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A master's thesis from Aalborg University
Book cover


Public Participation in Green Infrastructure Planning: A Comparative Study of Liverpool and Valladolid

Author

Term

4. Term

Publication year

2024

Submitted on

Abstract

Byer står over for miljømæssige og sociale pres fra hurtig urbanisering og klimaforandringer. Naturbaserede løsninger som grøn infrastruktur bruges i stigende grad til at styrke byers robusthed, men succes afhænger af meningsfuld borgerdeltagelse. Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan borgere inddrages i planlægning, implementering og drift af urban grøn infrastruktur, og hvordan politiske rammer former deltagelsen i praksis. Med Liverpool (Storbritannien) og Valladolid (Spanien) som sammenlignende cases kombinerer studiet dokumentanalyse af lokale politikker og strategier med analyser af projektnære sagsdokumenter og semistrukturerede interviews, organiseret gennem en tematisk og komparativ tilgang. Arbejdet er forankret i teorier om økologisk modernisering og deltagende planlægning for at koble miljømål med styring og inddragelsesprocesser. På tværs af de to byer kortlægger og sammenholder undersøgelsen de deltagelsesformer, der beskrives i politikker, med praksis i konkrete projekter, og drøfter hvordan overensstemmelse eller brud mellem politik og praksis kan påvirke resultater. Specialet afslutter med konteksttilpassede anbefalinger til at styrke borgerdeltagelsen i grøn infrastruktur. De detaljerede empiriske resultater præsenteres i den fulde afhandling og fremgår ikke af dette uddrag.

Cities face environmental and social pressures from rapid urbanization and climate change. Nature-based solutions such as green infrastructure are increasingly used to strengthen urban resilience, but their success depends on meaningful public participation. This thesis examines how citizens are included in the planning, implementation and maintenance of urban green infrastructure, and how policy frameworks shape participation in practice. Using Liverpool (UK) and Valladolid (Spain) as comparative cases, the study combines document analysis of local policies and strategies with analyses of project-level case documents and semi-structured interviews, organized through a thematic and comparative approach. The work is guided by Ecological Modernisation and Participatory Planning theory to connect environmental goals with governance and engagement processes. Across the two cities, the research maps and compares the participation approaches described in policy with practices evident in projects and discusses how alignment or gaps between policy and practice may affect outcomes. The thesis concludes with context-sensitive recommendations to strengthen public participation in green infrastructure. Detailed empirical findings are presented in the full thesis and are not included in this excerpt.

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