Utskrift från Malmö högskola - mah.se
Student Essays / Sustainable Urban Management
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Student Essays / Sustainable Urban Management
Recent Submissions
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INTENSIVE VERTICAL URBAN AGRICULTURE: Rethinking our Cities’ Food Sup... 
VUATTOUX, Romain (2013) peer-reviewed 
scientific
ARTICLE
English abstract: Our modern “traditional” agricultural system is not sustainable. This system is highly dependent on limited resources such as land, oil and water. It also has numerous negative impacts, including the depletion of resources leading to higher prices, pollutions leading to health risks, global warming, deforestation and biodiversity loss. These dependencies and consequences are combined with a growing and ever more affluent global population which requires greater amount of resources to support its growth and which increases the negative impacts on the environment. All indicates that our system is reaching its limits and that there is a need for new solutions. This research introduces the general context (problem and existing research) and explores an alternative, namely: Intensive Vertical Urban Agriculture (I.V.U.A.). This method seems to offer two particularly interesting promises beneficial for Sustainable Urban Development: the reduction of transportation, and the integration of food production in the urban nutrient and energy cycles. However, to achieve these potential benefits the technology (in a broad sense) has to meet several challenges and there is a need for further experimentation. This study explores challenges of I.V.U.A. and key factors enabling or hindering experimentation in this field. This investigation identified key barriers to further development of I.V.U.A. through the use of a case study. The Plantagon International ABis a unique project which will be built in 2013, in Linkoping, Sweden. It will be the first vertical greenhouse of a considerable scale in the world with a research and commercial aim. Barriers to I.V.U.A. were identified as: - Lack of awareness about the problems with our modern food supply, and hence missed opportunities for S.U.D. - Attitudes that are working against I.V.U.A. and competition for recognition with other forms of agriculture as alternative to the problem of food production - Lack of technical abilities, knowledge and skills in I.V.U.A. - Funding/supporting infrastructures (physical or informational) - Blockages that are the result of administrations and policies which are largely based around “traditional” agriculture. Finally, a set of recommendations was drawn from the interviews of the case study and the literature review, to help planners and decision-makers lift these barriers and enable experimenting. These four implications to consider and explore are: - Gaining understanding of the complexity of S.U.D.problems and the need for a wide range of solutions which include I.V.U.A.; - Including a greater amount of stakeholders, and considering contexts - Improving access to land but also to resources and infrastructures - Building support to enable I.V.U.A. to thrive on its own 
VUATTOUX R.pdf
(648.5Kb)
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A Foucauldian–Fairclaughian Discursive Analysis of the Social Constru...
Bibri, Simon Elias : Malmo University (2013) other
English abstract: ICT has become so deeply embedded into the fabric of European society – in economic, political, and socio-cultural narratives, practices, and structures – that it has been constructed as holding tremendous untapped and inestimable potential for instigating and unleashing far-reaching societal transformation, addressing key societal challenges, and solving all societal problems. It has recently been seen, given its ubiquity, as a critical driver and powerful catalyst for sustainable urban development due to its potential to enable substantial energy savings and GHG emissions reductions in most urban sectors, especially buildings. However, related to this ubiquity, there are also a lot of visions (of limited modern applicability), hopes, myths, fallacies, and oxymora, which applies for the environmental subsystem of information society where debates focus on whether ICT can advance environmental urban sustainability. There are intricate relationships and tradeoffs among the multidimensional effects of ICT for the environment that flow mostly from the use and application of ICT – e.g. energy efficiency technology - throughout the urban sphere. Regardless, the technological orientation and framing of the sustainable city and the green economy has gained dominance in European society and become prevalent in what has come to be identified or known as the discourse of ICT for sustainable urban development (ICT4SUD). The aim of this study is to carry out a critical reading of the social construction of ICT4SUD, the underlying ideology about the ICT potential in advancing environmental urban sustainability. To achieve this aim, a Foucauldian-Faircloughian discursive approach is employed to examine the selected empirical material. This approach consists of nine stages: (1) surface descriptors and contextual elements; (2) historical-diachronic dimension; (3) epistemic and cultural frames; (4) discursive constructions and discourses; (5) social actors and framing power; (6) discursive strategies; (7) discursive mechanisms; (8) political practice, knowledge, and power; and (9) ideological standpoints. As a scholarly discourse, ICT4SUD is inherently part of and influenced by economic, societal, and political structures, and produced in social interaction. ICT4SUD is thus neither paradigmatic nor value-free, but rather socio-politically situated. It is shaped by cultural frames that are conventionalized by European society and attuned to its values, and it is a matter of a pre-intellectual space where ICT and sustainability constitute salient defining factors of the dominant configuration of knowledge, institutions, and material forces of European society. Indeed, ICT4SUD is impacted by earlier representations of reality and how they were reproduced in relation to the significance of discursive constructions of ICT and sustainability issues in the broader context of European culture. Moreover, the ICT4SUD discourse plays a major role in (re)constructing the image of the ICT industry as a social actor and in defining its identity and relation with other constituents of society, in that it is relocated new roles and attributed new societal missions. The dominant framing of the reports is clearly the one advanced by the ICT industry: it is constituted into the main definer of the represented reality. Further, positioning the ICT industry as the driver of the low-carbon city/economy aids the construction of an image of leadership in creating a low carbon society. The reports’ construction of energy efficiency technology is a powerful legitimation of the ICT industry’s views and actions. In addition, the ICT4SUD discourse is exclusionary, namely a number of facts and issues pertaining to structural, indirect, and systemic effects of ICT and the associated rebound effects are left out, concealed, or neglected. Also, the discourse is inclined to be deterministic, i.e. it postulates that ICT, supported by policy, will achieve SUD while it falls short in considering social behaviour and socio-economic relationships. It moreover tends to be rhetorical – that is, it promises environmentally SUD without really having a holistic strategy to achieve that goal. Furthermore, given the scientific discourse and the legitimation capacity of computing, climatology, and sustainability indicators, one can subsume a range of social and political effects under the category of discourse mechanisms through which ICT4SUD operates, which both show the power of discourse and potentially empower the ICT industry and its cohorts. There are different justifications for the development of energy efficiency technology in relation to decision-making processes. Plus, politics, as a consequence of its interaction with ICT4SUD, forces, though different mechanisms, the emergence and development of the ICT4SUD discourse, which is, simultaneously, influenced by the power/knowledge relations established in European society that bounds or expands its success. Finally, as to ideological reproduction, the ICT4SUD discourse reconstructs cultural claims, conveys ideological messages, and reproduces and legitimizes power structures.
SUM Master Thesis.pdf
(971.8Kb)
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Garaget- A second living room
Memari Poor, Elham (2012) other
English abstract: This thesis examines the use of a participatory approach to develop a marginalized urban area in the city of Malmö, Sweden. By setting up an innovative, participatory and dialogue oriented meeting place called Garaget, the municipality hopes to strengthen the local community and increase the level of inclusion of the residents into a more sustainable society. Garaget is situated in a place with a history of more than a decade of social projects through the EU URBAN initiative, and has “inherited” the extreme participatory approach of that program. Garaget has also been designed to create a fruitful encounter between the urban social research and the community and as a laboratory for dialogue between community and authorities. Today Garaget functions not only as a community oriented space, but also as a library, café, meeting place and creative workshop, all with the intention to feel as a “second living room”. Although there is no doubt that this living room has been widely used by the local community, especially for holding functions, weddings and other events of social nature, the question whether this participatory approach and dualistic design of public and private space will increase the inclusion of the residents into mainstream society, or if it will just add comfort to the isolation and marginalized position they already inhabit today, is left open and needs further research. -
Skanska’s Deep Green Journey; How can the Building Industry Push Sust...
Nabholz, Timothy (2012) peer-reviewed
scientific
ARTICLE
English abstract: The environmental impacts that will affect earth due to continued population growth are staggering. They can be seen through the depletion of finite resources, increased pollution, and climate change. These environmental fluctuations will no doubt have a significant impact on how 21st century societies are designed. In order to reduce the potential catastrophes that these environmental issues will bring forth, societies must learn to adapt and accept new methods of building their cities. This paper delves into how the building industry can help address the issues that the world is facing environmentally. The goal of the study is to develop an understanding of how the building industry can push sustainable building practices. It looks at how Skanska AB, the largest Nordic building company, has focused their internal strategies to push towards sustainable building practices. This paper hopes to determine how with the help an internal rating tool, a global organization can reduce their environmental impacts. Through the examination of Skanska’s Color Palette™, key learnings were gained that could be used to reveal how private corporations can make good business sense out of sustainability. The paper also illustrate how Skanska has identified gaps between traditional certification tools and goals of true sustainability, and what that means for the built environment. The paper presents a case study of Skanska’s Color Palette™ as a key aspect of the company’s environmental journey. It looks at how the company was able to repair their reputation and illustrates how they have proved that they are serious about their goal of pursuing a sustainable future. The study involved secondary analysis of both public and Skanska documents, theoretical analysis and 4 semi-structured interviews. The analysis proved that the Color Palette™ is a tool that has great value for private corporations and is something that should be studied by other organizations seeking to reduce their environmental impacts. However, it was clear that if the earth is to progress sustainably, public policy, markes and internal organizations will all have to work together. -
Green and Just? - Assessing the Socio-Spatial Distribution of Green A...
Wascher, Laura (2012) other
English abstract: Malmö strives to become an attractive and sustainable city by 2030. Continued population growth is a major reason for the need to densify within the existing urban structures. But more inhabitants will also increase pressure on usage and demand for green spaces in the city. Green space is of importance for human well-being and health, especially in urban environments. However the importance of green space is being marginalised in current debate and urban planning, due to the intensive focus on densification. The relevance of green space as an environmental quality has neither been recognised sufficiently in discussions on environmental justice. Previous policy and research has not integrated the socioeconomic dimension when assessing green space distribution. Hence this case study aimed to investigate the socio-spatial distribution of green areas in Malmö. A theoretical framework was compiled including concepts on environmental justice, i.e. the equal distribution of environmental qualities among different social groups. Moreover concepts regarding access (public/private), distance (walkability) and size (utilisation) of green areas were considered. A quantitative analysis was conducted with secondary data. As no comprehensive data set covered more recent years, census data and spatial data from 2005 was used for further analysis. The data was processed and analysed with the help of a geographic information system (GIS). With this approach green space and green areas could be identified. Green areas were categorised according to the level of public access, the size and the respective recommended distances to homes. In addition several socioeconomic factors were extracted from the census data and visualised in GIS. Thus the least advantaged neighbourhoods that lacked various public green areas could be located. On the city level it could be identified that only 13% of the total land area were covered with public green areas, resulting in 46 sq m per inhabitant in 2005. In April 2011 the population of Malmö passed the threshold of 300 000. Assuming that the amount of green areas had not changed since 2005 (unlikely), every inhabitant would have had 38 sq m of public green area in 2011. Considering these numbers in a Swedish context reveals that Malmö is on the bottom line of green area provision. On the neighbourhood level the greatest deficit was found in the eastern parts of central Malmö (e.g. Ostervärn), covering a network of neighbourhoods further south (Norra Sofielund, Södra Sofielund, Almhög, Gullviksborg). In total 32 neighbourhoods were characterised by above average percentage of children, elderly, foreign born or population density. Moreover almost all neighbourhoods lacking green areas were characterised by below average income. The results showed evidence for inequalities in the distribution of green areas between different social groups. This poses an incentive for further investigations in the field of environmental justice and sustainable urban development. Issues like actual walking distance, barriers and safety, qualities of green spaces and user experiences should be investigated in future research. Noting that the data used in this study was from 2005, it is crucial to update and determine shifts in socio-spatial distribution of green areas in the city today. Whilst the population is still increasing, it is likely that even more green space has vanished in the 7 years since 2005. All these issues are essential for a good knowledge based planning of the green and just future of Malmö.
2012_Wascher_Green_and_Just.pdf
(20.76Mb)
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- Barriers to innovation (1)
- Closed-loop systems (1)
- Communication (1)
- Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Management, Sustainable / Green Buildings, Building Certification Tools, Journey to Deep Green, Color Palette, LEED (1)
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- ICT, sustainable urban development, environmental urban sustainability, energy efficiency technology, GHG emissions reductions, ICT4SUD, discourse, episteme, discursive construction, European society, information society, ICT industry, buildings, rebound effects, Foucauldian (1)
- Import substitution (1)
- Intensive vertical urban agriculture (1)
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