Kleszczewski, Michael (2022) Exploring the benefits of Nature-based Solutions and citizen involvement in Meerstad, Groningen. Bachelor thesis.
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Abstract
As cities face ecological and social challenges in the 21st century, nature-based solutions have emerged as a collection of strategies to help remedy some of the issues caused by climate change and rapid urbanization. Some of these strategies include measures such as planting more trees in neighborhoods to help decrease local temperatures, implementing water-tolerant plants in waterways to improve water quality, constructing green roofs to support water retention and biodiversity, and restoring wetlands to prevent flooding in cities and absorb CO2. Previous research demonstrates that nature-based solutions can provide benefits to areas that adopt them and improve natural qualities such as biodiversity and water quality. Despite the cited evidence, there remain some research gaps about their implementation, design, and their relationship to society. The purpose of this study is to examine an emerging neighborhood of the city of Groningen called Meerstad where nature-based solutions have been implemented by Bureau Meerstad the office in charge of the designs. The aim of the research is to find out how residents of Meerstad value nature-based solutions, their roles in the design process, and how inclusive the societal benefits of nature-based solutions are for Meerstad’s residents. This was investigated using a Grounded Theory Mixed-Method approach utilizing surveys and in-depth interviews. An additional section regarding perceptions of greenspace in Berlin, Germany compares the findings from Meerstad within an international context. The results of the research show that in Meerstad there is a distinction between functional and natural values and residents value recreation and biodiversity highly. Investigations of citizen involvement in Meerstad found that overall residents were satisfied with their level of involvement, but by allowing residents to have a higher level of involvement, higher sustainability outcomes were achieved confirming the results of the literature. The main takeaway from the STOURIE project in Berlin was that residents there did not have the perception that flooding was a pressing threat compared to Meerstad where residents were aware of the danger posed by climate change in an area located below sea level. The nature-based solutions that provided the most benefits to residents were the lake and reeds. The benefits that these interventions provided were mostly environmental and not always immediately apparent such as creating habitats, improving water quality, and preventing flooding. Some unanticipated findings were that there is a connection between nature-based solutions and inequality as those who can afford to live where they are implemented gain the most benefits while lower-income residents lack accessibility.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Spatial Planning and Design |
| Supervisor: | Kuper, B.J. |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Feb 2023 13:18 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Feb 2023 13:18 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4083 |
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