Projects per year
Abstract
Municipal climate policies tie in closely with sustainable urban development. Land use has far-ranging impacts on carbon emissions from mobility, housing, and consumption; as well as climate resilience, carbon sinks, and biodiversity. While compact city is well-established as the dominant strategy for climate-wise planning, a parallel approach focused on greening and its climate advantages is gaining prominence. However, there is little empirical evidence on how municipal climate policies address the relationship between these often conflicting strategies. This study examines how compacting and greening are motivated and how greening is negotiated in relation to compacting in the six largest cities in Finland. Based on a qualitative content analysis of municipal climate action plans (CAP), we show that the primacy of compacting as a strategy is not questioned, however, the importance of greening is increasingly underlined. We demonstrate that the relationship between compacting and greening policies is framed by three main discourses: 1) compacting while protecting the green, 2) greening the built-up structure for adaptation purposes, and 3) greening as a multifunctional strategy parallel with compacting. The study contributes to the topical debate on the integration of compacting and greening and to the need for cross-sectoral and systemic climate-wise policies in general.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 105251 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Cities |
Volume | 152 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 Jul 2024 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- Climate policy
- Climate-wise urban planning
- Compact city
- Compacting
- Green infrastructure
- Greening
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Smartland: Smart land use policy for sustainable urbanization (Smartland), 2nd period
01/09/2022 → 31/08/2025
Project: Academy of Finland: Strategic research funding
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CO-CARBON: Individuals, communities and municipalities mitigating climate change by carbon storage in urban green space
Hautamäki, R., Merikoski, T., Alatalo, E., Ariluoma, M., Moinel, C., Kuittinen, M. & Merikoski, T.
01/10/2020 → 30/09/2023
Project: Academy of Finland: Strategic research funding