defined a threshold of 300 m, as the maximum acceptable distance between each residential building and the nearest UGS and used UGS per capita and inequity rate of access to UGS as two metrics for measuring environmental justice in terms of access to UGS. Using a network analysis, hotspot analysis, and correlation analysis, I mapped the spatial distribution of inequities in terms of access to UGSs; identified and characterized the hotspots and coldspots of inequity in terms of access to UGSs; and examined possible relationships between UGSs and the demographic characteristics of the 26 municipalities across SR. The results of my research indicated that despite the abundance of UGSs in SR, the spatial distribution of UGSs in SR is uneven and therefore, access to UGSs is not equitable for all residents. The results also indicated that access to UGSs in municipalities with higher percentages of the elderly, women, high-income groups, and people born in Sweden is easier. In contrast, access to UGSs in municipalities with higher percentages of retirees, middle-income groups, younger people, employed individuals, and people born outside Europe is worse. My research suggests that UGS accessibility is influenced by complex factors and need local-scale interventions in each area depending on the local issues of concern. Future research should focus on more localized data and finer spatial scales, incorporating a more detailed consideration of UGSs and accessibility to better investigate the interactions between UGSs and demographic variables. / I denna forskning undersöker jag de rumsliga relationerna mellan tillgängligheten till urbana grönområden (UGS) och demografiska egenskaperna hos de 26 kommunerna i Stockholmsregionen (SR). Jag valde ut sju demografiska variabler för denna forskning: ålder, kön, sysselsättning, inkomst, utbildning, födelseland och hushållsstatus. Jag samlade in rumsliga och demografiska data från tillgängliga online källor med öppen åtkomst. Jag definierade en tröskel på 300 m som det maximalt acceptabla avståndet mellan varje bostadshus och den närmaste UGS och använde UGS per capita och ojämlikhetsgrad i tillgång till UGS som två mått för att mäta miljörättvisa avseende tillgång till UGS. Med hjälp av nätverksanalys, hotspot-analys och korrelationsanalys kartlade jag den rumsliga fördelningen av ojämlikheter i förhållande till UGS; identifierade och karakteriserade hotspots och coldspots för ojämlikheter i förhållande till UGS; och undersöker möjliga relationer mellan UGS och demografiska egenskaper hos de 26 kommunerna i SR. Resultaten av min forskning visade att trots ett överflöd av UGS i SR är den rumsliga fördelningen av UGS i SR ojämn och därmed är tillgången till UGS inte rättvis för alla invånare. Resultaten visade också att tillgången till UGS är enklare i kommuner med en större andel äldre, kvinnor, personer med höga inkomster och personer födda i Sverige. I motsats till detta är tillgången till UGS sämre i kommuner med ett högre andel pensionärer, personer med medelinkomster, yngre människor, anställda och personer födda utanför Europa. Min forskning antyder att tillgången till UGS påverkas av komplexa faktorer och kräver lokala insatser i varje område beroende på lokala omständigheter. Framtida forskning bör inriktas på mer lokaliserade data och finare rumsliga skalor, inkludera en mer detaljerad betraktelse av UGS och tillgänglighet för att bättre undersöka samspelet mellan UGS och demografiska variabler.

Urban green spaces are put under high pressure due to increasing population density in cities. This problem will potentially accelerate where the densification in the cities continues. Consequently, this sets high requirements on the management, if the green spaces are to generate the benefits and values that are associated with greens spaces as urban parks. One way to increase these benefits and values could be to incorporate ecosystem services and indicators for ecosystem services in a multi-stakeholder management system. Is it possible that ecosystem service indicators could facilitate collaboration between stakeholders and thus improve the value of urban green space? This master thesis aimed to identify ecosystem service indicators for a green space and incorporate them in a multi-stakeholder management system. The study was made to clarify if indicators can facilitate collaboration between stakeholders and thus improve the management of an urban green space. In order to achieve that, the first step was to let the stakeholders express what they desired the green space to generate in terms of benefits and values. These expressed benefits and values were formulated into target variables which were linked with the ecosystem services that the green space was assessed to generate if the target variables are achieved. A literature study was conducted to identify applicable indicators for the chosen ecosystem services. These indicators were quantified and incorporated into an already existing management system. This management system performed as a framework and a fundament which was further developed to incorporate more functions as indicators and ecosystem services. The thesis resulted in two identified indicators for ten ecosystem services and the development of a multi-stakeholder management system. Identified indicators were birds and compliant seating. Birds were identified as an indicator because they indicated many of the same ecosystem services as the ones that are generated in the green space. These ecosystem services are linked with the benefits and values that are associated with the target variables. In addition, the birds were chosen because they were possible to quantify. Compliant seating was the second indicator, and it has the potential to function as a control indicator as it can be seen as a manifestation of the cultural ecosystem services generated at the green space. A multi-stakeholder management system was developed with the incorporation of indicators for ecosystem services. The developed management system aimed to facilitate the collaboration between stakeholders with the use of ecosystem service indicators. Taken together, the findings suggest a role for ecosystem service indicators in multi-stakeholder management plans to improve the value of green spaces. / Grönytor i städer är satt under hög press på grund av ökande befolkningstäthet vilket leder till att fler människor behöver dela på samma mängd urban grönyta. Detta fenomen ökar kraven på förvaltningen av grönytor då de behöver generera fler nyttigheter och mera värde. Ett sätt att öka dessa värden skulle kunna vara att använda sig av indikatorer för ekosystemtjänster inom ett förvaltningssystem där flera förvaltare verkar. Är det möjligt att indikatorer för ekosystemtjänster kan underlätta samarbetet mellan olika förvaltare och därigenom öka värdet av en grönyta?   Den här masteruppsatsen hade målet att identifiera indikatorer för ekosystemtjänster genererade av en grönyta och sedan inkorporera dem i en förvaltningsmetod som ökar samverkan mellan förvaltare. Studien syftade till att tydliggöra om användandet av ekosystemtjänstindikatorer kan underlätta samarbetet av mellan olika förvaltare för att förbättra förvaltningen av en grönyta. Det första steget för att åstadkomma detta var att låta förvaltarna uttrycka vilka värden och nyttigheter de vill att grönytan skulle skapa. Dessa värden och nyttigheter formulerades som målvariabler vilka länkades till de ekosystemtjänster som grönytan bedömdes generera. Genom en litteraturstudie identifierades indikatorer som kunde indikera de ekosystemtjänster som genererades vid grönytan. Indikatorerna kvantifierades och inkorporerades in i ett redan existerande förvaltningssystem.   Studien resulterade i två identifierade indikatorer och i utvecklandet av ett förvaltningssystem som underlättar samverkan genom användandet av indikatorer. Fåglar identifierade som en indikator på grund av att fåglar indikerade samma ekosystemtjänster som genereras på grönytan. Fåglar valdes också för att det var möjligt att kvantifiera fåglarna vid grönytan. Villkorlig sittplats var den andra indikatorn och den har möjligheten att fungera som en kontrollindikator eftersom den kan beskrivas som en manifestation av de ekosystemtjänster som genereras på grönytan. Sedan så utvecklas även ett förvaltningssystem där indikatorerna inkorporerades. Förvaltningssystemet hade målet att underlätta samverkan mellan de olika förvaltarna med hjälp av indikatorerna. Sammanfattningsvis så bedöms det att indikatorer för ekosystemtjänster har potentialen att användas i ett förvaltningssystem och därigenom kunna bidra till att öka värdet av grönytan.

This thesis examines the rhetorical and visual manifestations of race as they figured in the months prior to and within the 2006 New Orleans mayoral election discourses, and examines how the Nagin campaign tapped into a strategy that capitalized upon pre-existing racial tensions exacerbated by Katrina in order to win re-election. Much of the research for this thesis emerged from the making of a documentary film that examines the intersection between race and politics within this same election, and draws upon primary source video interviews conducted between February - May, 2006, and secondary source media and communications materials to posit that race rendered all political response to Katrina impotent, and that the reductive discourse of a racialized campaign was founded upon traditional, outmoded, and predictable interpretations of racial differences facilitated by socioeconomic hierarchies that both provided a structure for and allowed the psychological framework for such a strategy to work.

Les sédiments fins qui s’accumulent naturellement en amont des ouvrages hydroélectriques sont parfois amenées à être gérés à terre, pour des raisons techniques ou environnementales. L’une des voies de valorisation envisagée pour les gérer est la construction de sols fertiles pour l’aménagement d’espaces végétalisés ou encore pour la réhabilitation de zones dégradées. Cet usage des sédiments en tant que matériaux alternatifs pour construire des sols contribue à préserver la ressource en terre végétale et nécessite de prouver la valeur agronomique et l’innocuité environnementale des sédiments. Une approche expérimentale (essai sous serre de 3 mois et essai in situ en bacs lysimétriques de 24 mois) a permis d’évaluer les composantes physiques, chimiques et biologiques de la fertilité de sols construits à partir de 6 sédiments, seuls ou mélangés avec 40 % (v:v) de compost de déchets verts.Les résultats de l’étude ont mis en évidence que la capacité d’agrégation des sédiments est un facteur clé de leur fertilité. Le suivi du développement de la couverture végétale des sols construits a démontré la capacité de tous les sédiments étudiés à être support de végétation. Les sédiments riches en matière organique (MO) (>30 g kg-1) sont adaptés aux végétaux des espaces végétalisés ayant potentiellement des exigences hydriques et trophiques élevées. Les sédiments pauvres en MO (<30 g kg-1), semblent davantage adaptés à une utilisation pour des opérations de restauration où les exigences des végétaux sont généralement moindres. Ce travail aboutit à la proposition de critères environneme / Fine sediments naturally accumulate upstream of hydropower facilities. For technical or environmental reasons, they occasionally have to be dredged and land managed. Using dredged sediment to construct fertile soils and set up green spaces or rehabilitate degraded land is one the ways dredged sediment can be valorized. This use of sediment as an alternative soil-building material helps preserve the topsoil resource, but its agronomical value and environmental safety first has to be demonstrated. We used an experimental approach (a 3-month greenhouse trial and a 24-month in situ lysimeter test) to assess the physical, chemical, and biological parameters of soil fertility from 6 sediments that were either pure or mixed with 40 % (v:v) of green waste compost.The results showed that sediment aggregation capacity is a key factor of their fertility. The monitoring of vegetation cover development on the constructed soil demonstrated that all six sediments could support vegetation. High organic matter (OM) content sediments (> 30 g kg-1) are suitable to grow plants with potentially high water and nutrient requirements. Low OM content sediments (< 30 g kg-1) appear to be more suitable for use in restoration operations where plant requirements are generally lower. This work leads to the proposal of environmental and agronomical criteria for directing sediments towards soil construction and propose adapted uses.