The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of cities and set a new focus on planning sustainable and resilient cities. This thesis aims to assess the edible city, where edible plants are grown in public spaces, in terms of sustainability and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluate its contribution to urban sustainability and resilience. Further, it explores the implications for planning an edible city. As part of this case study, 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted in two edible cities: Edible City Andernach, Germany and Incredible Edible Todmorden, England. The results of this study demonstrate that both edible cities contribute to sustainability, but each is skewed towards one sustainability dimension. Concerning resilience, the study illustrates that both cases are able to withstand the pandemic impacts and adapt particularly in their focus sustainability dimension. However, general resilience is negatively impacted by a stance of waiting-it-out. For planning an edible city, a combination of a top-down and bottom-up approach is recommended. In conclusion, this thesis shows that the edible city contributes to urban sustainability and resilience through the continuing provision of ecosystem services and co-benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Syftet var att beskriva arbetsterapeuters upplevelser av djur- och/eller naturunderstödd rehabilitering i arbetsterapeutiska interventioner för personer med stressrelaterad ohälsa. Metoden var av kvalitativ design med ett induktivt angreppssätt. Ett avsiktligt urval i kombination med ett snöbollsurval användes vid rekrytering av deltagare. Undersökningsgruppen bestod av tio arbetsterapeuter i Sverige. Datainsamling genomfördes med hjälp av individuella semistrukturerade intervjuer. Dataanalys utfördes med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys.  Resultatet mynnade ut i ett övergripande tema: Djuren och naturens betydelse för rehabilitering av stressrelaterad ohälsa. Fem kategorier identifierades: Djurens och naturens lugnande effekt, Medveten närvaro, Kravlös rehabilitering, Aktivitetsbalans och Naturens symboliska betydelse, med tillhörande 13 underkategorier.  Slutsatsen som drogs var att arbetsterapeuterna upplevde att medverkan av djur och/eller natur i arbetsterapeutiska interventioner var effektivt vid rehabilitering av stressrelaterad ohälsa. Resultatet indikerade att djuren och naturen hjälper patienterna att bli lugnare, komma ner i varv och att vara medvetet närvarande. Genomgående vittnade arbetsterapeuterna om djurens och naturens positiva inverkan på patienternas hälsa och tillfrisknande. / The purpose was to describe occupational therapists' experiences of animal- and/or nature-based rehabilitation for people with stress related illness.  The Method was of qualitative design with an inductive approach. A purposive sampling in combination with a snowball sampling was used when recruiting participants. The study group was based on ten occupational therapists in Sweden. Collection of data was implemented by individual semi structured interviews. Data analysis was performed with a qualitative content analysis.  The result culminated into a theme: The importance of animal and nature in rehabilitation for people with stress related illness. Five categories where identified: The calming effect of the animals and nature, Mindfulness, Unpretentious rehabilitation, Occupational balance, The symbolic significance of nature, with associated 13 subcategories.  The conclusion drawn was that occupational therapists experienced that the participation of animal and/or nature in occupational interventions was effective in rehabilitation of stress related illness. The result indicated that the animal and nature help the patients to calm down, unwind and being conscionably present. Pervading the occupational therapists described that the animal and nature have positive effects on the patients' health and recovery.

Nature-based tourism (NBT) can be explained as a form of tourism that takes place in some kind of natural area outside one's home. NBT has been one of the fastest-growing forms of tourism worldwide and is believed to continue to grow in the future as well. With the rising interest in visiting natural areas, many national parks and other protected areas have seen an increase in visitors, making them popular NBT destinations. Protected areas are covered by various conservation policies, and in a time of biodiversity loss, they are increasingly being recognised as a foundation of sustainable biodiversity resources and as a cornerstone for sustainable development. However, protected areas are often impacted by touristic presence, so with both the growing importance of nature conservation and increasing visitation numbers, questions about how to manage tourism impacts in protected areas are ever more central. To investigate this, the national parks in Sweden were chosen as the empirical field of this thesis. By adapting a mixed-method approach using a survey and interviews as data-collecting methods, this thesis set out to explore how the managers of the national parks in Sweden work with NBT and nature conservation in times with changing circumstances. Amongst other things, the thesis shows that a majority of the national parks in Sweden had experienced an increase in visitors in the last five years, and that the national parks can be seen as arenas for where NBT can take place. The interest in visiting a national park in Sweden was believed to continue being strong, and lack of funding was identified as the biggest challenge that the national parks are facing right now. Building on this, the thesis discussed that the national parks need more funding to better handle both nature conservation and touristic activities, which was also a main conclusion of the thesis. Another conclusion drawn from this study is that the parks would benefit from better visitor statistics and surveys, and protected areas in Sweden would benefit from a system where the economic effects of nature tourism in protected nature are shown. The thesis contributes with theoretical knowledge of how managers of protected areas work and prioritise in times of changing circumstances.

Detta examensarbete är en fallstudie av Salems kommuns klimatanpassning rörande dagvattenhantering. En analys av lågpunkter och rinnvägar vid nederbörd har utförts för att identifiera översvämningsrisker. Vidare har textanalys utförts på Salems kommuns översiktsplan, dagvattenstrategi samt på två detaljplaner med tillhörande dagvattenutredningar. Den insamlade empirin har analyserats med hjälp av social-ekologisk resiliensteori. Salems kommuns arbete har jämförts med grannkommunen Botkyrka samt med vägledning och riktlinjer från bland annat Svenskt Vatten, Sveriges meteorologiska och hydrologiska institut och Naturvårdsverket. Salems kommun visar på klimatanpassning av dagvattensystem vid planerad bebyggelse som går väl i linje med rekommendationer samt vetenskapliga studier och som till stor del liknar Botkyrkas arbete. Salems kommun använder sig av naturbaserade lösningar vilket stärker deras social-ekologiska resiliens och skapar förutsättningar för mer ekosystemtjänster. De har betydligt mindre fokus på klimatanpassning av dagvattensystem kopplad till befintlig bebyggelse och därför behöver arbetet kring det utvecklas. / This degree project is a case study of Salem’s municipality’s climate adaptation of its stormwater management. An analysis of topographic lows and pathways of the precipitation has been concluded to identify risks of flooding. Furthermore, a document analysis has been carried out on Salem’s municipality’s comprehensive plan, stormwater strategy and of two detail development plans and the stormwater investigations linked to them. The collected empirical data has been analysed using social-ecological resilience theory. Salem’s municipality’s work has been compared to its neighbouring municipality Botkyrka and to guidance and guidelines from among others Svenskt Vatten, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Salem’s municipality shows climate adaptation of its stormwater management system of planned buildings that are well in line with recommendations and scientific studies and that is largely similar to the work of Botkyrka. Salem’s municipality use nature-based solutions, which strengthens their resilience and creates conditions for more ecosystem services. They have considerably less focus on climate adaptation of stormwater systems connected to existing built environment and therefore the work around it needs to be developed.

Heavy precipitation events are expected to increase in the future, due to climate change. This predicted change will increase the risk of flooding, especially in urban areas. To mitigate these challenges and support a sustainable urban development, Nature-based solutions (NBS) can be used as a flood risk reduction measure. The NBS wetlands and constructed wetlands, composed of ponds, canals and ditches, are commonly used solutions which are multifunctional and primarily provides flood regulatory services, water quality improvements and increased biodiversity. To reach the full potential of NBS, the location and design is crucial. At present planning practise, a user friendly and time efficient tool to investigate suitable locations within a catchment is missing, where the concept of connectivity has arisen as a useful approach. In this study, the NBS concept and the potential of wetlands for flood risk mitigation have been investigated. In addition, the connectivity of two study case catchments has been analysed by using the Connectivity Index (IC index) by Cavalli et al. (2013). The aim has been to evaluate whether the IC index can be used to find suitable locations for NBS. Further, the study seeks to investigate how the IC index can be integrated into NBS planning practice in order to create useful information for the decisionmaking process. To validate the IC index result, a comparison has been performed with earlier flood events, two hydrological models, Multi criteria decision analysis and spatiotemporal soil parameters. From the obtained result and analysis, preliminary solutions have been proposed for two case studies in Sweden and Portugal. The result shows that IC index is promising as an, early stage, first assessment tool in NBS planning practice which can be used in order to allocate areas suitable for NBS. To find the most beneficial location and the site-specific design, a deeper investigation of the site-specific conditions is required. Moreover, a successful implementation is dependent on a close collaboration between different stakeholders and expertise. Finally, this study shows that realizing the potential of NBS wetlands is essential to create sustainable urban development and liveable and attractive cities.

Green terms to bring the greenery back to cities have frequently begun to be coined as a result of rapid urbanization. To emphasize the benefits of urban greenery, terms such as nature-based solutions (NbS) and green infrastructure (GI) have been raised in planning circles. This study aims to present municipal stories about how municipalities understand, integrate and apply NbS and GI in their planning documents and practices, and what challenges they face along the different levels of the Swedish planning system, which limit their application. The study is based on individual focus group discussions with five municipalities: Haninge, Nynäshamn, Sollentuna, Solna and Värmdö. The discussions are based on the same questionnaire, where GI and NbS application, understanding and integration from Swedish spatial planning are discussed. The study shows that knowledge and application of GI and NbS varies between the municipalities. The municipalities are also in unison that they need support and further guidance to increase application and understanding, as the Swedish planning system currently does not provide this. The municipalities that contributed to the study also talk about their different conditions for a wider application of green terms and working methods, as these are governed by economics and politics. For further research on municipal application, conversations with politicians can be initiated for their point of view on how greening concepts are received by them in the municipalities, as well as conversations with organizations and authorities that distribute information, municipal legislation and guidance. / Denna studie syftar till att presentera kommunala berättelser om hur kommuner förstår, integrerar och tillämpar NbS och GI i sina planeringsdokument och praxis, och vilka utmaningar de står inför längs de olika nivåerna i det svenska planeringssystemet, som begränsar deras tillämpning. Studien baseras på enskilda fokusgruppsdiskussioner med fem kommuner; Haninge, Nynäshamn, Sollentuna, Solna och Värmdö. Diskussionerna grundas på samma frågeformulär, där GI och NbS tillämpning, förståelse och stöd av svensk planering diskuteras. Studien visar att kunskapen och appliceringen av GI och NbS varierar mellan kommunerna. Kommunerna är också unisona i att de behöver stöd och vidare vägledning för att öka appliceringen och förståelse, då det svenska planeringssystemet i dagsläget inte tillhandahåller det. Kommunerna som bidrog i studien berättar också om deras olika förutsättningar för en vidare tillämpning av gröna termer och arbetssätt, då dessa styrs av ekonomi och politik. För vidare forskning om kommunal tillämpning kan förslagsvis samtal med politiker inledas för deras synpunkt på hur gröna planeringskoncept mottas av dem i kommunerna samt samtal med organisationer och myndigheter som distribuerar information, kommunal lagstiftning och vägledning.

This thesis study assesses the accessibility of green spaces with recreational values in Stockholm. Urban green spaces are considered beneficial for human well-being and for mitigating the negative effects of climate change and increased urbanisation. However, the specific social values that green spaces can provide are often overlooked in green space policies, which tend to focus on proximity and size. Access to urban green spaces with the four specific recreational values greenery, play, tranquillity, and walks, was assessed using a network analysis based on a sociotope map that indicates the social value of all public green spaces in Stockholm. Moreover, the accomplishments of the city's greenery goals have been examined. The study has identified differences in accessibility between areas with different qualities and identified focus areas that require improvements. Differentiation between the qualities has led to more accurate information about the accessibility of green spaces. It can provide a basis for more effective measurement to improve accessibility in the municipality. Since the method is tied to the sociotope map as a data basis, further research is needed to make the method applicable to other municipalities. More-over, the results can be applied in multi-criteria analyses of urban development scenarios to incorporate the social significance of green spaces and user perspectives into planning practices. / Detta examensarbete utvärderar tillgängligheten till grönområden med rekreationsvärden i Stockholm. Grönområden i städer anses vara gynnsamma för människors välbefinnande och för att mildra de negativa effekterna av klimatförändringar och ökad urbanisering. De specifika sociala värden som grönområden kan erbjuda bortprioriteras dock ofta i grönområdespolicyer, som tenderar att fokusera på närhet och storlek. Tillgången till urbana grönområden med de fyra specifika rekreationsvärdena grönska, lek, lugn och promenader bedömdes med hjälp av en nätverksanalys baserad på en sociotopkarta som visar det sociala värdet av alla offentliga grönområden i Stockholm. Dessutom har uppfyllelsen av stadens mål för grönska undersökts. Studien har identifierat skillnader i tillgänglighet mellan områden med olika kvaliteter och identifierat fokusområden som kräver förbättringar. Differentieringen mellan kvaliteterna har lett till mer exakt information om tillgängligheten till grönområden. Det kan ge en grund för mer effektiva åtgärder för att förbättra tillgängligheten i kommunen. Eftersom metoden är knuten till sociotopkartan som datagrund behövs ytterligare forskning för att göra metoden tillämpbar på andra kommuner. Dessutom kan resultaten användas i multikriterieanalyser av stadsutvecklingsscenarier för att integrera den sociala betydelsen av grönområden och användarperspektiv i planeringspraxis.

No description available.

As changing climate and growing urban populations present new challenges for managing both the quantity and the quality of storm waterin cities, nature-based solutions such as blue-green infrastructure arebecoming widely considered as an alternative to grey infrastructure. The benefits, above providing storm water management at a lower cost, are increased ecosystem services. One of such solutions is SuDS: a collective name for drainage systems thatare designed to manage the quantity of runoff, protect or enhance water quality, increase amenity and foster biodiversity. In Sweden there is a lack of research on applying nature-based solutions in planning urban water management. This case study aims to contribute with knowledge of how working with blue-green infrastructure in a systematic way effects the outcome of urban planning and what ecosystem gains can be expected. ASuDS design was created following the SuDS guidelines for a greenfield residential area in the city of Krokom. The design was then compared with the original proposal by the municipality.The results show that the systematic method that SuDS brings to watermanagement planning leads to a different design of a residence area than what traditional methods produce. At the same time the ability to handle extreme rain event is at least as robust, with the ability of the system to generate other ecosystem services and further strengthen the resilience of the area. Further research is needed for a more detailed analysis of the generated ecosystem services. / <p>2023-06-02</p>

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are becoming increasingly popular in cities around the world; however, such efforts have not been widely incorporated into analyses of urban flood vulnerability nor the total population and property loss of flooding to date, except for a few studies that examined the effectiveness of green infrastructure or only wetlands in flood regulation. The proposed research sought to understand if the existing pattern and composition of NbS can mitigate flood vulnerability and loss of flooding in one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the United States, the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. This research made key contributions to our understanding of how urban areas can grow without exacerbating flooding and inequity.First, a systematic mapping was conducted to reveal the most common spatial metrics of NbS that mitigate urban flooding in countries around the world. These findings identified important research areas for urban geographers, policymakers, planners, and civil engineers. This review indicated that the effectiveness of NbS varies spatially based on land use/land cover, climatic, and other contextual factors. The results indicated that the location, distribution, and arrangement of NbS may have different impacts on runoff mitigation and flood loss. Also, flood hydrology was the most common topic addressed, and the spatial configuration of NbS, especially connectivity was consistently identified as an important factor in flood regulation. Second, the potential of NbS as a flood loss mitigation tool in one of the fastest-growing and flood-prone counties of Pennsylvania, Montgomery County, using the Generalized Linear Model (GLR) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) techniques was examined. The findings partially contradicted previous research by revealing an unexpected relationship between NbS quantity in floodplains and expected annual loss. Findings also demonstrated that lower-sized and disconnected patches of NbS in floodplains in some dense urban areas effectively reduce total losses from flood events. Third, the spatial coincidence between the density of NbS and flood vulnerability within eight neighboring urbanizing regions situated in Montgomery County was analyzed by using the Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA). The results of LISA identified regions of concern characterized by elevated flood vulnerability scores and reduced concentrations of two tree canopy types as well as shrubs and grasses. Taken together, these results emphasize the significance of strategically integrating and improving NbS, especially in areas grappling with distinct flood-related issues. It also emphasized the potential for significant enhancements in flood resilience and mitigation policies thoughtful urban planning and the adoption of NbS. / Geography