CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Thomson Ek, Hedda |
|---|---|
| Title | Seeing the city for the trees: Exploring naturescapes in present and future urban landscapes |
| Summary | Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized in urban planning for their multifunctional roles in addressing urban challenges, promoting human well-being, supporting biodiversity and enhancing climate adaptation. To increase NbS transformative potential, it is essential to systematically upscale their implementation, and understand how they are interlinked as systems. However, there is a limited understanding of how NbS are linked across urban landscapes, and how imaginaries of transformative change can be considered in urban planning. This thesis explores how interconnected systems of NbS can be understood through the concept of "naturescapes", and how they are perceived to enhance human well-being, biodiversity, and climate adaptation over three time horizons in the case study of Bogotá. This is explored through 20 interviews with 14 actors, 5 documents, and a novel interactive visualisation exercise using an AI-moderated survey tool. The study identifies seven naturescapes: (1) main ecological structures, (2) wetlands, (3) urban forests and trees, (4) ecosystem connectors and green corridors, (5) urban agriculture, (6) sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS), and (7) green roofs and vertical gardens. Based on lessons from the city-wide implementation of SUDS, the thesis discusses the potential for including futures-thinking into an early planning stage of naturescapes in cities. Findings highlight that community engagement, ecological connectivity, and flood mitigation, are amongst the most desired ecosystem services (ES) in the long-term future (2100). The thesis concludes by discussing considerations that should be made for implementing naturescapes in an urban landscape, emphasizing the importance of integrating future-oriented thinking into urban planning processes. |
| Supervisor | Laszlo Pinter |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/thomson-ek_hedda.pdf |
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