Sammanfattning

To address the inter-connected climate and biodiversity crises, it is crucial to understand how multifunctional urban green infrastructure (UGI) is perceived to contribute to carbon neutrality, biodiversity, human well-being, and justice outcomes in cities. We explore how urban residents, including youth, associate carbon-related meanings with multifunctional UGI and how these meanings relate to co-benefits to biodiversity, well-being, and broader sustainability outcomes. Our findings are based on a survey distributed among urban residents of Helsinki, Finland (n = 487) and reveal how carbon-related meanings of UGI manifest at different levels of abstraction, agency, and scale, and incorporate community values and concerns attributed to the planning, features, functions, and transformational dimensions of UGI. Core carbon-related meanings of UGI emphasize either actions towards sustainability, carbon neutrality, biodiversity, or unfamiliarity towards such meanings. Perceived justice concerns and the socio-demographic contexts of the respondents covaried with carbon-related meanings associated with UGI. The results illustrate community perceptions of how it is not only possible, but rather expected, that multifunctional UGI is harnessed to tackle climate change, human well-being, and biodiversity loss in cities. Challenges for implementing the carbon-related benefits of UGI include navigating the different expectations placed on UGI and including residents with diverse socio-economic backgrounds during the process. Our findings contribute to a holistic understanding of how multifunctional UGI can help bridge policy agendas related to carbon neutrality, biodiversity protection, and human well-being that cities can implement when aiming for sustainable, just, and socially acceptable transitions towards a good Anthropocene.

Nyckelord

Carbon literacy; Carbon narratives; Environmental justice; Nature-based solutions; Sustainability transitions; Urban green infrastructure

Publicerad i

Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
2022, Volym: 75, artikelnummer: 127682
Utgivare: ELSEVIER GMBH

SLU författare

• Raymond, Christopher

  • Institutionen för landskapsarkitektur, planering och förvaltning, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • Helsingin yliopisto

Globala målen

Vidta omedelbara åtgärder för att bekämpa klimatförändringarna och dess konsekvenser
Göra städer och bosättningar inkluderande, säkra, motståndskraftiga och hållbara


UKÄ forskningsämne

Landskapsarkitetktur


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127682

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/120398