Relating spatial pattern of forest cover to accessibility

Urban planning for optimal provision of recreational forests is not only concerned with how much space is needed, but equally with how this could be arranged in the landscape in order to make these forests accessible to many potential visitors. The present study sought to establish relationships between the spatial pattern of forest cover and these forests’ accessibility – either on foot or by bike – for short walks. This question was approached in an experimental way using landscape structure metrics. A factor analysis identified the common axes of spatial pattern. The first five factors explained 82.2% of the variation of the original data set. The first factor is related to forested area and number of forest patches, the second is related to shape complexity. The third factor quantifies contiguity, and the fourth measures the clumpiness of forests. The fifth refers to variability in forest shape. Only the factors related to forested area, forest shape complexity and clumpiness, show a significant correlation with recreational provision. A higher forest coverage and more forests should thus lead to a higher provision for short walking trips. However, when a small afforestation budget is available, high shape complexity, low forest contiguity and a high landscape shape index (LSI) should take priority. Shape indices make the most important contribution to single out patterns that offer recreation possibilities to a high number of people. The findings show the potential of using landscape structure metrics for the modelling of forest recreational provision

Different arguments, same conclusions: how is action against invasive alien species justified in the context of European policy?

The prevention and management of invasive alien species (IAS) has become a high priority in European environmental policy. At the same time, ways of evaluating IAS continue to be a topic of lively debate. In particular, it is far from clear how directly policy makers’ value judgements are linked to the European (EU) policy against IAS. We examine the arguments used to support value judgements of both alien species and invasive alien species as well as the relation between these value judgements and the policy against IAS being developed at European level. Our study is based on 17 semi-structured interviews with experts from EU policy making and from the EU member states Austria, Belgium, Germany and Hungary. We found that our interviewees conceived of IAS in very different ways, expressed a variety of visions of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and adhered to widely different values expressed in their perceptions of IAS and the impacts of IAS. However, only some of these conceptualizations and value judgements are actually addressed in the rationale given in the preamble to the European IAS Regulation. Although value judgements about IAS differed, there was considerable agreement regarding the kind of action to be taken against them. © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrech

Capturing residents' values for urban green space: mapping, analysis and guidance for practice

Planning for green space is guided by standards and guidelines but there is currently little understanding of the variety of values people assign to green spaces or their determinants. Land use planners need to know what values are associated with different landscape characteristics and how value elicitation techniques can inform decisions. We designed a Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) study and surveyed residents of four urbanising suburbs in the Lower Hunter region of NSW, Australia. Participants assigned dots on maps to indicate places they associated with a typology of values (specific attributes or functions considered important) and negative qualities related to green spaces. The marker points were digitised and aggregated according to discrete park polygons for statistical analysis. People assigned a variety of values to green spaces (such as aesthetic value or social interaction value), which were related to landscape characteristics. Some variables (e.g. distance to water) were statistically associated with multiple open space values. Distance from place of residence however did not strongly influence value assignment after landscape configuration was accounted for. Value compatibility analysis revealed that some values co-occurred in park polygons more than others (e.g. nature value and health/therapeutic value). Results highlight the potential for PPGIS techniques to inform green space planning through the spatial representation of complex human-nature relationships. However, a number of potential pitfalls and challenges should be addressed. These include the non-random spatial arrangement of landscape features that can skew interpretation of results and the need to communicate clearly about theory that explains observed patterns

'A tree on your doorstep, a forest in your mind' : greenspace planning at the interplay between discourse, physical conditions, and practice

This thesis has focused on practices in greenspace policies and planning. It was the central assumption that we can learn from practice in order to improve practice, particularly by moving it closer towards place- and people-sensitive approaches. In this respect, planning was primarily referred to as the imaginative and interpretative work involved in framing ideas and translating these into policy texts, plans, and actions on the ground. The thesis presents three studies of practices:The first study concentrates on the question of how forest expansion discourse in Flanders, having its origins in a relatively small group in a defensive position, could gain prominence in current land use debates and even come to produce a new set of spatial practices for shaping the rural-urban interface. In tracing back the development of this discourse, the emphasis was on the genealogy of discourse-actor relationships over the past decades, including the translation of discourse into various (non)-discursive forms. The case of the Ghent Park Forest was used to explore what happened to forest expansion discourse when it came to interfere with different actors in a local planning situation. The study draws attention to the powers of 'organising' ways of representation, in particular an appealing 'story line'. It was questioned what makes a story line effective (or not) in carrying forward its strategic idea along the various trajectories from concepts and ideas to actual implementation that are constitutive of a long-term policy processThe second study is concerned with the issue of factual evidence and normative prescription as it is used in planning practice. It presents an integrated indicator, made operational in a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based working procedure, and designed to monitor the greenspace provision in cities against quantitative and qualitative targets. It was demonstrated that not only can the GIS-based applications provide a powerful tool for analysis and representation, but they can also play an integral part in the dynamics of planning itself: this is to explore spatial datasets in an on-going process, playing with multiple interpretations of the data, rather than representing stable, known information. However, this study also points to the limitations of the geographical approach and draws to the need to involve those people who actually use the greenspace in exploring the special qualities that planning should support.The third study examines the value of local knowledge in the creative phase of planning practice. It uses the case study of an urban renewal project inAntwerpto explore the actual dynamic of the construction of meaning in discursive interaction, that is, the ways that urban designers and workshop participants made sense of the planning situation. The analysis identified shared 'interpretive frames employed by the lay participants when collectively and actively playing with options and choices, problems and solutions. The study goes on to discuss how distinctive these were from the professionals' perspectives and what the consequences were for the material outcomes of the planning process. Given the difficulties encountered when reconciling both perspectives, it was concluded that research should concentrate attention on what happens at the overlapping boundaries where different frames converge, in order to uncover what makes it so difficult for professionals to reflect on and to break out of their own frames

The power of words - how conflicts over wildlife comeback in Europe are intensified through rational argumentation. Paper presented at the Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap, Gent, 8-9 February

Item does not contain fulltextPaper presented at the Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap, 08 februari 201

Combining deliberative governance theory and discourse analysis to understand the deliberative incompleteness of centrally formulated plans

In the past few decades governments in Western European countries have put increasing efforts into creating new green and forest areas in and around cities. At first sight, these centrally formulated plans seem to run counter to the current trend towards less central steering and more participation (and deliberation). However, closer scrutiny in two cases of green structure planning in the Netherlands and Flanders - Balij-Biesland forest and Park forest Ghent - reveals that we are facing a seemingly contradictory image of central steering on the one hand and openness to various actors and ideas on the other. This paper takes a closer look at this ambivalent situation using the two theoretical perspectives of deliberative governance and a discourse analysis. Although the green structure planning exercises did not intentionally have a deliberative character, we argue that such a perspective can and should be put on situations where new local coalitions challenge the centrally formulated plans, and try to start deliberations about their ideas In order to become more specific about the 'deliberative incompleteness' of the two Flemish and Dutch processes, a discourse-analytical focal point needs to be taken as well. Normatively, the paper first addresses the diversity of viewpoints and openness to preference shifts in the Dutch and the Flemish cases. It concludes that in the course of both processes, a high diversity of viewpoints surfaced, as well as a certain degree of openness to preference shifts. When the two processes are subjected to discourse analysis, it becomes evident however that the preference shifts occurring as a result of the input of a greater diversity of viewpoints did not bring about changes in some vital discursive practices that had been connected to the green structure planning and implementation processes. It was suggested, therefore, that combining the two theoretical perspectives gives a good insight into 'deliberative incompleteness' and highlights persistent institutional obstacles to come to more inclusive green structures in urbanized areas

Local knowledge in visually mediated practice

Visualization tools such as maps, models, and computer images are used increasingly as means of involving people more effectively. We examine how a visualization tool in the form of a map-based model may shape the knowledge local people bring to the planning table. The analysis was guided by the concept of mediated action as it has been developed in sociocultural theory. We found that local knowledge was conditioned by a complexity of factors, including the dynamic of actions that develop around the tool and the way of looking imposed by map-based representation. The suggestion being made is that visualization tools, although bringing people closer to the planning process, also disconnect them from their local knowledge base

Arguing Along Fault-lines: A Rhetorical Analysis of Public Divides over Wildlife Comeback

Contains fulltext : 209314.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access