Evergreen issues of planning? Learning from history for sustainable urban-rural systems landscapes

Contemporary planning for sustainable development has a main focus on sustainable urban areas. This paper highlights a systemic approach as well as integrated and contextual knowledge in spatial planning. Significant theorists within urban planning, landscape architecture and other related fields are faced with a search for knowledge that accommodates the development of sustainable societies. Our historical selected data (Sitte, Howard, Geddes, Migge, Mumford, and McHarg) was analysed in relation to the contemporary UN policy document The Habitat Agenda and the French architectural theorist Francoise Choay’s theory on urban design and critical planning. We identify several issues that could be considered as fundamental and discuss their potential role in current spatial planning in a Scandinavian context. The results are discussed in relation to theory and current planning trends. The main contribution of the study is a tentative theoretical framework that supports urban-rural interaction in spatial planning, titled The Sustainability Approach. This framework is also suggested as a natural evolution of Choay’s planning models

Evergreen issues of planning? Learning from history for sustainable urban-rural systems landscapes

Contemporary planning for sustainable development has a main focus on sustainable urban areas. This paper highlights a systemic approach as well as integrated and contextual knowledge in spatial planning. Significant theorists within urban planning, landscape architecture and other related fields are faced with a search for knowledge that accommodates the development of sustainable societies. Our historical selected data (Sitte, Howard, Geddes, Migge, Mumford, and McHarg) was analysed in relation to the contemporary UN policy document The Habitat Agenda and the French architectural theorist Francoise Choay’s theory on urban design and critical planning. We identify several issues that could be considered as fundamental and discuss their potential role in current spatial planning in a Scandinavian context. The results are discussed in relation to theory and current planning trends. The main contribution of the study is a tentative theoretical framework that supports urban-rural interaction in spatial planning, titled The Sustainability Approach. This framework is also suggested as a natural evolution of Choay’s planning models

Implementation of the Habitat-agenda - residents' interest and actions in citizen-participation processes – a comparison of residential areas in Sweden and Russia

Within the politics of sustainable development citizens are expected to play an active and direct role in the implementation process. The potential for citizens to actually assume this role remains, however, unclear. This paper explores the prerequisites for citizen participation in accordance with the UN document the Habitat-agenda. In the paper we discuss the actual requirements for democratic participation in local urban communities, emphasising the level of the individual, in both the Swedish and the Russian context. Do residents have the interest, time and will to work as local actors toward sustainable habitation? Is there a difference in collective action in Swedish and the Russian residential areas? This has been studied in the context of four cases: the small-house area Kungsgärdet and the multi-family house area Gottsunda in Sweden, and the small-house area Perevalka and multi-family house area Drjevlanka in Russia. The results indicate that the conditions cannot be considered optimal in any of the cases, as local participation is generally not prioritised by the citizens. Some differences emerged in terms of attitudes concerning general participation in local matters between the four residential areas, though a clear exception here was the question of citizen participation in actual planning or implementation processes, which afforded relatively similar results in all four cases. Few people actively participated or wanted to participate. In one of the Russian areas, however, a few of the respondents expressed an interest in participating for change in the area, which is the first prerequisite for implementing the Habitat agenda. An initial assumption of the study was that participation would be greater in Swedish residential areas, due to Sweden's relatively long tradition of democratic practice, as compared to Russia. That assumption can now, in general, be dismissed even if there was slightly higher citizen participation for change in the Swedish cases

Implementation of the Habitat-agenda - residents' interest and actions in citizen-participation processes – a comparison of residential areas in Sweden and Russia

Within the politics of sustainable development citizens are expected to play an active and direct role in the implementation process. The potential for citizens to actually assume this role remains, however, unclear. This paper explores the prerequisites for citizen participation in accordance with the UN document the Habitat-agenda. In the paper we discuss the actual requirements for democratic participation in local urban communities, emphasising the level of the individual, in both the Swedish and the Russian context. Do residents have the interest, time and will to work as local actors toward sustainable habitation? Is there a difference in collective action in Swedish and the Russian residential areas? This has been studied in the context of four cases: the small-house area Kungsgärdet and the multi-family house area Gottsunda in Sweden, and the small-house area Perevalka and multi-family house area Drjevlanka in Russia. The results indicate that the conditions cannot be considered optimal in any of the cases, as local participation is generally not prioritised by the citizens. Some differences emerged in terms of attitudes concerning general participation in local matters between the four residential areas, though a clear exception here was the question of citizen participation in actual planning or implementation processes, which afforded relatively similar results in all four cases. Few people actively participated or wanted to participate. In one of the Russian areas, however, a few of the respondents expressed an interest in participating for change in the area, which is the first prerequisite for implementing the Habitat agenda. An initial assumption of the study was that participation would be greater in Swedish residential areas, due to Sweden's relatively long tradition of democratic practice, as compared to Russia. That assumption can now, in general, be dismissed even if there was slightly higher citizen participation for change in the Swedish cases

Implementation of the Habitat-agenda in local communities

Within the politics for sustainable development the citizens are now expected to play an active and direct role in the implementation process. The viability of the citizens to take up this role, however, remains unclear. This dissertation explores the prerequisites for citizen participation according to the UN Habitat-agenda. The objective was to address the relations between the political intentions for sustainable habitation and residents´ experiences of their residential area, as well as their interest, time for and real action to commit themselves in local work. The main research question was: How do residents´ late modern lifestyles and living conditions relate to the intentions for citizen participation according to the Habitat-agenda? This topic has been investigated in residential areas in Sweden and in Russia. These residential areas are all examples of common types where no particular sustainable development programs have been outlined. The empirical work was based on case studies and the main method being used was conversational interviews, but also questionnaires and observations were carried out. The empirical material has resulted in four papers. The results indicate that few people actively participated in collective matters or had an interest in doing so. The assumption for the study was that participation would be greater in Swedish residential areas, due to Sweden's relatively long tradition of democratic practice, compared to Russia. That assumption can in general be dismissed, due to that few differences were found. The reason for this weak interest in common local issues may be a lack of support for sustainable habitation from local and national authorities or from residential companies. The citizens clearly need new incitements for local participation and action, which both fits into their everyday life and which supports a new sustainable lifestyle

1. A strong municipality : On the local economic and planning competence in Uppsala and other Swedish municipalities

Uppsala is described as an example of the typical Nordic strongmunicipality. This includes an extensive self-government andlocal democracy with self-taxation and a planning monopoly. Itis argued that a strong local community is good for approachingsustainability. Madeleine Granvik is a geographer and researchstudent at the Dept of Landscape Planning at the Swedish AgriculturalUniversity. She has worked with development of democracyand environmental awareness in cities in Sweden and Russia.Sustainable Urban Patterns around the Baltic Se

1. A strong municipality : On the local economic and planning competence in Uppsala and other Swedish municipalities

Uppsala is described as an example of the typical Nordic strongmunicipality. This includes an extensive self-government andlocal democracy with self-taxation and a planning monopoly. Itis argued that a strong local community is good for approachingsustainability. Madeleine Granvik is a geographer and researchstudent at the Dept of Landscape Planning at the Swedish AgriculturalUniversity. She has worked with development of democracyand environmental awareness in cities in Sweden and Russia.Sustainable Urban Patterns around the Baltic Se