Keijzer, Coen (2021) Urban ecological principles as a driver of sustainable urban development - An assessment of four European forerunners. Bachelor thesis.
|
Text
s3824926_BPROJ_A7.pdf Download (5MB) | Preview |
Abstract
The majority of sustainable development strategies of cities are made under the smart cities paradigm, which emphasizes socio-economic sustainability. At the same time, environmental targets related to the United Nations Agenda on Sustainable Development need scaling in order to succeed. Scholars therefore argue to integrate environmental and ecological targets within the urban environment. This raises a question about how environmental sustainability and ecology can be considered in sustainable urban development strategies, and what we can learn from successful examples. This study compares four European forerunners in order to gain insights on how key principles from the field of urban ecology can help drive sustainable urban development. The first step in this study was to formulate an assessment framework on the basis of urban ecological principles and environmental sustainability. The second step was to apply this framework to evaluate the sustainable urban development strategies of Stockholm, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Hamburg and Breda, which are considered some of the greenest cities in Europe by means of awards such as the European Green Capital of the year award. The assessment demonstrated that referring to ecological theory in strategy documents highlights the consideration given to the local ecology of the city, with Stockholm and Vitoria-Gasteiz scoring higher compared to Breda and Hamburg. Overall, all cities adequately addressed nature and ecology and had clear strategies on integrating green infrastructure in the city by catering both to the needs of citizens and nature. However, environmental quality indicators (i.e. air quality) scored lower in the strategies of Breda, Hamburg and Vitoria-Gasteiz. In comparison with Stockholm, which did score higher, it was concluded that a misalignment of policy measures and ambitions between various levels of government halted ambition and integration on the local scale. This resulted in goals, measures and strategies not being mentioned adequately in the sustainable development strategies. The results demonstrate that integrating definitions and ecological theory within strategy documents and policy resulted in a larger scope of ambition and thoroughness of said policy or strategy. Therefore, it was recommended that other cities should integrate wider environmental goals within their sustainable development strategies and to make use of the exemplary methodologies of the four assessed cities.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Spatial Planning and Design |
| Supervisor: | Woltjer, J. |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Jul 2021 06:31 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Oct 2021 08:57 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3552 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |