Youths use, values and benefits on the Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure

Partner: Mette Bladt Københavns Professionshøjskole
Financier: Formas
Project time: 2019-2023

The objective of this PhD project is to develop an analytical and methodological approach to citizens’ valuearticulations around urban ecosystems, as well as to find new ways of engagement of groups with less access to formalized channels of power and decision-making regarding the development of urban landscapes. The project seeks ways of interpreting and developing existing and potential links between urban blue-green infrastructure, ecosystem services, citizens’ values, and engagement. In this proposal we will detail how an action research process with urban youth could be used to link the governance of urban blue-green infrastructure more dynamically to the uses, values and needs for ecosystem services for urban youth, as well as to broader societal issues such as climate change and well-being. The main approach will be a serie of Future C reation workshops carried out during 1 year with a group of youths in Malmö together with the research team. The method will be developed based on an initial literature review and project visits. Based on the experience from the Future C reation workshops we will examine and suggest potential links between the knowledge and initiatives cogenerated through action research, and recently emerging governance-approaches to urban blue-green infrastructure such as mosaic- and place-based governance.