The purpose of this essay is to provide a deeper understanding of how the notion of risk and its intangible features affects the spatial planning of Karlstad Municipality with focus on how central actors (Karlstad Municipality and Länsstyrelsen Värmland) are handling the notion of flood-risks. This is interesting to study especially when considering building new living areas on ground that is troubled with floods. What becomes interesting to study is how the view on risk-management differs among actors. The methods used for conducting this research are document analysis and interviews which hopefully will bring a deeper understanding of how the notion of risk is being treated differently depending of which actor is being studied. In this study, a case-study was made on a planning-process of a new residential area located on flood-prone area. The result shows that both actors studied are not willing to take any risks when it comes to prognoses of climate change. On the other hand, for Länsstyrelsen there was a small doubt towards building on these kinds of areas. The difference in the view of risk seems to lie in which understanding we have of what we know. Länsstyrelsen seems to be skeptical to the trust in knowledge and technology that Karlstad Municipality seems to have. That view could be involuntary though, especially because of the lack of residential apartments along with the market ideals of building close to water. The problem is that they are building on attractive but yet risky areas, and to reduce these risks a flood guard has been built. The situation becomes a paradox where they want to have the cake and still eat it. This dilemma is very expensive and at the same the solutions made are not 100 % safe regarding the uncertainty of climate change. This paradox implies that risks are being created which later have to be dealt with. The central actors deal with the situation in the best way through trusting the technology and the prognoses that are provided today. / Syftet med uppsatsen är att ge en djupare förståelse för hur riskbegreppets ogreppbarhet påverkar Karlstads samhällsplanering med fokus på hur centrala aktörer (Karlstad kommun och Länsstyrelsen Värmland) förhåller sig till översvämningsrisker. Detta är intressant att undersöka med tanke på att det byggs nya bostadsområden på mark som är översvämningsdrabbat. Det som då blir intressant att undersöka i en sådan här fråga är hur synen på risk skiljer sig olika centrala aktörer emellan. Metoderna som använts som försök för att besvara dessa frågor är dokumentanalyser som tillsammans med intervjuer förväntas ge en djupare förståelse för hur synen på risk kan se olika ut beroende på vilken aktör som studeras. I detta fall gjordes en fallstudie på en enskild planprocess tillhörande ett område som i skrivande stund planeras byggas i ett riskfyllt område. Resultatet visade att båda parterna inte är villiga att ta några som helst risker när det kommer till de prognoser vi har idag. För Länsstyrelsens del fanns dock en grundläggande skepsis mot dessa typer av byggnationer. Skillnaden i synen på risk verkar ligga i förhållandet till det vi vet. Länsstyrelsen visade sig vara skeptisk till den tillit på teknik och kunskap som Karlstad kommun verkar ha. Problemet är att det byggs på ett eftertraktat område som innebär tydliga risker och för att minska dessa risker byggs ett översvämningsskydd. På så sätt blir det ett dilemma som är väldigt kostsamt och som till 100 % kanske inte ens går att lösa med tanke på osäkerheten i klimatförändringarna. Denna paradox innebär alltså att man bygger sig till risker som sedan måste hanteras. Situationen är dock som den är idag vilket gör att de centrala aktörer som spelar en roll i denna nyexploatering helt enkelt måste göra det bästa av situationen och förlita sig på den teknik och de prognoser som finns idag.

With the growth in human pressures on the marine environment and the increase in competition for space and resources there has been recognition by many governments of the need to use the marine environment sustainably and allow for its acceptable allocation for each sector. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the use of Marxan and Marxan with Zones as practical tools to enable the production of marine plans that integrate environmental and socioeconomic data and to suggest best practice in the types of data used. In this thesis three key aspects of data type and integration were identified and evaluated. The resolution and complexity of data required to protected marine biodiversity was assessed. The effects of using different substrate data resolution on the selection of sites to protect a range of biotopes using Marxan are determined. The nature of the data used in marine planning has significant implications for the protection of marine biodiversity. Using less complex data, of any resolution, did not adequately protect marine biodiversity. There is a need to determine what is an acceptable allocation of marine resource to each sector. Two case study areas were used to determine how to integrate conservation and socioeconomic data and objectives in a marine plan. Objectives for all the sectors could not be met completely in a single marine plan and each sector had to compromise. This research highlighted the potential compromises required and indicates that if marine heritage and biodiversity are to be protected each sector will have to change the impact it has on the marine environment. Currently marine conservation assumes that all data on habitats and species presented for use in marine planning are equal, in accuracy, precision and value. This is not always the case, with data based on a wide range of sources including routine government monitoring, specific innovative research and stakeholder based data gathering. A case study area was used to evaluate the impacts of using confidence levels in habitat data on marine biodiversity. It was found that data outputs that best protected marine biodiversity used data over 20% and over 30% confidence. With the data currently available for the UK marine environment it is not possible to be confident that a representative MPA network can be created. Together these studies contribute key recommendations for best practice in marine planning and demonstrate that the use of spatial decision support tools (Marxan and Marxan with Zones) are essential for the integration of data in marine planning, to assess how using different types of data will impact marine planning and marine biodiversity protection and to explore implications of different management actions.

In the beginning of the thesis, I summarize the instruments used in spatial planning in the Czech legal system. These instruments contain Czech Building code . 183/2006 Sb. . I discuss how the public can join the process of creating these legal instruments. The first condition in joining these processes is logically for the public to be well informed. Throughout the entire thesis, I compare how the Czech public is informed with the Aarhus Convention. Then I compare how the Czech public is informed and how they manage to join the processes of creating the spatial planning legal instruments in real life.

The research in this paper examined the legitimacy of land-use planning when there are polarizing views of how a specific project should develop. The focused was on the case study of Skutberget in the municipality of Karlstad, Sweden, were two separate planning processes are ongoing. The current development plans regards a Moomin inspired theme park where the company Moomin OY is the developer, as well as an improvement and development of the existing recreational park were the municipality is the responsible part. In a Swedish context, municipalities have a strong authority when it comes to land-use planning, a right often labelled as a “planning monopoly”. This research fills a gap in the scientific academic literature when it comes to assessing democratic processes on a local level, with a special regard to spatial planning. Legitimacy in a representative democracy is a multifaceted concept, which requires both aspects of political representation and social acceptance for a decision to be deemed legitimate. With the case study, political representation regarding both a desire and aversion of developing Skutberget exist. This difference in opinion regarding the development of Skutberget is reflected in public attitude as well, were the theme park of Moomin OY is the biggest dispute. People reflecting different perceptions have taken it upon themselves to engage with media outlets to vocalise their opinions and news articles of the development of Skutberget is a recurring feature in local newspapers. Full social acceptance and consent are, therefore, lacking for the process of developing Skutberget. But as the opinions differ in Karlstad, it is a matter of interpretation of what consist of social acceptance and how to value it in the planning and decision-making process.

With abundant resources and vast water bodies, the ocean can be used in many ways. Since the marine resources are usually distributed in specific areas, the competition among different uses is often intense and finally lead to conflicts in the maritime zone. Although there are several laws and regulations on the ocean and coast management in Taiwan, most of them just focuses on the terrestrial land and does not include the management mechanisms of the marine environment. Furthermore, the maritime zone must be a common property and every stakeholder can enjoy its privilege under a fairly management mechanism. Nevertheless, the Fisheries Act regarded the ¡§fishing right¡¨ is the ¡§right of property¡¨. This leads a misunderstanding of fishermen and dominates the maritime zone as well as hinders the multi-use of the ocean. Although the draft National Land Planning Act includes the concepts of ¡§conservation areas¡¨, the limits of maritime zone and its necessary management mechanisms have not been clearly regulated. This study referred to the definition and the jurisdiction of maritime zones in a coastal state which regulated in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and investigates several cases on the ocean and coast utilization management in China, America, and Netherlands. After hat this research makes some suggestions for in Taiwan. It concludes that the country needs to consider all maritime zones including exclusive economic zone, contiguous zone, territorial waters and internal waters in the planning process of national resources. In practice, however, the maritime zone within the limits of territorial waters should be included in the national spatial management plan first. The scope of planning maritime zone can be extended to the exclusive economic zone after negotiating with adjacent countries. The concept of functional zoning has been included in the 2006 Ocean Policy White Paper published by the National Council for Maritime Affairs in Taiwan recently. After analyzing the cases of the National Marine Functional Zoning in China and the planning of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, this study highlights that the protection of marine environment deserves the top priority on the national spatial planning agenda. The marine functional zoning must base on the characteristics of the ecological sensitivity. However, Taiwan is still in lack of both the exclusive law and a lead agency on maritime zoning and ocean management. These problems should be solved by amendment and/or enactment of related laws. In addition, the zoning policy, management criteria and user-pay principles should be studies in the future.

No description available.

This thesis aims at defining the connection between the increasingly popular ecosystem services theory and its practical implications for sustainable development in Swedish physical spatial planning. A literature study was made to summarize the ecosystem services and resilience thinking concepts (with an emphasis on ecosystem services), their definitions and potential uses in physical spatial planning. This overview was then applied in choosing a concept framework to be tested in a case-study: the possible changes in ecosystem services and their values in a land-use trade off situation. To gather insight into the benefits of the ecosystem services concept, compared to environmental integration into physical spatial planning on a municipal level today, the literature study was extended to encompass a short overview of environmental management in the Swedish planning system. Finally, the case study was introduced to municipal employees with strong ties to the planning process, in order to gage their opinions on the ecosystem services concept and its usefulness in planning for sustainability and increased human wellbeing. The results of these interviews showed a generally positive attitude towards the concept as a way to gather and communicate ecological and socio-cultural information to decision makers. The economic valuation was deemed less important as the method is fraught with such difficulties. Overall, the ecosystem services and resilience thinking concepts have great potential to gather the discontinuous environmental management methods toward sustainable (ecologic) development, but in order for this to happen, the municipalities need to be given the right resources, and incentives, for implementation.

Historically the practice of conservation planning has occurred in an ad hoc manner in areas that have no economic or agricultural value. When systematic conservation planning has been implemented it has ensured the identification of priority areas that contain species, habitats, and processes essential to achieving conservation targets and goals set out by government. In the recent past a number of authors within the conservation planning fraternity have started questioning the actual impact of conservation plans. Only one third of the conservation plans (globally) published between 1998 and 2000 resulted in actual implementation. Prendengast et al. (1999) described this gap between conservation plans and conservation action as the ‘research–implementation–gap’. The same phenomenon is experienced in local government conservation planning, in South Africa. This has led to a lack of conservation planning and implementation. By using the Gauteng provincial Conservation Plan (C–Plan), that is considered the strategic conservation planning document for the province government, a critical evaluation of the extent to which environmental aspects are considered in strategic level municipal decision making was done. Six local and two district municipalities within the Gauteng Province were selected to ascertain, through a comparative and objective analysis, to what extent their strategic documents (Integrated Development Plan, Spatial Development Framework and Environmental Management Framework) reflect the conservation planning done on a provincial sphere (C–Plan). An analysis was done of the selected documentation and spatial maps to determine whether incorporation occurred either explicitly and/or implicitly. The expectation is that municipalities within the Gauteng Province, should, as part of their Integrated Development Plan process, integrate the Gauteng C–Plan with their Integrated Development Plans. The research found that all the municipalities fully incorporated the C–Plan within their Environmental Management Frameworks indicating that local government conservation planners do consult and incorporate provincial conservation plans when they are generating their own plans. The Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans did not reflect this strong connection with regards to conservation planning. There is a lack of integration between the different documents and an inability to bring a planning aspect(s) to delivery and implementation. There is no problem with the incorporation of the C–Plan into the Environmental Management Frameworks, thus future research or conservation initiatives should focus on the effective incorporation of the Environmental Management Frameworks into other strategic municipal documentation (Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans) and promote the integration that occurs between the municipal documents themselves. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Historically the practice of conservation planning has occurred in an ad hoc manner in areas that have no economic or agricultural value. When systematic conservation planning has been implemented it has ensured the identification of priority areas that contain species, habitats, and processes essential to achieving conservation targets and goals set out by government. In the recent past a number of authors within the conservation planning fraternity have started questioning the actual impact of conservation plans. Only one third of the conservation plans (globally) published between 1998 and 2000 resulted in actual implementation. Prendengast et al. (1999) described this gap between conservation plans and conservation action as the ‘research–implementation–gap’. The same phenomenon is experienced in local government conservation planning, in South Africa. This has led to a lack of conservation planning and implementation. By using the Gauteng provincial Conservation Plan (C–Plan), that is considered the strategic conservation planning document for the province government, a critical evaluation of the extent to which environmental aspects are considered in strategic level municipal decision making was done. Six local and two district municipalities within the Gauteng Province were selected to ascertain, through a comparative and objective analysis, to what extent their strategic documents (Integrated Development Plan, Spatial Development Framework and Environmental Management Framework) reflect the conservation planning done on a provincial sphere (C–Plan). An analysis was done of the selected documentation and spatial maps to determine whether incorporation occurred either explicitly and/or implicitly. The expectation is that municipalities within the Gauteng Province, should, as part of their Integrated Development Plan process, integrate the Gauteng C–Plan with their Integrated Development Plans. The research found that all the municipalities fully incorporated the C–Plan within their Environmental Management Frameworks indicating that local government conservation planners do consult and incorporate provincial conservation plans when they are generating their own plans. The Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans did not reflect this strong connection with regards to conservation planning. There is a lack of integration between the different documents and an inability to bring a planning aspect(s) to delivery and implementation. There is no problem with the incorporation of the C–Plan into the Environmental Management Frameworks, thus future research or conservation initiatives should focus on the effective incorporation of the Environmental Management Frameworks into other strategic municipal documentation (Spatial Development Frameworks and Integrated Development Plans) and promote the integration that occurs between the municipal documents themselves. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) increasingly utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and technologies to support decision-making with stakeholders and policymakers. The study of the group use of GIS to support decision-making processes is called Collaborative GIS. Measuring the impact and influence the technology has on decision-making processes is an important aim of Collaborative GIS research. To date, Collaborative GIS research has relied on qualitative questionnaires to measure the impact of GIS on group decision-making and the GIS software and technology being used, lacking support of quantitative measures. A novel technology increasingly being used for group planning processes with maps is multi-user touch tables; this technology encourages equality of technology interactions and increases participant engagement by allowing all group members the opportunity to interact with the technology, transcending limitations of single-user mouse environments. This research identifies and evaluates measures of collaboration for Collaborative GIS on multi-user touch tables for MSP activities. Group measures of participation are explored using coding systems to determine fluctuations in the groups’ participation using technological interactions and verbal participation by Google Earth task performed and by decision phase. Results indicate variation in participation across role play simulations due largely to group dynamics and participant personality, evidenced by researcher observation. Coding systems require improvements in capturing participation levels. Individual measures of participation are also collected to determine the equality of technological interactions and verbal participation by seat location around a multi-user touch table. Results indicate technological interactions and verbal participation are not equally distributed around a multi-user touch table using Google Earth. Seat locations closest to the Google Earth menus tend to have higher participation rates, with seat locations farthest from the menus marginalized. Furthermore, technological interactions by interface-menus, dialogue boxes, and earth display –have variation in equality of interactions by seat location. Menus and dialogue boxes have higher rates of inequality of participation than the earth display has. To date, study and collection of group and individual participation has been limited in Collaborative GIS research. With reliance on qualitative questionnaires to collect data, this study represents quantitative measures to describe Collaborative GIS group decision-making processes on touch tables. Whereas, previous literature represents coarse scale measures of the group’s process and outcome constructs, this study focuses on fine scale measures of collaboration. / Graduate / 0366 / 0632 / 0984