Multicultural Urban Nature - Integrating Multicultural Information in Urban Nature Policy and Planning

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1 Multicultural Urban Nature - Integrating Multicultural Information in Urban Nature Policy and Planning HENVI research project Final research report Professor Harry Schulman Department of Geosciences and Geography University of Helsinki

2 1. Introduction The aim of project Multicultural Urban Nature Integrating Multicultural Information in Urban Nature Policy and Planning was to promote a conscious development of socially liveable, enjoyable and healthy urban nature environments, by focusing on the needs of the increasingly multicultural society from the point of view of knowledge construction in policy and planning. The project applied a locally developed framework for the integration of social and ecological information and connects the previously separate research lines on multiculturalism, urban nature and population health. The research provided a theoretical integration and interdisciplinary understanding of nature in urban environment from multicultural social and ecological viewpoints. The outcomes of the research offered applicable knowledge and tools for the planners and decision makers of urban land use planning and green space planning. The environmental relation of people with different ethnic backgrounds can be very different from that of autochthonous Finns and this affects their use of urban nature and thus also their health. Several studies have shown that people, in general, find their favourite places more often in natural than in urban environments. The objectives of the project were (1) to finalize the developing of a theoretical framework and a practical tool to evaluate the use of social information in planning and decision making concerning urban nature (within the project 'Greendecision'), (2) to find out what information is available for policy and planning on the ethnic minorities' values and needs concerning urban environments, especially urban nature areas, (3) to find out how this multicultural social information is used in policy and planning processes such as land use planning and green space planning and (4) to address how the use of this information in policy and planning could be promoted so that it supports the developing of liveable and healthy urban environments and the integration of ethnic minorities with other population groups. 2. The HENVI funding during project period Multicultural Urban Nature Total Schulman The research staff during the funding period Research active staff Senior staff not getting salary from HENVI name academic degree working period(s) in the project Harry Schulman Dr Liisa Tyrväinen Dr Postdoctoral researchers Doctoral students Maija Faehnle M.Sc., PhD student ,

3 Other research active staff Jaana Leikkilä Johanna Jokinen Anni Karlin M.Sc.student M.Sc.student M.Sc.student Summary of research results during the whole funding period Results of the Helsinki Metropolitan area study and the study on Canadian examples together provide practical knowledge and ideas for developing the planning of urban nature, especially the collaborative processes, to support interculturalism. The results are applicable in Helsinki Metropolitan area and potentially other urban areas in Finland. The collaborative planning evaluation tool will help in developing more efficient and successful collaboration processes in urban planning in general and in terms of specific groups. The project established a basis for future studies on cultural diversity and environment in Finland and contributed to the internationally growing research on this topic. Future studies will benefit form the theoretical understanding and empirical results obtained here. For future work in Finland, also the practical experiences obtained (e.g. ways to find interviewees) and contacts established in this project are useful. Urban planning has an important role to play in the developing of an intercultural society, referring to active, positive interaction between different cultural groups. Currently the planning of urban nature in Helsinki metropolitan area lacks information on cultural minorities' values and needs concerning urban environments. Some attempts have been made to involve immigrants in planning but usable practices for this have not yet been established. In any case, nature areas in Helsinki Metropolitan area seem to serve different immigrants rather well. These areas have several functions in the processes in which immigrants are integrated with their new environment and other population groups. The potential of urban nature areas in promoting interculturalism has, however, not been used as well as it could. Urban nature areas could be developed, for example, with meeting places connecting diverse groups rather than meeting the group-specific needs, and by encouraging people to enrich their environments themselves. Planners need opportunities to educate themselves for knowing the cultures of the diversifying society and to learn culturally sensitive ways to collaborate with diverse groups. Collaboration practices need to be developed, preferably with the help of the expertise of the local cultural groups and people working with them. To ensure success, collaborative processes need to be evaluated with consideration of perspectives of planning and diverse stakeholder groups. The evaluation tool developed in the project provides help with this. Group-specific research is needed to understand different cultural groups' perspectives to environment and usability of different collaboration practices in more detail. Assessment about scientific progress Data collection in the Helsinki Metropolitan area was implemented in 2010 as was planned. We interviewed 19 immigrants representing 13 different countries of origin, and 13 experts working with immigrants, including city and green area planners, social department workers 3

4 and an allotment contact person. The results of this study were reported in the Master's thesis by Jaana Leikkilä (2010), in a practical publication targeted to Finnish planners (Leikkilä, Faehnle & Lyytimäki 2011) and a forthcoming article (Leikkilä. Faehnle & Galanakis) will present the results to the international academic audience. The research visit for studying international examples was implemented as planned, as a three months visit to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. MF interviewed 32 municipal planners, researchers and NGO actors and learned about their experiences with and practices to consider and use cultural diversity in urban planning. The data from the interviews, Canadian literature and observations was analysed and used for publications (Faehnle 2010, 2012, see 9) that give practical help for Finnish planners in developing their practices in the increasingly multicultural society. MF has been finalizing the articles for her PhD according to the work plan, with changes in timing (see 6). The PhD will be finalized in It consists of four papers presenting theoretical background for integrating experiential information in urban planning (Faehnle et al. 2011), an evaluation case study (Sipilä & Tyrväinen 2005), a framework for evaluating the use of experiential information and the study on integration of ecological and experiential information (Faehnle et al. manuscripts a and b, see 9). 5. Tiivistelmä tutkimustuloksista koko rahoituskaudelta Kaupungin suunnittelu on tärkeässä asemassa tavoiteltaessa kulttuurienvälistä kehitystä, jossa eri väestöryhmien välinen vuorovaikutus on myönteistä ja aktiivista. Nykyisellään pääkaupunkiseudun kaupunkiluontoa koskevasta suunnittelusta puuttuu tietoa eri kulttuuristen ryhmien kaupunkiympäristöön liittämistä arvoista ja tarpeista. Kokeiluja erilaisten maahanmuuttajien saamiseksi mukaan suunnitteluun on tehty, mutta vakiintuneita, toimivia käytäntöjä tähän ei vielä ole. Nykyiset pääkaupunkiseudun luontoalueet joka tapauksessa näyttävät palvelevan erilaisia maahanmuuttajia suhteellisen hyvin. Luontoalueilla on monia merkityksiä prosessissa, joissa maahanmuuttajat kotoutuvat uuteen ympäristöönsä ja integroituvat eri väestöryhmien kanssa. Luontoalueiden mahdollisuuksia interkulttuurisuuden edistämisessä ei ole kuitenkaan hyödynnetty niin paljoa kuin olisi mahdollista. Luontoalueita voitaisiin kehittää esimerkiksi pyrkimällä palveluiden eriyttämisen sijaan luomaan mahdollisuuksia eri ryhmien kohtaamisille ja kannustamalla ihmisiä itse rikastamaan ympäristöään ja sen käyttötapoja. Hallinnon toimijat tarvitsevat mahdollisuuksia kouluttautua tuntemaan moninaistuvan väestön kulttuureita ja omaksua kulttuuriherkkiä tapoja toimia eri ryhmien kanssa. Tiedottamisen ja myös osallistumisen suunnittelussa kannattaa käyttää maahanmuuttajien ja heidän kanssaan jo työskentelevien asiantuntemusta. Jotta vuorovaikutteinen suunnittelu onnistuisi, vuorovaikutusprosesseja on tärkeä arvioida niin suunnittelun kuin erilaisten osallisryhmienkin näkökulmista. Projektissa kehitetty arviointiväline tuo apua tähän. Eri kulttuurien ympäristösuhteesta ja eri kulttuureille sopivista vuorovaikutuksen ja yhteistyön tavoista tarvitaan tarkempaa, ryhmäkohtaista tutkimusta. 4

5 6. HENVI-related publications The project produced totally 11 publications in peer-reviewed international scientific journals. In the 4 of them researcher of the project was the first author. Three chapters were published in the international and national peer-reviewed monograps.25 conference abstracts were produced during Articles in international refereed scientific journals The project produced one publication and three manuscripts for the peer-reviewed international scientific journals. In the 3 of them researcher of the project is the first author. Faehnle, M., Bäcklund, P. & Tyrväinen, L Looking for the role of nature experiences in urban planning and decision-making. A Perspective from Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy 7:1, Manuscripts: Faehnle, M., & Tyrväinen, L 2012: A framework for evaluation the quality of collaborative planning. Submitted. Faehnle, M., Yli-Pelkonen, V., Niemelä, J., Tyrväinen, L., Bäcklund, P. Integrating ecological and experiential information in urban planning. Will be submitted in Leikkilä, J., Faehnle, M. & Galanakis, M. 2012: Urban nature and cultural diversity Promoting interculturalism in Helsinki by planning urban nature. Submtited. Articles in national refereed scientific journals Faehnle, M. & Fagerholm, N Ympäristökokemuksista kulttuurista herkkyyttä kaupunkien suunnitteluun. Terra 122:3, [Refereed review, In Finnish]. Master s theses Leikkilä, J Kaupunkiluonto maahanmuuttajien kotoutumisessa. Pro gradu -tutkielma. Tampereen yliopisto. < [In Finnish] Conference abstracts Faehnle, M., Schulman, H. & Tyrväinen, L Promoting urban forest services for intercultural communities. In: Parrotta, J.A. & Carr, M.A. Forests for the Future: Sustaining 5

6 Society and the Environment, XXIII IUFRO World Congress, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Abstracts. The International Forestry Review 12:5, p Faehnle, M., Tyrväinen, L. & Schulman, H Evaluating the use of social information in urban forest planning. In: Parrotta, J.A. & Carr, M.A. Forests for the Future: Sustaining Society and the Environment, XXIII IUFRO World Congress, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Abstracts. The International Forestry Review 12:5, p Other publications Asikainen, E. & Faehnle, M Asukkaat mukaan kaupunkiluonnon hoitoon. Vieraskynä, Helsingin Sanomat [In Finnish]. Faehnle, M Kulttuurit kaupunkien ja suunnittelun muokkaajina Kanadassa. Yhdyskuntasuunnittelu 48:3, [In Finnish]. Faehnle, M Monikulttuurisuus kaupungin suunnittelussa: esimerkkejä ja kokemuksia Kanadasta. Painossa. [In Finnish] Faehnle, M., Jokinen, J., Karlin, A., & Lyytimäki, J Kaupunkiluonto ja monikulttuurisuus maahanmuuttajat luontoalueiden kokijoina ja käyttäjinä. Suomen ympäristö 1/2010. Suomen ympäristökeskus, Helsinki. [In Finnish]. < Faehnle, M. & Lyytimäki, J Maahanmuuttajille kaupunkiluonto tutuksi. Kuntalehti : 36. [In Finnish]. Leikkilä, J., Faehnle, M. & Lyytimäki, J. (eds.) Maahanmuuttajat kaupunkiluontoa koskevassa suunnittelussa Kohti interkulttuurista kaupunkia. Suomen ympäristökeskuksen raportteja X/2011. [In Finnish] 7. HENVI related presentations in scientific meetings Faehnle. M. Multiculturalism in Urban Planning: The Finnish View. Guest lecture at the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, Faehnle, M., Schulman, H. &Tyrväinen, L. Promoting urban forest services for intercultural communities. XXIII IUFRO World Congress 'Forests for the Future: Sustaining Society and Environment', , Seoul, Republic of Korea. Faehnle, M., Tyrväinen, L. & Schulman, H. Evaluating the use of social information in urban forest planning. Poster at the XXIII IUFRO World Congress Forests for the Future: Sustaining Society and the Environment , Seoul, Republic of Corea. Faehnle, M. Kulttuurinen moninaisuus rakennettujen ympäristöjen suunnittelussa. 6

7 Luontomatkailun ja -virkistyksen tutkimuspäivä Lapin yliopisto, Rovaniemi. [In Finnish] Kopperoinen, L. & Faehnle, M. Rethinking cultural ecosystem services in a diversifying society. 13th European Forum on Urban Forestry Urban People Meet Urban Forests, May 25-29, 2010, Tulln an der Donau, Austria. 8. Teaching and supervising activities Doctoral student Maija Faehnle gave several lectures in the courses at the Department of Geograpy, Dept. of Forest Sciences and Dept. of Environmental Sciences and in Summer Schools. Faehnle supervised the Masters thesis "Kaupunkiluonto maahanmuuttajien kotoutumisessa" by Jaana Leikkilä, University of Tampere, department of social research. 7