Urban Forests: Adaptive and participatory governance in Urban Green Spaces

About Pedro

Originally from Venezuela, Pedro has a background in socioeconomics and environmental economics. He is currently a Ph. D. student at the department of forest economics at SLU Umeå. 

Pedros research project deals with what he calls the utilization of valuation techniques for non-market amenities. He also works with issues connected to green spaces, specifically how participatory governance affects citizens' willingness to participate in discussions related to the design of urban green spaces.

About the webinar

In this talk, Pedro will explore the influence of adaptive and participatory governance (involvement of multiple actors in a structured process) on the management of urban green spaces.

The study focuses on Umeå, a city with a big potential for of urban green spaces expansion. The study utilizes a discrete choice experiment to discern public preferences concerning various management strategies for of urban green spaces. Results show a correlation between satisfaction levels of current/ past experiences in urban green spaces and willingness to participate in tailoring these for future events.

The results suggest that participation is a key element for adaptive governance and its implementation should be included in the municipality’s strategic planning.