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Guardians of the Ecology: Navigating Challenges in Municipal Urban Planning in Stockholm County – Insights and Strategies from Ecologists
KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Urban Planning and Environment, Urban and Regional Studies.
2023 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Ekologins väktare : Att navigera utmaningar i kommunal stadsplanering i Stockholms län – insikter och strategier från ekologer (Swedish)
Abstract [en]

Urban planning plays an essential role in preparing cities to handle and counteract the climate changes – and connected consequences – of today and the future. Municipal ecologists are specialists in environmental protection and therefore carry a crucial role when developing contemporary and future cities. However, the literature on municipal ecologists’ partaking in contemporary urban planning in a Swedish local planning process has not been extensive. This study explores how municipal ecologists experience and view the main challenges when seeking to contribute with their expertise in local planning processes in Stockholm County, Sweden. The study also explores what kind of strategies municipal ecologists implement to handle these challenges.

This study uses an explorative qualitative methodology and a thematic analysis applied to empirical data from semi-structured interviews. To revisit the research field, a focus group discussion of the result was conducted. Key findings from this study are that the main challenges municipal ecologists face are i) the organisational difficulties and capacity for prioritising ecological issues in municipal planning, ii) lack of regulatory framework and political support, and iii) stress due to tensions in local planning processes. The ecologists handle this challenging context by implementing strategies such as speaking through others’ legitimacy, creating authority, and articulating the values of ecology.

This study contributes to the understanding of how ecologists struggle to contribute with their expertise in local planning practice. This implies the challenge of including environmental perspectives in local planning practices. Therefore, this study points to important aspects of where it is necessary to focus future efforts to better integrate an ecological perspective in urban planning.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2023.
Series
TRITA-ABE-MBT ; 23470
Keywords [en]
municipal ecologists, value articulation, ventriloquism, municipal planning process
National Category
Ecology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-331950OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-331950DiVA, id: diva2:1782741
Educational program
Degree of Master - Sustainable Urban Planning and Design
Presentation
2023-06-01, 08:29 (English)
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2023-07-17 Created: 2023-07-17 Last updated: 2023-07-17Bibliographically approved

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fulltext(684 kB)232 downloads
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Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
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  • asciidoc
  • rtf