A key challenge of the Anthropocene is to advance human development without undermining critical ecosystem services. Central to this challenge is a better understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being, which interact in dynamic and complex social-ecological systems. These relationships have been the focus of much work in the past decades, however more remains to be done to comprehensively identify and quantify them, especially at larger scales. In this thesis, a social-ecological systems approach is adopted to investigate connections between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being in South Africa. The country’s high levels of biological and socio-economic diversity, as well as its emerging economy make South Africa an interesting case for exploring these connections. Using data from a variety of public sources, and at different sub-national scales, the thesis first identifies and analyses a variety of bundles of ecosystem service use. Based on these bundles, three social-ecological system archetypes were identified and mapped in South Africa, namely the green-loop (high overall use of local ecosystem services), transition, and red-loop (low overall use of local ecosystem services) systems. Further analysis explored the social and ecological drivers of these patterns, and found the distribution of systems mainly influenced by social factors including household income, gender of the household head, and land tenure. Second, this thesis uses human well-being indicators to construct, analyse and map multi-dimensional human well-being bundles. These bundles were found to spatially cluster across the landscape, and were analysed for congruence with the ecosystem service use bundles. Discrepancies in the expected overlap of ecosystem service use and human well-being were highlighted and concur with findings elsewhere and the ongoing debate in the literature on the impacts of time-lags, indicator choice and scale of these interactions. Third, biodiversity in South Africa was analysed by employing an indicator of biodiversity intactness (BII) at the population level. The BII was found to have declined by 18.3% since pre-industrial times. Biodiversity loss was linked to the potential supply of ecosystem services, as well as human well-being patterns. A potential threshold at 40% biodiversity loss was detected, beyond which population abundances decline sharply. Finally, the thesis examines multiple perspectives on ecosystem services in sustainability research, including the social-ecological systems perspective, and discusses the complementarity of the different perspectives in furthering a deeper understanding of the connections between people and ecosystems. The social-ecological systems perspective employed throughout the empirical work presented in this thesis contributed towards cross-cutting insights, the testing of new kinds of data and the development of new approaches, all of which represent important steps towards unravelling the connections between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being, and contributing to the key Anthropocene challenge of sustainable development. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

Visualização de dados significa o mapeamento e a apresentação de dados em gráficos através da manipulação de variáveis visuais - altura, largura, frequência, cor, posição da forma gráfica - para informar e comunicar um assunto subjacente. A presente investigação é o estudo de como a informação, visualização e divulgação de dados e estatísticas relativas ao bem-estar humano podem conscientizar a sociedade civil e gestores públicos a promoverem melhorias na qualidade de vida e em políticas públicas. Bem-estar é um conceito multidimensional que envolve todas as dimensões da vida - desnível social, estresse, início da vida, exclusão social, pobreza, mobilidade. Existem muitos métodos para mensurar o bem-estar humano, pode ser avaliado pelas abordagens objetiva e subjetiva. Sendo assim, nesta investigação é estudado o bem-estar humano: origem, significado, definições e descrições. Os instrumentos usados para mensurar os indicadores de bem-estar são investigados. A aplicação da pesquisa consiste na criação de um modelo de dados de indicadores de bem-estar aplicado à cidade de São Paulo baseado nos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável da ONU. Dados são coletados de instituições governamentais para a criação de um sistema de visualização - na internet <usp.br/mappingwellbeing/visualize> - através de gráficos de dados dinâmicos. / Data visualization is the mapping and representation of data into graphs by manipulating visual variables - height, width, frequency, color, position of the graphical form - to inform and communicate an underlying information. This research studies how information, visualization, and dissemination of human well-being data e statistics can raise awareness among civil society and public managers to promote improvements in quality of life and public policies. Well-being is a multidimensional concept that involves all dimensions of life - social gap, stress, beginning of life, social exclusion, poverty, mobility. There are many methods to measure human well-being, can be analyzed as objective well-being and subjective well-being. Thus, in this research human well-being is studied: origin, meaning, definitions and descriptions; In the same way, the instruments used in its measurement. An inventory of indicators is created from the indexing and analysis of reports of national e international organizations. The applied research consists in the creation of a visualization system based on data model - with indicators of well-being applied to the São Paulo city - grounded from the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Data are collected from government institutions using the proposed framework to create an internet platform <usp.br/mappingwellbeing/visualize>.

Due to the large influx of computers in our daily lives, human-computer interaction has become crucially important. For a long time, focusing on what users need has been critical for designing interaction methods. However, new perspective tends to extend this attitude to encompass how human desires, interests, and ambitions can be met and supported. This implies that the way we interact with computers should be revisited. Centralizing human values rather than user needs is of the utmost importance for providing new interaction techniques. These values drive our decisions and actions, and are essential to what makes us human. This motivated us to introduce new interaction methods that will support human values, particularly human well-being. The aim of this thesis is to design new interaction methods that will empower human to have a healthy, intuitive, and pleasurable interaction with tomorrow’s digital world. In order to achieve this aim, this research is concerned with developing theories and techniques for exploring interaction methods beyond keyboard and mouse, utilizing human body. Therefore, this thesis addresses a very fundamental problem, human motion analysis. Technical contributions of this thesis introduce computer vision-based, marker-less systems to estimate and analyze body motion. The main focus of this research work is on head and hand motion analysis due to the fact that they are the most frequently used body parts for interacting with computers. This thesis gives an insight into the technical challenges and provides new perspectives and robust techniques for solving the problem.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:29:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseWJG.pdf: 2710576 bytes, checksum: e615b12c152b4bacde3fbc05af5527be (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-12-01 / Although public politics determine priorities in the evaluation of the development and in the accomplishment of the human well-being, this work considers the possibility in evaluating the degree of satisfaction of the population, based on the priorities and indicators from the population perspective. The subject assumes extreme outlines when related to the correct use of the public resources and of the failure of municipal programs destined to the residents mainly inserted in the urban outlying space. Evaluation of the degree of satisfaction of the population comes as a strategy to evaluate the impacts produced by the investments - publics or private - in projects of social development. In this study the population of a recent outlying neighborhood (Social Division into lots Antenor Garcia), of the city of São Carlos, SP, with approximately five thousand inhabitants, was considered. With base in the answers for a single open and synthetic question: What does you like and unlike in the neighborhood in what you live? ", a questionnaire with seventy six subjects contained in six variables: Health; Social; Education and Recreation; Safety; Habitation and Environment; and Transports, was elaborated. As for the form of the scale of the questionnaire it was adopted of the type LIKERT, with referencial of OSGOOD, with answers induced for Totally Disagree (DT); "Disagree Partially" (DP); "Without Opinion" (SO); "Agree Partially" (CP) or Totally Agree (CT). The consistence measures among the correlations were made with base in the coefficient Alpha of CRONBACH, that resulted in: medium to high correlation (>0.66) for internal analysis to the variables; and medium correlation (0.46), for inter-variable analysis - function of the correlated aspects (e.g. Safety versus Health). The variable Transports were the one that presented smaller degree of satisfaction - probably due to distance of the neighborhood downtown of São Carlos. While the item public illumination which belongs to the variable Habitation and Environment was the one with best degree of satisfaction - probably due to the appeal of some of the aspects of safety manifested by the habitants of this suburb. One expects that this methodology comes to contribute to deal with the conflict between the interests of the population and the urban planning, in way to understand and to assist the real needs of those populations, in the application of the public resources. / Apesar das políticas públicas tratarem de fixar prioridades na avaliação do desenvolvimento e na realização do bem-estar humano, este trabalho considera a possibilidade em avaliar o grau de satisfação da população, com base nas prioridades e indicadores sugeridos pela própria população. A questão assume contornos extremos quando relacionada ao uso correto dos recursos públicos e do insucesso de programas municipais destinados principalmente aos moradores inseridos no espaço periférico urbano. A Avaliação do Grau de Satisfação da população se apresenta como uma estratégia para avaliar os impactos produzidos pelos investimentos públicos ou privados em projetos de desenvolvimento social. Neste estudo foi considerada a população de um bairro periférico recente (Loteamento Social Antenor Garcia), do município de São Carlos, SP, com aproximadamente cinco mil habitantes. Com base nas respostas para uma única pergunta aberta e sintética: O que te agrada e incomoda no bairro em que vive? , foi elaborado um questionário com setenta e seis questões agrupadas em seis variáveis: Habitação e Ambiente; Saúde; Educação e Lazer; Transportes; Segurança; Social. Quanto à forma da escala do questionário adotou-se a do tipo LIKERT, com referencial de OSGOOD, com respostas induzidas para Discordo Totalmente (DT); Discordo Parcialmente (DP); Sem Opinião (SO); Concordo Parcialmente (CP) ou Concordo Totalmente (CT). As medidas de consistência entre as correlações foram feitas com base no coeficiente Alfa de CRONBACH, que resultaram em: média a alta correlação (> 0,66), para análises internas às variáveis; e média correlação (0,46), para análises inter-variáveis função dos aspectos correlacionados (ex. Segurança x Saúde). Os dados mostraram que a variável Transportes foi a que apresentou menor grau de satisfação provavelmente devido a distância do bairro em relação ao centro da cidade de São Carlos. Enquanto que a questão iluminação do bairro pertencente a variável Habitação e Ambiente foi considerada a com maior grau de satisfação provavelmente explicado pelo apelo à segurança que os moradores desse bairro manifestam. Espera-se que esse trabalho possa contribuir na aplicação dos recursos públicos, no tratamento do conflito entre os interesses da população e o planejamento urbano, de modo a entender e atender as reais necessidades dessas populações.

Current conservation practices in the developing world are conceptualized as tools to simultaneously protect biodiversity and provide rural economic development. Conservation’s responsibility or ability to contribute to poverty alleviation and maintain its primary function of biodiversity protection is widely debated. Regardless if one chooses to prioritize conservation over poverty or vice versa, human well being at the global scale and local livelihoods at the micro scale are dependent on natural resources, making it is impossible to separate environment and development issues. In South Africa, conservation has largely been pursued in protected areas, particularly fenced parks devoid of human settlement. The benefits of parks are well known (i.e. biodiversity and ecosystem services), but the impacts on local livelihoods are not well documented. The Maputaland region located in northeast KwaZulu-Natal contains exceptional biodiversity alongside massive poverty and has been the subject of conservation and development projects marketed as win-win solutions. Yet, conservation in Maputaland is driven by global external agendas and epistemologies based on misconceptions of rural land use patterns and livelihoods, while the costs of implementation are borne locally. Nature-based tourism, participatory community schemes, and pro-poor polices have been designed to facilitate economic development, but the benefits have been minimal and slow to materialize. Uneven levels of power between rural residents and external institutions, as well as within the local tribal government, have resulted in the inequitable distribution of benefits and decision-making power. Development strategy in Maputaland continues to focus on conservation, including the expansion of protected areas to form transboundary peace parks linking reserves in South Africa, Mozambique, and Swaziland. However, expanded conservation is likely to result in household resettlement, lost access to socio-cultural and natural resources, and an increased risk of conflict over land use between conservation authorities and local residents. Complicating the success of any conservation and/or development scheme in Maputaland is the massive HIV/AIDS prevalence. With more than one third of residents infected, the disease will deepen poverty, decimate local capacity and leadership, and lead to an increased risk of resource degradation and land use conflict that ultimately undermines the long-term security of both biodiversity and local livelihoods. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / Unrestricted

Framtiden kommer att sätta städer på prov i och med att världens befolkning och urbanisering ökar. Detta utsätter livsviktiga förutsättningar som ekosystemtjänster och pollinering för stora hot, då en ökande urbanisering gör att grönytor i städer minskar. Samtidigt som att de som finns oftast är av en karaktär som inte är speciellt gynnsam för den biologiska mångfalden. Det har påvisats att det kan finnas ett positivt samband mellan biologisk mångfald och människans välmående. Samtidigt poängterar flertalet studier de hälsofrämjande effekter naturen har på människor, sett till både det fysiska och det mentala. Om rätt förutsättningar ges för städer kan det skapa möjligheter som bidrar med positiva effekter för en hållbar stadsutveckling. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka effekter småskalig odling i urban miljö kan ha för att öka biologisk mångfald och ekosystemtjänster i staden, samt boendes relation till naturmiljöer. Studien fokuserade på miniträdgårdar/blomurnor som placerats ut i ett bostadsområde i Gävle, Sverige. Dessa delades ut till hushåll som ville ta hand om dem under 2019. Resultatet av både en enkätundersökning och en litteraturundersökning visar på att miniträdgårdar kan ses som en förbättringsåtgärd/ett verktyg för att främja hållbarheten i städer gällande både de ekologiska och sociala aspekterna. En analys av en inventeringsstudie som skedde mellan år 2018 och 2019 gällande pollinerande insekter för området i Gävle, visade på att förekomsten av pollinatörer hade ökat. Enkätstudien av 39 svaranden visade på att de som tyckte att det skett en förändring i och med tillkomsten av miniträdgårdar/blomurnor, tyckte att det varit i en positiv mening. Det visade sig även att i jämförelse mellan år 2019 och 2020 hade de boendes inställning till olika inslag i naturen ökat i en positiv mening. Detta skulle kunna förklaras som att exponeringen av miniträdgårdar/blomurnor har lett till mer pro-ekologiska attityder. Slutligen konstateras att vidare studier inom ämnet behöver genomföras för att kunna ge ett tydligare svar av vad för slags mini-odlingar som är bäst lämpade och i vilken utsträckning dessa är nödvändiga för att uppnå positiva resultat. / The future will put cities to test as the world's population and urbanization increases. This may lead to threats to vital conditions for ecosystem services and pollination as such. As a result of increasing urbanization, green spaces in cities are declining and those of existence are usually of a character that is not particularly favorable for biodiversity. It has been shown that there can be a positive relationship between biodiversity and human well-being. At the same time, several studies point out the health-beneficial effects that nature has on humans, regarding both physical and mental health. As well as providing right conditions for cities, it can create opportunities that contribute with positive effects for sustainable urban development. The aim of this study is to investigate what effects small-scale cultivation in an urban environment has on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the city, as well as the resident’s relationship to natural environments. The study has focused on arrangements of miniature gardens/flower urns placed in a residential area in Gävle, Sweden. These were distributed to households who wanted to take care of them in 2019. The result of both a questionnaire survey and a literature study show that such an arrangement can be seen as an improvement action/tool to promote sustainability in cities regarding both the ecological and social aspects. An analysis of an inventory study which occurred between the years 2018 and 2019 that looked at pollinators in the resident area in Gävle, showed that the abundance of pollinators had risen. The questionnaire survey of 39 answers showed that of those who felt that a change had occurred with the presence of the miniature gardens/flower urns thought that it had been in a positive way. Compared to 2019, the residents' attitudes towards natural elements had been increasingly positive in 2020. This could be explained by the fact that the presence of the miniature gardens/flower urns has affected their values in a pro-ecological manner. Finally, it is concluded that to give a clearer answer of what kinds of small-scale cultivations that are best suited and to what extent these are necessary to achieve positive results, further studies in the subject are needed.

The COVID-19 pandemic had considerable effects on the tourism industry as well as on individuals. The lockdown led to long-lasting mental health consequences. Equally, awareness of well-being increased, and consequently, demand for tourism experiences that focus on well-being rose. Concerning the tourism industry, a rethinking process was evoked through the pandemic. Tourism scholars were in consensus that a paradigm shift was needed to counteract current sociocultural and environmental challenges while responding to the need to provide tourist offers that support the mental and physical health of consumers. The regenerative tourism paradigm offers a solution as it withdraws from the pro-growth agenda of the current tourism industry and strives towards a net positive impact on nature, people, and planet. The rise in well-being for the whole system is thereby aimed.The study contributed to the understanding of the regenerative tourism paradigm from the traveler's perspective. Thereby, travelers’ well-being is conceptualized in a multidimensional way including hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well-being. The aim of this study is to understand how different dimensions of well-being are experienced in regenerative tourism. A qualitative approach is applied by using interviews and observations to gather information. The case and research setting is thereby Mahakala Retreats Center in Montenegro which aligns with the principles of a regenerative tourism space. The narrative analysis following an inductive approach leads to the identification of three core themes that represent the answer to the research question. Findings reveal that hedonic well-being is experienced through being in a safe space, surrounded by beauty and nature. The dimension of social well-being is experienced by connecting with other retreat guests and lastly, eudaimonic well-being is experienced through self-reflection. These experiences are all fostered by the regenerative tourism space. It is argued that well-being itself constitutes the regenerative tourism experience, not an activity. The study furthermore identifies three new aspects of a regenerative tourism experience that go beyond the current established principles. Hence, experiencing beauty, experiencing a safe space and the balance between solitude and connection are aspects that are of high importance in regenerative tourism from the travelers' perspective.

En utilisant des approches qualitative and quantitative cette thèse démontre que les aspects intangibles des espaces architecturaux influencent le bien-être humain. Le but est de faire savoir que les espaces intérieurs ont un impact sur le bien-être et que l’architecture peut être considérée comme une solution pour satisfaire les besoins des usagers. Dans la première étude, l’approche qualitative est explorée en utilisant la narration pour identifier les aspects intangibles des espaces intérieurs qui affectent le bien-être. Une discussion s’articule autour du Modèle de Réponses Expérientielles des Humains (Model of Human Experiential Responses to Space) et de son importance comme outil pour déterrer les caractéristiques environnementales qui influencent le bien-être et qui peut être utile pour les professionnels du design. Les résultats démontrent que 43 catégories sont interprétées comme étant des aspects intangibles et servent de canevas pour trois autres études. Les résultats démontrent que certaines caractéristiques environnementales similaires dans les résidences et les bureaux augmentent le sentiment de satisfaction et de bien-être. Dans la deuxième étude, une approche quantitative est explorée en utilisant les neurosciences et l’architecture afin de mesurer comment les espaces architecturaux affectent le bien-être. Le concept de neuroscience / environnement / comportement est utilisé où huit corrélats neuroscientifiques (Zeisel 2006) sont investigués afin de mesurer les effets du cerveau sur les espaces architecturaux. Les résultats démontrent que l’environnement peut affecter l’humeur, le niveau d’attention et le niveau de stress chez les humains et peut également augmenter leur performance. Les deux études contribuent aux connaissances que les caractéristiques environnementales affectent l’humeur et le niveau de satisfaction de la même façon dans les espaces résidentiels et dans les espaces de bureaux. Un bon environnement qui énergise les employés peut affecter leur performance au travail de façon positive (Vischer 2005). / This research uses qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to demonstrate how intangible aspects of architectural spaces influence human well-being. The goal is to increase awareness that interior spaces do impact human well-being and that architecture can be regarded as a solution to satisfy space users’ needs. In the first study a qualitative approach is explored through narrative inquiry in order to identify intangible aspects of residential and office spaces that affect human well-being. A discussion is built around the Model of Human Experiential Responses to Space and its purpose as a tool to unearth environmental characteristics that enhance well-being and can be of value to design professionals. Results show that 43 categories are interpreted as being intangible aspects of architectural spaces that influence human well-being. These categories are then used for three other studies to find out if there are any underlying regularities in environmental characteristics that affect user moods and feelings. Results show that similar environmental characteristics heighten sense of satisfaction and well-being for both residential and office space users. In the second study, a quantitative approach is applied to neurosciences and architecture in order to measure how architectural spaces influence human well-being. Neuroscience and environment / behaviour concepts are used where eight brain-based neuroscientific correlates (Zeisel 2006) are investigated in order to measure brain effects on architectural spaces. Neuroscientific outcomes reveal that the environment can affect human moods, ability to focus attention and stress levels and may also heighten task performance. Both studies contribute to knowing how space users feel environmental characteristics affect their mood and satisfaction. They reveal that people’s moods may be affected similarly in residential or office space settings and that a good environment that energizes employees will affect their work performance in a positive way (Vischer 2005).

This report aims to answer the question “What is the relationship between adopting a landscape conservation approach and human well-being?” through a case study of the Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network. The Network is a collective that involves a variety of stakeholders that belong to a multidimensional scale and focuses on achieving a wide spectrum of goals. This research looks at the landscape conservation approach, which the Network uses, through the lens of strategic sustainable development by taking a systems perspective. The eight sustainability principles, which are used for the analysis, function as system boundaries for sustainability to aim towards human well-being. The environmental sphere is connected with the social sphere and make up the socio-ecological system and should not be considered separately. This research aims to make this connection clearer to compliment the lack of knowledge on this topic. The main conclusion is that by operating within the 8SPs and using a landscape conservation approach, organizations can contribute directly or indirectly to human well-being and the health of ecosystems. Some of the benefits for humans are an increase in physical and mental health and having the opportunity to find meaning by being out in nature.

This Master thesis was aimed at investigating common daylight evaluation methods related to Swedish building codes versus human perception of daylight in residential spaces. Field (interview) and simulation-based study were conducted in one of the typical 20thcentury residential, closed courtyard buildings in Stockholm.   12 residents of Kv. Väktaren 16 were interviewed and simulation models were prepared for the apartments occupied by the participants.   Resident perception of light was mostly contrary to daylight assessing values and methods of daylight factor – DF in a point (CIE overcast sky) and alternative method of window to floor area ratio – AF that are stated in Swedish standard (Boverkets byggregler BFS 2016:6).    Attractive and interesting view, access to direct sunlight and visual comfort played important role in overall occupant satisfaction level, this suggests that daylight metrics should include perception-based factors, which positively impact our health and well-being.