Simulations assuming open-pit mines and different cessation landscapes of open-pit mines with urbanization were performed with a non-hydrostatic meteorological model. The possible enhancement or counteracting of the atmospheric responses to these simultaneously occurring (= accumulated) land-use changes are examined applying a formula drived from the principle of superposition. Although accumulated land-use changes substantially affect the local water and energy fluxes and significantly influence cloud and precipitation microphysics, they do not necessarily provide more significant changes in these quantities than the change of different land-use types to only one land-use type (=single land-use changes). Where the atmospheric responses to accumulated land-use changes are enhanced or inhibited, depends on the thermal, dynamical and hydrologic characteristics of the undergoing accumulated land-use changes as well as on the land-use adjacent to the land-use conversion. In regions dominated by drier surfaces (e.g., agriculture), no enhancement or counteraction according to the principle of superposition could be detected in this study. / Simulationen mit einer Tagebaulandschaft sowie verschiedenen Tagebaufolgelandschaften inklusive Urbanisierung wurden mit einem nicht-hydrostatischen meteorologischen Modell durchgeführt. Eine mögliche Verstärkung oder Abschwächung der atmosphärischen Reaktion auf gleichzeitig auftretende (akkumulierte) Landnutzungsänderungen wird mittels einer auf dem Prinzip der Superposition erstellten Formel untersucht. Obgleich die akkumulierten Landnutzungsänderungen die lokalen Energie- und Wasserflüsse merklich sowie die Wolken und Niederschlagsmikrophysik signifikant beeinflussen, führen sie nicht notwendigerweise zu stärkeren Änderungen dieser Größen als einfache Landnutzungsänderungen. Wo sich akkumulierte Landnutzungsänderungen in ihrer Wirkung auf die Atmosphäre verstärken oder abschwächen, hängt davon ab, wie stark sich die dynamischen, hydrologischen und energetischen Eigenschaften der veränderten Landnutzung von der vorherigen und denen der Umgebung unterscheiden. In Regionen, die durch trockene Flächen charakterisiert sind (z.B. Ackerland), konnte in dieser Studie kein Verstärken oder Abschwächen im Sinne einer Abweichung vom Prinzip der Superposition festgestellt werden.

Increased development pressure in inner city areas of many Australian and North American cities has resulted in the loss of locally valued cultural landscapes. Accompanying this process is palpable concern by local residents that their values have not been taken into account. While architectural and historical values are well recognised by heritage and planning practitioners, less tangible social values are often ignored. This thesis argues that a gap has formed between the process through which people interact with place and the process of landuse planning. The aim of the research is to critically examine this gap. Pyrmont and Ultimo, an inner city redevelopment area of Sydney, provides a context of rapid social and physical change. Open-ended, unstructured and semi-structured interviews with residents of Pyrmont and Ultimo, and professionals involved in planning and development provide insight into perspectives about the consideration of social values in landuse planning. The results indicate that the loss of valued places may have physical and social implications on people and place including loss of local character and identity, increased conflict, resident anxiety and disillusionment with planning processes. Residents and planners develop strategies for coping, but these do little to improve limited information flow and understanding. Bridging the gap between the two processes calls for a stronger link between heritage conservation and planning, in addition to planning reform. The research suggests the need for formal landuse planning to recognise the value of situational knowledge and social significance, rather than rely on technical expertise and physical fabric. Efforts spent on refining methods for identification and assessment of social value may be better directed towards developing and improving methods for integrating the concept of social value into the planning framework.

<p><strong>Sammanfattning</strong></p><p>En uppföljning av betydande miljöpåverkan ska genomföras för miljöbedömda planer och program. Forskning visar att uppföljningen är eftersatt, både praktiskt och teoretiskt. Denna studie bidrar med erfarenheter och bygger upp kunskap om miljöuppföljning av de kommunala planerna, översiktsplan och detaljplan. Uppföljning är viktigt för en erfarenhets-återföring och miljöhänsyn i den kommunala planprocessen. Utifrån undersökningens mål ställdes fyra frågeställningar upp som behandlar: förekomsten av uppföljningar av miljöbedömda planer i kommuner (1), hur organisations- och ansvarsfrågor är fördelat (2) hur väl lämpade kommuners miljöövervakning är för uppföljning (3), samt vad som är centralt vid genomförande av uppföljning (4). Inom ramen för undersökningen har olika aktörer intervjuats, där kommuner utgjorde den största källan. Studien kom fram till att uppföljningsarbetet fortfarande bara är i sin linda i undersökta kommuner samt att vissa justeringar av befintliga miljöövervakningssystem behövs för att använda dessa för uppföljning av planer. Befintliga problem utgörs främst av oklarhet i fråga om ansvar inom kommun och/eller mellan kommunen och exploatörer samt att det råder brist på uppföljningsmetoder. Viktiga förutsättningar är därför att klargöra ansvarsfördelning och bestämma avstämningstillfällen där uppföljningen ska behandlas. Ett annat verktyg är utvecklandet av ett uppföljningsprogram. Ett sådant program föreslås också kunna omfatta miljöåtgärder och tillsynsaktiviteter i byggskedet. Ett gemensamt miljö- och uppföljningsprogram kan ge möjlighet att säkerställa en enhetlig hantering av miljöhänsyn i det kommunala planarbetet.</p> / <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>A follow-up of the significant environmental impacts is required for plans and programs, which are affected by SEA-regulations. Research shows that follow-up is neglected, both practically and theoretically. This study aims to compile experience and knowledge to build understanding of follow-up of municipal plans, specifically land use plans (översiktsplan, detaljplan). Follow-up is important as feedback and to integrate environmental concerns into the municipal planning process. Based on the aim, four questions were raised concerning: the occurrence of follow-up of plans in municipalities (1), organizational and responsibility issues (2) how well suited the existing environmental monitoring in the municipalities is for follow-up (3), and what is important when working with follow-up in a municipality (4). Various stakeholders were interviewed, in which municipalities were the main source. The study shows that follow-up work is still only in its infancy in the surveyed municipalities, and that adjustments to the existing environmental monitoring systems are needed for use in follow-up of plans. Existing problems are uncertainties in responsibility questions and lack of methods to follow-up. Key conditions are to clarify responsibilities within municipalities and with landowner/developer and decide occasions where follow-up is handled. Another tool is the development of a follow-up program. Such program is also proposed to include environmental measures and other activities in the building phase. A common program could ensure a comprehensive management of environmental concerns in the municipal planning process.</p>

As land-cover conversion continues to expand into ever more remote areas in the humid tropics, montane rainforests are increasingly threatened. In the south Ecuadorian Andes, they are not only subject to man-made disturbances but also to naturally occurring landslides. I was interested in the impact of this ecosystem dynamics on a key parameter of the hydrologic cycle, the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (synonym: permeability; Ks from here on), because it is a sensitive indicator for soil disturbances. My general objective was to quantify the effects of the regional natural and human disturbances on the saturated hydraulic conductivity and to describe the resulting spatial-temporal patterns. The main hypotheses were: 1) disturbances cause an apparent displacement of the less permeable soil layer towards the surface, either due to a loss of the permeable surface soil after land-sliding, or as a consequence of the surface soil compaction under cattle pastures; 2) ‘recovery’ from disturbance, either because of landslide re-vegetation or because of secondary succession after pasture abandonment, involves an apparent displacement of the less permeable layer back towards the original depth an 3) disturbances cause a simplification of the Ks spatial structure, i.e. the spatially dependent random variation diminishes; the subsequent recovery entails the re-establishment of the original structure. In my first study, I developed a synthesis of recent geostatistical research regarding its applicability to soil hydraulic data, including exploratory data analysis and variogram estimation techniques; I subsequently evaluated the results in terms of spatial prediction uncertainty. Concerning the exploratory data analysis, my main results were: 1) Gaussian uni- and bivariate distributions of the log-transformed data; 2) the existence of significant local trends; 3) no need for robust estimation; 4) no anisotropic variation. I found partly considerable differences in covariance parameters resulting from different variogram estimation techniques, which, in the framework of spatial prediction, were mainly reflected in the spatial connectivity of the Ks-field. Ignoring the trend component and an arbitrary use of robust estimators, however, would have the most severe consequences in this respect. Regarding variogram modeling, I encouraged restricted maximum likelihood estimation because of its accuracy and independence on the selected lags needed for experimental variograms. The second study dealt with the Ks spatial-temporal pattern in the sequences of natural and man-made disturbances characteristic for the montane rainforest study area. To investigate the disturbance effects both on global means and the spatial structure of Ks, a combined design-and model-based sampling approach was used for field-measurements at soil depths of 12.5, 20, and 50 cm (n=30-150/depth) under landslides of different ages (2 and 8 years), under actively grazed pasture, fallows following pasture abandonment (2 to 25 years of age), and under natural forest. Concerning global means, our main findings were 1) global means of the soil permeability generally decrease with increasing soil depth; 2) no significant Ks differences can be observed among landslides and compared to the natural forest; 3) a distinct permeability decrease of two orders of magnitude occurs after forest conversion to pasture at shallow soil depths, and 4) the slow regeneration process after pasture abandonment requires at least one decade. Regarding the Ks spatial structure, we found that 1) disturbances affect the Ks spatial structure in the topsoil, and 2) the largest differences in spatial patterns are associated with the subsoil permeability. In summary, the regional landslide activity seems to affect soil hydrology to a marginal extend only, which is in contrast to the pronounced drop of Ks after forest conversion. We used this spatial-temporal information combined with local rain intensities to assess the partitioning of rainfall into vertical and lateral flowpaths under undisturbed, disturbed, and regenerating land-cover types in the third study. It turned out that 1) the montane rainforest is characterized by prevailing vertical flowpaths in the topsoil, which can switch to lateral directions below 20 cm depth for a small number of rain events, which may, however, transport a high portion of the annual runoff; 2) similar hydrological flowpaths occur under the landslides except for a somewhat higher probability of impermeable layer formation in the topsoil of a young landslide, and 3) pronounced differences in runoff components can be observed for the human disturbance sequence involving the development of near-surface impeding layers for 24, 44, and 8 % of rain events for pasture, a two-year-old fallow, and a ten-year-old fallow, respectively. / Der tropische Bergregenwald in den Südecuadorianischen Anden unterliegt sowohl anthropogenen Eingriffen, d.h. der Umwandlung von Naturwald in Rinderweiden, als auch natürlichen Störungen in der Form von Hangrutschen. Ziel meiner Arbeit war es, die Auswirkungen dieser regionalen Störungsdynamik auf einen Schlüsselparameter des hydrologischen Kreislaufs, die gesättigte hydraulische Wasserleitfähigkeit (Ks), zu untersuchen und die resultierenden raum-zeitlichen Muster zu beschreiben. In der ersten Studie habe ich eine Synthese aktueller geostatistischer Forschung hinsichtlich ihrer Eignung für die Analyse bodenhydrologischer Daten entwickelt. Diese beinhaltet explorative Datenanalyse und verschiedene Techniken zur Schätzung der Kovarianzparameter; die Ergebnisse habe ich in Bezug auf die Ungenauigkeit räumlicher Vorhersagen bewertet. Es hat sich dabei herausgestellt, dass die Schätztechniken teilweise beachtliche Unterschiede in den Parametern hervorrufen, welche sich hauptsächlich in der räumlichen Konnektivität widergespiegeln. Die wichtigste Rolle im Zusammenhang mit der räumlichen Vorhersage kommt jedoch den vorgeordneten explorativen Analyseschritten zu. In der zweiten Studie habe ich mich mit der Beschreibung des raum-zeitlichen Muster der Wasserleitfähigkeit in den anthropogenen und natürlichen Störungsgradienten beschäftigt. Wichtigste Ergebnisse waren, dass es keine signifikanten Unterschiede der Wasserleitfähigkeit zwischen den verschieden alten Hangrutschen und dem Naturwald gibt. Daraus lässt sich schließen, dass die natürlichen Störungen im Untersuchungsgebiet lediglich marginale Auswirkungen auf die Bodenhydrology haben. Das steht in starkem Kontrast zum anthropogenen Störungskreislauf: die Wasserleitfähigkeit im Weideboden hat gegenüber dem Naturwald um zwei Größenordnungen abgenommen; eine „Erholung“ nach Nutzungsaufgabe scheint mindestens ein Jahrzehnt in Anspruch zu nehmen. Die räumlichen Abhängigkeit von Ks in den Oberböden von Wald und einer alten Brache ist stärker als in jenen der gestörten Flächen, was auf eine störungsbedingte Beeinträchtigung der räumlichen Struktur in geringer Bodentiefe schließen lässt. In der dritten Studie habe ich diese raum-zeitlichen Informationen mit dem örtlichen Niederschlagsregime in Verbindung gebracht, um Rückschlüsse auf die Auswirkungen der störungsbedingten Änderungen von Ks auf hydrologische Fließwege zu ziehen. Es hat sich gezeigt, dass im tropischen Bergregenwald und unter Hangrutschen ubiquitäre Tiefenversickerung dominiert, es allerdings zu einer Verschiebung in laterale Fließrichtungen für die seltenen intensiven Regenereignisse kommen kann. Anthropogene Störungen gehen mit einer um bis zu 50 Prozent erhöheren Wahrscheinlichkeit des Auftretens oberflächennaher Stauschichten einher, was die Bedeutung lateraler Fließwege erhöht. Dies trifft in vergleichbarer Größenordnung auch auf ein Vergleichsökosystem im Tieflandregenwald zu.

Sammanfattning En uppföljning av betydande miljöpåverkan ska genomföras för miljöbedömda planer och program. Forskning visar att uppföljningen är eftersatt, både praktiskt och teoretiskt. Denna studie bidrar med erfarenheter och bygger upp kunskap om miljöuppföljning av de kommunala planerna, översiktsplan och detaljplan. Uppföljning är viktigt för en erfarenhets-återföring och miljöhänsyn i den kommunala planprocessen. Utifrån undersökningens mål ställdes fyra frågeställningar upp som behandlar: förekomsten av uppföljningar av miljöbedömda planer i kommuner (1), hur organisations- och ansvarsfrågor är fördelat (2) hur väl lämpade kommuners miljöövervakning är för uppföljning (3), samt vad som är centralt vid genomförande av uppföljning (4). Inom ramen för undersökningen har olika aktörer intervjuats, där kommuner utgjorde den största källan. Studien kom fram till att uppföljningsarbetet fortfarande bara är i sin linda i undersökta kommuner samt att vissa justeringar av befintliga miljöövervakningssystem behövs för att använda dessa för uppföljning av planer. Befintliga problem utgörs främst av oklarhet i fråga om ansvar inom kommun och/eller mellan kommunen och exploatörer samt att det råder brist på uppföljningsmetoder. Viktiga förutsättningar är därför att klargöra ansvarsfördelning och bestämma avstämningstillfällen där uppföljningen ska behandlas. Ett annat verktyg är utvecklandet av ett uppföljningsprogram. Ett sådant program föreslås också kunna omfatta miljöåtgärder och tillsynsaktiviteter i byggskedet. Ett gemensamt miljö- och uppföljningsprogram kan ge möjlighet att säkerställa en enhetlig hantering av miljöhänsyn i det kommunala planarbetet. / Abstract A follow-up of the significant environmental impacts is required for plans and programs, which are affected by SEA-regulations. Research shows that follow-up is neglected, both practically and theoretically. This study aims to compile experience and knowledge to build understanding of follow-up of municipal plans, specifically land use plans (översiktsplan, detaljplan). Follow-up is important as feedback and to integrate environmental concerns into the municipal planning process. Based on the aim, four questions were raised concerning: the occurrence of follow-up of plans in municipalities (1), organizational and responsibility issues (2) how well suited the existing environmental monitoring in the municipalities is for follow-up (3), and what is important when working with follow-up in a municipality (4). Various stakeholders were interviewed, in which municipalities were the main source. The study shows that follow-up work is still only in its infancy in the surveyed municipalities, and that adjustments to the existing environmental monitoring systems are needed for use in follow-up of plans. Existing problems are uncertainties in responsibility questions and lack of methods to follow-up. Key conditions are to clarify responsibilities within municipalities and with landowner/developer and decide occasions where follow-up is handled. Another tool is the development of a follow-up program. Such program is also proposed to include environmental measures and other activities in the building phase. A common program could ensure a comprehensive management of environmental concerns in the municipal planning process.

The Cody Complex is a late Paleo-Indian complex found throughout the Great Plains of North America. In Saskatchewan, material of the complex is mostly found as surface finds and therefore out of its original context. In situ Cody Complex material has only been recovered from three excavated sites in Saskatchewan. While various archaeologists (professional and avocational) have collected and recorded Cody material from surface finds throughout the province, the results of their efforst have not been widely disseminated. These issues have led to a situation in which little is known about the Cody Complex in Saskatchewan. This thesis attempts to begin correcting this problem, firstly by acting as a reference source by compiling as much information as possible on the Cody Complex material found throughout Saskatchewan. Included in these reference materials are pictures, measurements and find locations of the projectile points and Cody knives whenever such information is available. Secondly an attempt is made to determine possible Cody Complex mobility and landuse patterns within the province. Mobility and landuse patterns were determined based on the lithic material types used to make the Cody Complex projectile points and Cody knives. In particular the find locations of various specimens was compared to where the material could be acquired. Cody Complex projectile points and the associated knives were focused on due to most Cody Complex material in the province being surface collected. Based on the lithic types used to create these tools, the Cody Complex people in Saskatchewan were practicing a highly mobile and non-local landuse pattern, with a particular focus of interactions with more southern areas such as the Knife River Flint quarry area of North Dakota.

Aboriginal communities in Canada are increasingly involved in land use planning initiatives to promote community-led economic renewal and advance self-determination. As analyzed by political ecologists elsewhere, international and national civil society organizations are also increasingly important actors in environmental governance in Canada. However, nascent conflicts due to the role of civil society organizations in influencing planning policy development, and its effects on Aboriginal–state relationships, have not yet been explored. Through community-based fieldwork with Pikangikum First Nation, interviews with Provincial Ministries and conservation organizations, and in-depth document analysis, this thesis analyzes the roots of contentious politics for land use planning in the Far North Region of Ontario. Specifically, it analyzes 1) the evolution of land use planning policy development between 1975 and 2010 in the region; 2) the role and strategies of civil society organizations in influencing planning policy development, and 3) the impacts that different planning approaches have for enabling Aboriginal decision-making authority in their territories. Results show that during four different planning processes held between 1975 and 2010, Aboriginal communities and organizations in the Far North actively resisted state-led land use planning and resource allocation, and developed partnerships with the Ontario Government to enable community-led planning in their traditional territories. Since 2008, Aboriginal organizations have condemned new comprehensive legislation for opening the Far North Region to development and setting a restrictive conservation target, without clarifying substantive issues of jurisdictional authority, sharing of resources, and consultation protocols. These changes were the result of international and national civil society organizations's actions to strategically mobilize public and political support. The planning approaches that emerged from different planning policies were found to directly influence how Aboriginal–state relations are developed; who sits at the decision-making table; how resources are distributed; and how knowledge systems are balanced. Without careful attention to how power is distributed across levels of governance and where accountability lies, multi-level governance—and the bridging role that is promoted for civil society organizations—may lead to patterns of scale dominance, and become a way to justify continued control by the state, corporations, and international civil society organizations on Aboriginal territories.

Source water protection is a key component of the multiple barrier approach to drinking water. The management of contamination within source water ecosystems is associated with many benefits but also several challenges. By its very nature, source water protection is site specific and requires the cooperation of numerous watershed stakeholders to ensure sufficient financial resources and social will. This work focused on two critical aspects of source water protection: 1) The facilitation of effective communication to promote cooperation among watershed stakeholders and aid in public education programs. A drinking source water quality index presents a potential communication and analysis tool to facilitate cooperation between diverse interest groups as well as represent composite source water quality. I tested the effectiveness of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI) in capturing expert assessments of surface drinking source water quality. In cooperation with a panel of drinking water quality experts I identified a core set of parameters to reflect common Canadian surface source water concerns. Based upon existing source water guidelines, drinking source water target values were drafted for use in the index corresponding to two basic treatment levels. Index scores calculated using the core parameter set and associated source water target values were strongly correlated with expert assessments of source water quality. Amended with a modified index calculation procedure to accommodate parameters measured at different frequencies within any particular study period, the CCME WQI provides a valuable means of monitoring, communicating, and understanding surface source water quality. 2) The application of source water protection strategies to the appropriate spatial scale in order to manage contaminants of concern in a cost effective manner. Using data gathered from 40 Canadian rivers across 4 western Canadian ecozones I examined the spatial scales at which landuse was most closely associated with drinking source water quality metrics. Linear mixed effects models revealed that different spatial areas of landuse influence drinking source water quality depending on the parameter and season investigated. Microbial risk, characterized using E. coli measures, was only associated with landuse at the local spatial scale. Turbidity measures exhibited a complex association with landuse suggesting that the landuse areas of greatest influence can range from the local to the watershed scale. Total organic carbon concentrations were only associated with landuse characterized at the entire watershed scale. The validated CCME WQI was used to provide a composite measure of seasonal drinking source water quality but did not provide additional information beyond the analyses of individual parameters. These results suggest that entire watershed management is required to safeguard drinking water sources with more focused efforts at targeted spatial scales to reduce identified risk parameters. The source water protection tools and knowledge that I present have immediate application within Canada. Practitioners must be aware of the limitations of the CCME WQI however it provides a validated means of communicating complex source water quality information to non-specialized end users. Combined with the scale dependency of landuse-source water relationships that I elucidated, water quality managers can target contaminant reduction strategies in a more cost-effective manner and relay water quality status and trends to concerned groups. / Graduate

We conducted a study of human-wildlife interactions in Massachusetts, USA between April 2010 and May 2012. Our objectives were to (1) compile and summarize public-generated reports on human-wildlife interactions across Massachusetts; (2) evaluate reports based on species, public concerns, and seasonal distribution; and (3) evaluate public perceptions of human-wildlife interactions. We collected unsolicited reports of human-wildlife interaction submitted to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MDFW) through phone calls, emails, and face-to-face communications from the public. We received 2,730 reports from 332 of 351 towns in Massachusetts regarding 76 different wildlife species ranging from moose (Alces alces) to honey bees (Apis mellifera). Coyotes (Canis latrans) (328, 12%), bears (Ursus americanus) (307, 11%), and foxes (Vulpes vulpes and Urocyon cinereoargenteus) (284, 10%) were the most common species reported. Property disturbance/damage was the most common report type (934, 35%), concern for the welfare of wildlife was the most common concern type (539, 24%), and the most common report and concern pairing (referred to as perception type) was reports of young/injured wildlife with a concern for the welfare of wildlife (279, 13%). We tested for differences in reporting rates of human-wildlife interactions among seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter) and among 5 urban-suburban development categories (low, medium-low, medium, medium-high, high). The distribution of total animal report records were greater than expected for spring and for summer and less than expected for fall and for winter. The distribution of total animal report records were less than expected for low and medium-low development categories, and greater than expected for medium, medium-high, and high development categories. We then conducted multiple regression analyses to examine how total reports of human-wildlife interactions, as well as reports of human and species-specific interactions (coyotes, foxes, bears, fishers (Martes pennanti), and birds of prey) related to median home value and landscape composition and configuration. Total reports and reports of coyote, fox, and fisher were correlated with our model.

Stockholm and its surroundings are facing strong urban changes and it is forecasted that the increase of population will be the principal driver for the urban regions surrounding the lake Mälaren in the next decades. A thorough regional and urban planning is needed in order to build a sustainable society and protect the environment. In this sense Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) are useful tools for the creation of future scenarios of how urbanization and landuse changes will impact the ecosystems and the water resources. This master thesis is focused on how population growth and landuse changes impact both the surface water discharges and the nutrient transport in the Norrström Drainage Basin. In this regard the different comprehensive plans of 26 municipalities in the Stockholm-Mälardalen region were studied in order to create a landuse evolution model until 2040. The impacts of the changes of urbanization on the surface waters and the nutrient transport were obtained using the PCRaster environmental modelling tool following the guidelines of the PolFlow model. The results show an increase of the built-up urban areas of a 25% by 2040. Regarding the increase of flow in the surface waters, the results show a very small increase in the flow, due to the large scale of the study area. Finally the results for the nutrient transport show an increase of the nutrient loads at the outlet of the lake Mälaren of 20% in the case of nitrogen and 15% for phosphorus. / Stockholm regionen står inför kraftiga urbana förändringar och det förutses att befolkningsökningen kommer att bli den främsta drivkraften för storstadsregionerna kring Mälaren under de kommande årtiondena. En grundlig regional- och stadsplanering behövs för att bygga ett hållbart samhälle och skydda miljön. I detta sammanhang är Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) användbara verktyg för att skapa framtidsscenarier för hur urbanisering och markanvändningar kommer att påverka ekosystem och vattenresurser. CHANS verktyg möjliggör analys av komplexa mönster och processer som inte framgår tydligt vid separata sociala och naturvetenskapliga studier. Inom CHANS ramverk fokuserar detta examensarbete på hur befolkningstillväxt och markanvändning och de ändringear de medför påverkar ytvattenutsläpp samt näringstransport i Norrström avrinningsområden. I detta avseende studerades olika översiktsplaner av 26 kommuner i Stockholm-Mälardalen regionen för att bygga en markanvändning evolutionmodell fram till 2040. Det studerade scenariot utvärderade konsekvenser av förändringarna i urbaniseringen som beskrivs i de omfattande översiktplanerna på ytvatten och näringsämne transport. Verktyget som användes för att utföra detta examensarbete var PCRaster. Det är ett miljömodelleringsverktyg som tillåter behandling av stora distribuerade data och kan skapa spatiotemporala miljömodeller. I detta avseende fördelades modellen i tre delar. Först erhölls den temporala markanvändningsevolutionen efter uppgifter från kommunala översiktplaner. Därefter beräknades ytvattenutsläppen med CN-metoden. Slutligen byggdes den näringstransportmodellen med hjälp av riktlinjerna från PolFlow modellen och näringsbelastningen från HELCOM och TRK-projektet. Resultaten visar en ökning av de bebyggda stadsområdena från 3,3 % bebyggda under år 2005 till 4,2 % år 2040 för hela Norrström avrinningsområde, som innebär en ökning med 25 % av de bebyggda områdena. Beträffande flödet i ytvattnet visar resultaten en jätteliten ökning av flödet på grund av att det studerade området har en stor skala. Slutligen visar resultaten för näringsämnenstransport en ökning av näringsbelastningen vid utloppet av sjön Mälaren med 20 % kväve och 15 % fosfor.