Green Politics in the Maldives: A Possible Saviour?

The Maldives currently suffers from climate change, and will be soon rendered inhabitable due to rising sea levels. A political past stained by dictatorship and corruption has also led to inconceivable amounts of environmental destruction. With the idea of ecology and green politics gaining ground throughout the world, it is viable to question the possibility of practicing these concepts in an environment that so needs it. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to qualitatively examine the possibility of green politics in not only saving the Maldivian environment, but also the actuality of it taking root in society. Within this paper, an extensive and in-depth research is conducted through interviews and secondary data, following a grounded theory approach. The data is then analysed using theories originating from Ulrich Beck and Habermas, resulting in a final conclusion that global green politics is the way forward, however, not without contextual difficulties

Participatory utopian sketching: A methodological framework for collaborative citizen (re)imagination of urban spatial futures

Explorations of emerging urban spatial futures increasingly depend on the empathetic interweaving of broad political ideals with grounded democratic involvement. The collaborative planning paradigm (CP) and participatory action research (PAR) have thus gained traction globally, since they centralise meaningful involvement of those with lived experiences of the local environment. Building upon this, we argue that ‘utopia’ can offer an alternative paradigm that enhances citizen engagement, by refocusing urban design and planning explorations away from a problem-based orientation to a values-based one. Through a four-stage collaborative framework: 1. Experiencing the Space, 2. Sketching of Utopias, 3. Sharing of Utopias, and 4. Collaborative Analysis, participatory utopian sketching offers the possibility for richer and wider citizen engagement in urban development processes. The novelty of the framework is its tenets of collaboration, citizen inclusivity, playful experimentation, and iterative reflective activity. Its flexibility also allows for multiple real-world applications in the making of urban spatial futures. We demonstrate the methodological framework of participatory utopian sketching using an empirical pilot study examining the spatial imagination of solar panel futures within a neighbourhood located in Luleå, the provincial capital of Northern Sweden. Thereafter, we provide elucidations on the framework’s opportunities and challenges in wider urban design and planning discourse

Solarscape: The power of humanity in designing solar imaginaries, entangled worlds, and critical sustainable futures

Solarscape is a thesis on the phenomenology of the Solar – an experiential, relational, and critical approach to how humans and humanity world-with solar energy in its different forms and manifestations. Using solar panels as a central artefact of concern, I explore surrounding human and non-human relationships through situated individual and collaborative design practices: workshops, interviews, (auto)ethnography, to name a few. I offer six publications consisting of several qualitative design studies, compounding knowledge that deliberates on the thesis's main research question: How might the human experience play a role in the designing of situated solar futures? The thesis, composed through the poetics of knowledge production, culminates in a critical discussion of sustainable futures, the role of a solar designer, and ultimately, what it means to be human in the era of the Solar

Using vernacular design to alleviate inequalities in socio-spatial access: A case study of Dubai’s park provision.

This thesis focuses on park planning in Dubai, and how current differences in their socio-spatial access can be alleviated by using regional-vernacular design principles. The thesis uses a mixed method approach that begins with the analysis of parks across the entire city to understand their current access and distribution, and then narrows down to focusing on four micro-case studies,which will serve as sites where improvements could be made. These improvements are inspiredby vernacular design and planning and aim to improve current access. All work originates fromthe author unless otherwise cited

Energy Democracy in Practice : A Participatory Approach to the Community Governance of Renewables

Energy democracy as an energy planning paradigm proposes that citizens play a major role within the governing of their local energy resources. Previous research indicates that local governments are in a key position to drive these collaborative and bottom-up approaches in community energy governance. The key challenge lies in mobilising abstract democratic ideals in a practical manner. Creating socio-material platforms for democratic participation within contemporary energy planning is a prominent research gap to be filled in light of the global energy transition towards post-carbon societies. This paper draws on the field of design-driven research and the framework of “democratic design experiments” to propose a possible line of departure on how energy democracy can be practiced at a local governmental scale. Using this framework, a pilot study was conducted in a neighbourhood in the north of Sweden to explore future potential solar photovoltaic panel landscapes in the area. The workshop revealed opportunities for creative and playful methods in producing situated imaginings of solar panel futures that is built upon meaningful local collaboration. On a systemic level, the paper discusses potential challenges in motivation and participation in the framework’s wider scope of implementation.ISBN för värdpublikation: 978-84-9749-794-7</p

Data-Center Farming: Exploring the Potential of Industrial Symbiosis in a Subarctic Region

Validerad;2022;Nivå 2;2022-02-28 (sofila)</p