<p>The objective of this master thesis was to study the relation between public green open space and health among adolescents in Uppsala municipality, Sweden. The aim of the study was to investigate if there is an association between the access to green open space in the living environment and adolescent´s health, in terms of fysical activity, self- reported health and overweight. The public health questionnaire ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” provided data together with a map over public green space, where the measure taken into account is the proportion of public green space in the living environment. The study includes 3423 adolescents, 12-19 years old. The statistical results indicate that access to public green space in the living environment is genrally not correlated to the health variables studied in this thesis. The author´s interpretation is that other health determinants are more crucial to adolescent´s health than green space, parents educationlevel is sugested as one. Further research is needed to support the findings of this study.</p> / <p>Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka om det finns samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och ungas hälsa (med avseende på fysisk aktivitet, självskattad hälsa och övervikt) i Uppsala kommun. Studien utgår i från redan befintliga data genom frågeformuläret ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” som riktar sig till elever i årskurs 7 och 9 i högstadiet samt årskurs 2 i gymnasiet i Uppsala län. Studien omfattar 3423 elever i åldern 12-19 år. Med utgångspunkt i enkäten samt med hjälp av en karta över Uppsala kommuns grönområden undersöks måttet andel offentlig grönyta i boendeområden i förhållande till de valda hälsovariablerna. Sammanfattningsvis uppvisar resultatet få uppmätta samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och de hälsovariabler som studerats. Författarens slutsats är att andra faktorer verkar vara viktigare för ungas hälsa, som exempelvis föräldrarnas utbildningsnivå. Det behövs dock fler studier genomföras för att bekräfta studiens fynd.</p>

The objective of this master thesis was to study the relation between public green open space and health among adolescents in Uppsala municipality, Sweden. The aim of the study was to investigate if there is an association between the access to green open space in the living environment and adolescent´s health, in terms of fysical activity, self- reported health and overweight. The public health questionnaire ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” provided data together with a map over public green space, where the measure taken into account is the proportion of public green space in the living environment. The study includes 3423 adolescents, 12-19 years old. The statistical results indicate that access to public green space in the living environment is genrally not correlated to the health variables studied in this thesis. The author´s interpretation is that other health determinants are more crucial to adolescent´s health than green space, parents educationlevel is sugested as one. Further research is needed to support the findings of this study. / Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka om det finns samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och ungas hälsa (med avseende på fysisk aktivitet, självskattad hälsa och övervikt) i Uppsala kommun. Studien utgår i från redan befintliga data genom frågeformuläret ”Liv och Hälsa Ung 2009” som riktar sig till elever i årskurs 7 och 9 i högstadiet samt årskurs 2 i gymnasiet i Uppsala län. Studien omfattar 3423 elever i åldern 12-19 år. Med utgångspunkt i enkäten samt med hjälp av en karta över Uppsala kommuns grönområden undersöks måttet andel offentlig grönyta i boendeområden i förhållande till de valda hälsovariablerna. Sammanfattningsvis uppvisar resultatet få uppmätta samband mellan tillgång till grönområden i boendeområdet och de hälsovariabler som studerats. Författarens slutsats är att andra faktorer verkar vara viktigare för ungas hälsa, som exempelvis föräldrarnas utbildningsnivå. Det behövs dock fler studier genomföras för att bekräfta studiens fynd.

Les cimetières ont commencé à devenir une préoccupation majeure pour les planificateurs urbains à Jakarta en raison de la crise funéraire exprimée par les médias dans les années 2000. Les caractéristiques de Jakarta en tant que métropole densément peuplée et en tant que creuset multiculturel, ont mis la pression sur la fourniture d’espaces funéraires. Le but de cette thèse est d'analyser les défis posés par la gestion funéraire à Jakarta et les solutions trouvées pour faire face à ce problème. Mon approche est de voir Jakarta dans une optique évolutive, avec une analyse des différentes échelles de territoires : la région urbaine étendue, la ville et une région particulière. Une approche descriptive est employée pour tenter de définir la ville : une approche descriptive plus qualitative au niveau micro-régional et une approche plus quantitative au niveau macro-régional. Cette thèse souhaite contribuer aux études urbaines à Jakarta, notamment en ce qui concerne l'étude des funérailles. / Cemeteries have begun to become a concern for urban planners in Jakarta because of the crisis voiced by the media in the 2000s. The characteristics of Jakarta as a densely populated metropolitan and as a multicultural melting-pot, put pressure on the provision of funeral space. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the challenges in the funeral management in Jakarta and the adaptation of the community facing up with this problem. My approach is to study Jakarta through an evolutive lens, with an analysis of different scales of territories: extended urban area, the city, and a selected region. A quantitative descriptive approach is employed to check the characteristics of the city, while a more qualitative descriptive one is used to try understand the phenomenon of the chosen region. This thesis wishes to contribute to urban studies of Jakarta, especially regarding the funeral studies.

Since the introduction of economic reforms in the late 1970s, China has experienced phenomenal economic growth along with rapid urbanization. The accelerated urbanization coincides with remarkable social-economic transformations and urban landscape changes. A city, as an urban system, is composed of social and physical subsystems that interact with each other. Equally assessing each component is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the urbanization process. The goal of this thesis research is to deconstruct the urbanization process through a social-ecological perspective. More specifically, this study examines social transformations, physical evolutions, and their relationships. Four research questions are proposed as (1) How does urban social landscape transform in time and space? (2) What trends are apparent in the urban land growth process and spatial heterogeneity? (3) How does social transformation relate to urban land growth, within a spatio-temporal perspective? and (4) How do social-demographic features relate to residents’ use and perception of urban green open spaces, focusing on the ecological services provided by and the need to improve those spaces? Given the lack of research on second-tier cities’ growth processes, this study selects Wuhan, a megacity in central China, as a case study, with a focus on its urban development zone (UDZ). A social-ecological approach is applied to study the multi-dimensional features of an urban system. The thesis is in paper format, containing five chapters. Besides the Introduction (Chapter 1) and Conclusion (Chapter 5), the main body consists of three articles. These three articles correspond to the four research questions proposed. Chapter 2 responds to the first research question by addressing how the urban social landscape transforms. Chapter 3 seeks to answer the second and third questions by evaluating urban land growth and its links with social factors from a spatio-temporal perspective. Chapter 4 matches the fourth question by seeking to understand residents’ preferences and feelings toward the urban green open space. Chapter 1 introduces the research context, reviews the urban ecology theory and relevant empirical research, as well as assesses the social-ecological approach related to studying the urban system. In this chapter, we also propose an improved social-ecological system (ISES) framework which guides the equally weighted study of both social and physical subsystems in an urban area. Chapter 2 (the first paper) seeks to investigate progressive transformations in the social dimensions of Wuhan UDZ while also focusing on their spatial transformations, using national census data in 1990, 2000, and 2010. We used varimax rotated principal component analysis (PCA) for the extraction of social dimensions and ArcMap for spatial visualization. This allows us to further analyze the spatial distribution of social clusters. The results suggest that industrial relocation, educational attainment increase, population aging, and migration are the main characteristics of social transformation during 1990 and 2010. Industrial relocation along with the spatial separation appeared as principal social dimensions in the 1990s but became more prominent in the 2000s, accompanied by the improvement of workers’ education levels. Aging population presented spatial movement outward from the city center. Population mobility increased significantly, and immigration became an important social dimension and presented spatial expansion in the 2000s. The socio-spatial patterns transform with a combination of concentric rings and sectoral clusters in different stages. These transformations are formed by the regional push-pull forces and the centripetal-centrifugal forces inside the city. We conclude that the social landscape transforms in a way with diversity and inclusion. Government dominates socio-spatial transformations in the initial stages, while market plays an increasing role in the later stages. To build a more inclusive society requires continuous and systematic improvement of relevant policies. Chapter 3 (the second paper) discusses urban land growth patterns and answers how social factors are associated with the evolution patterns between 1990 and 2010. We extract land cover information based on Landsat images with the vegetation area – impervious surface –water area (V-I-W) model and examine the urban growth patterns during various stages using landscape metrics of the area, aggregation, and shape. Then, we apply geographically weighted regression (GWR) to depict the link between urban land metrics and social factors. The results show that urban land coalescence and diffusion simultaneously exist; the city center is dominated by redevelopment, infilling, edge expansion; and the peripheral areas by outlying expansion. GWR coefficient surfaces show little differences in the models between social factors and urban land area metrics PLAND while remarkable differences are present in the coefficients of GWR models for the urban land patch shape irregularities and social factors. Urban land growth patterns relate to the government-led land supply system, the functional zoning of urban space planning, and the agglomeration and dispersion of social space under the market orientation. The authors conclude that urban management should consider the coexistence of different spatial growth modes and introduce factors such as social preferences in the urban land layout. This may apply to rapidly urbanizing areas. Chapter 4 (the third paper) aims to understand social-natural relationships, with a focus on how socio-demographic features can shape residents’ preference toward green open spaces and their perceptions of ecological services and improvements. Data is collected through online questionnaire surveys and interviews. The results indicate that preferences toward green open spaces vary among different social groups. Demands for improvement to green open spaces are rooted in residents’ appreciation for daily relaxation and health benefits, and link with their preference for visiting. However, how residents perceive green open spaces’ benefits does not rely only on an in-person visit. Interaction experience with nature and knowledge of natural development affect perception of daily use and health-related services. Residents’ perceptions of green open space’s ecological functions are associated with the changes in nature reported by those respondents. Responses to improving green open space reflect the residents’ pursuit of the aesthetics and practicality of such spaces. Though respondents are commonly aware of the ecological importance of green open space, there are differences in their willingness to voluntarily participate in its management. We conclude that to encourage the public to participate in configuration and improvement of green open spaces through a variety of ways, including considering residents’ opinions, is an efficient way in order to better social-ecological relationships. Chapter 5 reviews the main findings and conclusions, research limitations as well as future possibilities. This study establishes a dialogue between urban social and physical subsystems, with an integrated quantitative study of the urbanization process, emphasizing the relationships between two urban subsystems. It provides a comprehensive social-ecological view on a second-tier city based on the social and physical transformations that occurred in Wuhan during a transitional period of a socialist market economy. We conclude that the development of China's second-tier cities between 1990 and 2010 is characterized by the transformations of social dimensions and landscape, the coexistence of multiple urban spatial development modes, and the spatial differentiation between the center and the periphery of the city. The GWR models present spatial non-stationary relationships between social factors and the urban patch shape regularities. The further examination of social-natural relationships finds that residents’ social-demographic features and environmental experience affect their perceptions toward green open space, especially ecological services and improvement necessity. The evolution of urban social and physical systems and their relationships has brought increased attention to inclusive urban social management, public participatory planning, and people-centered social and ecological interactions. This research provides a constructive rethinking of second-tier cities’ growth in China and may serve as a reference for other rapidly urbanizing areas.