Birds face many challenges from the process of urbanisation. Those species that are able to occupy urban areas offer opportunities to understand processes of acclimatisation to urban life and may help in the development of urban spaces for the benefit of wildlife. In many bird species, individuals that occupy territories in more urban areas show lower productivity and lower body condition of nestlings, which is thought to be mediated by food availability. Most of the studies exploring this issue were done on passerines and carried out in the global north, with very few studies exploring this topic on non-passerines, and even fewer in Africa. Studies addressing urban productivity in apex predators with slow life histories that are often of conservation concern are largely missing. Here, we explore the breeding performance of the African Crowned Eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) across an urbanisation gradient in KwaZuluNatal, South Africa. Specifically, we explored the hypothesis that living in an urban environment allows this species, which is typically a biennial breeder, to breed annually more often (i.e. increased breeding rate), and whether this might increase the productivity of this species. We also explore whether there may be any hidden costs of such a breeding strategy by examining the condition of chicks for pairs which had successfully bred in the previous year. We found that Crowned Eagles breeding in more urban areas attempted to breed more often (i.e., higher breeding rate), but that these birds also suffered from lower breeding success. These two contrasting responses counteracted each other and meant that overall productivity (number of young produced per occupied territory) was not influenced by urbanisation. Breeding annually did not appear to have a negative cost on the chick condition, as offspring in the year following a successful breeding attempt did not have lowered body condition. This species appears to be well adjusted to breeding in an urban environment. Crowned Eagles are currently considered vulnerable in South Africa, and ensuring that an urban population of this species is able to persist can help secure the conservation status of this charismatic species.

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This research analyses attitudes to urban green spaces within the framework of compact city development models, using Uppsala as a case study and investigating the tension between growth and preservation. Compact city literature strongly promotes the importance of green space within urban environments for both social and ecological wellbeing and highlights what becomes an increasing requirement for this as populations within urban areas are densified, which is a concomitant goal of compact city models. Yet in Uppsala, a contradiction appears whereby the municipality has firmly embraced a compact city model of development yet urban green areas are still being developed. This thesis first provides an environmental history of development and planning within Uppsala, highlighting the socio-ecological forces that co-create urban environments. An examination of the comprehensive planning policy documents over the last thirty years is performed which aligns the plans of Uppsala Municipality with the key features of the compact city model. Interviews were also conducted with three relevant actors from the municipality and the discourse was analysed. A combined analysis of the plans and the interviews results in an understanding and interpretation of the approach of the municipality to urban green spaces along with the creation of narratives around development and planning that look to explain Uppsala’s decisions around urban green spaces. The conclusions are that growth appears to take precedence over preservation of green space, both discursively and practically, and that the balance is towards the socio-economic in defining development. This is discussed in relation to ideas of hegemony, neoliberalism, andsustainable development.

Implementing urban development projects in planning practice while simultaneously providing sufficient green spaces has proven to be challenging. As a result, there is a growing need for practical approaches and tools for the integration of urban green qualities in the on-going densification of cities. Environmental assessment, as a proactive decision aiding tool, can hold an important role in integrating green qualities in urban development plans and projects. However, in recent years environmental assessment has only added moderate value to planning issues regarding green space. Therefore, this thesis was designed to contribute to the knowledge and understanding on the role environmental assessment can have in the integration of green qualities in future urban development plans and projects in efforts to aid practitioners. This aim was achieved through examination of existing urban green space planning practice in the Stockholm region (Paper I) and the practice of environmental assessment in a selection of European countries in relation to the following factors identified to be important for practice: timing, quality control, alternatives, monitoring and public participation (Paper II). The findings from both studies were then analysed to identify possibilities of green space planning within the framework of these factors. A qualitative research was employed for this study including: semi-structured interviews with municipal planners in the Stockholm region and environmental assessment experts for the European Commission, literature review, document analysis and case study analysis. The case studies analyzed in Paper I were located in municipalities of Haninge and Huddinge, suburban areas located to the south of Stockholm. In Paper II, the experts interviewed were environmental assessment experts from the European Commission from: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovenia. Through analysis of the results from both studies, the potential role of environmental assessment in integrating green qualities in urban development plans and projects are explored and discussed in relation to the factors. The potential of environmental assessment to enhance public participation and dialogues amongst actors, or bring forth green space issues within alternatives are a few of the roles discussed. Furthermore, a selection of pathways is suggested for the integration of green qualities in future urban development through the application of environmental assessment. For example, the implementation of developer dialogues in the environmental assessment process and the development of knowledge exchange platforms for sharing experiences in relation to green space planning and environmental assessment. / <p>QC 20171122</p>

Large-scale green space in city sometimes can bring isolation and disconnection. And isolation and disconnection make it become negative and even a barrier in urban space with time.

Green space fragmentation is one reason for the failing ecological networks around our planet. It has been argued that the driving force behind the loss of natural habitats by fragmentation is urban development. This essay aims to look at the subject of green space fragmentation in Uppsala municipality and how it affects both humans and roe deer living in the area. This essay will also explore how the efforts to stop wildlife-vehicle collisions impact roe deer’s ability to roam through the area divided thanks to human induced green space fragmentation. This has been done by using a descriptive quantitative analysis combined with a connectivity model, the least-cost approach. Remote sensing was used to collect the data used for the analysis. The results of this essay indicated that green space fragmentation impacts both humans and roe deer in Uppsala municipality since the wildlife-vehicle collisions can be traced to spots where the roe deer are forced to cross the road because of green space fragmentation. The introduced form of wildlife crossing structures, wildlife fences, does not help minimize the effects of the fragmentation, instead it steers the animals into certain points where the collisions occur. To truly minimize the consequences of human induced green space fragmentation, green infrastructure needs to be taken into account whenever planning future developments.

The research involves first conducting a "case study" of ecological data and applying the results, together with the resilience concept, to the development of a greenspace conservation planning framework for urban regions. The first part of the research investigates the relationship between forest bird abundance and the surrounding landscape characteristics, especially, forest area and its spatial configuration in urban regions at multiple scales. The results are similar for simple and multiple regression analyses across three scales. The percentage of forest cover in a landscape is positively correlated with bird abundance with some thresholds. Overall, the percentage of forest cover in the landscape, contrast-weighted forest edge density, and the similarity of land cover types to forest cover are identified as important for the conservation of the target bird species. The study points to the importance of species-specific habitat requirements even for species with similar life history traits and of maintaining some forest edges and/or edge contrast. The second part of the research involves the development of a landscape planning meta-model and its conceptual application to greenspace conservation planning, integrating the results of the first part. Administrative and planning units are recognized to exist in a nested hierarchy of neighborhood, city, and urban region, just as biodiversity can be conceived in a nested hierarchical organization of genes, populations/species, communities/ecosystems, and landscapes. Resilience thinking, especially the panarchy concept, provides a scientific basis and a metaphorical framework to develop the meta-model, integrating a proposed landscape planning "best practice" model at each planning scale. Ecological concepts such as response and functional diversity, redundancy, and connectivity across scales are identified as key concepts for conserving and increasing biodiversity and the resilience of an urban region. These concepts are then used in the meta-model to develop the greenspace conservation planning framework. Ecological processes such as pollination and dispersal, as well as social memory and bottom-up social movements---small changes collectively making a large impact at the broader scales as well as these incremental changes gaining momentum as they cascade across scales---are identified as cross-scale processes and dynamics that connect various planning scales in the meta-model.

As Uppsala’s population is in constant growth, Uppsala Municipality has designed a plan to densify Eriksberg and provide more residential homes, while localizing facilities for essential services and social infrastructure (Uppsala kommun, 2017:4). This will affect various green spaces in Eriksberg, which are an important part of the district and have long characterized the area (Lagergren et al., 2015:17; Uppsala kommun, 2017:19-32). Ample research suggests that green spaces offer various benefits to well-being, therefore, this study aims to analyze the effects of urban densification on green spaces in Eriksberg, with a focus on well-being (Kim et al., 2023:2; Coombes, E. et al., 2010; Guttman et al., 2021:2; Apkinar, 2016:76; Lee et al., 2015:132). The chosen method is a content analysis, consisting of a document analysis and a news media analysis. The results of the study illustrate that both the psychological and physical well-being of Eriksberg’s residents could, in several ways, be impacted by Uppsala Municipality’s development plans and efforts to densify the district. Moreover, many Eriksberg residents are concerned with green spaces being replaced or compromised in the development process, which the development plans suggest will happen in certain areas. However, the municipality has made some efforts to take residents’ opinions into consideration and, in certain instances, adhere to their wishes.

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