Understanding the behavior of urban dwellers in urban forests Case study of Banja Luka

Transcription

1 Understanding the behavior of urban dwellers in urban forests Case study of Banja Luka Doni Blagojevic, Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schraml; Margaret A. Shannon AGORA - Adapting Mediterranean forests to climate change Workshop: New economic approaches to in forest goods and services marketing Fez (Morocco), September 2011

2 Introduction This research is focused on role of urban forests in everyday life how people perceive urban forests This thesis will be cumulative (consists of several published papers) Paper I Employment conditions Paper II Ethographic and previous experience Paper III Recent conflict Paper IV??? Aplying the results Introduction and conclusions Overarching introduction and recomendation

3 Research objectives Main goal is to determine how selected socioeconomic variables determine human perception of urban forests What is the relation between employment condition and perception of urban forests How ethographic characteristic shape perception of urban forests Are there connection between conflicts and perception of urban forests How to take into account human perception in city and spatial planning activities

4 Methodology and materials Research design is Case Study Face to face interview at the sites (all types of urban forests individual trees, parks and urban woodlands) Semi structured questionnaire Closed questions Open questions Picture questionnaire Quantitative data analysis (SPSS software) Qualitative data analysis (MAXQDA or similar computer software)

5 Ethical Considerations Form signed by participant will include: Participant participation is voluntary and they can withdraw at any time Purpose of the study and its impact on the participants Procedure of the research and what can participant expect during their participation Right to ask questions, right to a results and privacy protection Benefits of the study for the individual Signatures for both researcher and participants agreeing on these provisions

6 Literature review Tyrväinen, et al. grouped benefits and uses of urban forests into: Social and aesthetic benefits Ecological benefits Economical benefits This research will focus on Social and aesthetic benefits of urban forests and trees and discuss how citizens perceive these benefits.

7 Definition Regional differences (North America and Europe) Sectoral differences (forestry, environment, sociology, etc) Urban forestry is a multi-disciplinary activity that encompasses the design, planning, establishment and management of trees, woodlands and associated flora and open space, which is usually physically linked to form a mosaic of vegetation in or near built-up areas. It serves a range of multipurpose functions, but it is primarily for amenity and the promotion of human wellbeing (Ball et al., 1999, p. 325).

8 Definition the art, science and technology of managing trees and forest resources in and around urban community ecosystems for the physiological, sociological, economic and aesthetic benefits trees provide society (Helms, 1998, p. 193).

9 Theoretical approach Theory of Restorative environments developed by Kaplan & Kaplan (1989). Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) developed and used by Giles-Corti et al. (2005b), Sallis et al. (2006)., Schipperijn, J., et al.

10 Policy environment: health and recreation promotion, parking rules, school programes, etc. Behavioral setting Phisycal environment: features, distance, size, character, etc Behavior Use of the benefits Perceived environment: safety, attractivenes, confort, convinience, etc. Intrapersonal: Demographic, psychological, health, age, education, socio-economic status

11 Theoretical approach Restaurative environment concept is based on assumption that mental fatigue influencing direct voluntary attention can be recovered by ecperiencing nature. Social and aesthetic benefits of urban forests are ones that make the environment restaurative.

12 Theoretical approach Kaplan, R. & Kaplan, S (1989) work in areas of social psychology and environmental psychology concerning Identity and Relation between Individual and Environment will be used for answering the research question why there are certain conection between selected variables and perception. Their work provided practical guidelines to use cognitive perception of the Environment. These theoretical approaches will be considered for analysis of relationship between cognitive perception and use of Urban Forests.

13 Background Fast growing urban areas are putting pressure on the green spaces which need to serve increasing number of users each day. Industrialization and urbanization of the societies has contributed to the shift of natural resource management from economic to more environmental and socio-cultural values (Kennedy and Ward Thomas, 1995; Kennedy et al., 1998). Taken into account above mentioned, it is necessary to know who, why and how use the urban forests in order to meet needs of the society.

14 Background The city of Banja Luka is often called the green city famous for its alleys parks and surrounding forests. Large scale demographic change within previous 20 years. Socio-economic situation is significantly different than in the cities and countries that already conducted similar research projects. Post conflict period provides environment for studying human-nature relationships and restorative experiences in natural surroundings

15 Results Employment conditions have impact on human perception of urban forests Influence of different ethnographic origin on perception can be assessed Results acquired from analysis of influence of conflicts on perception can be used in improving restorative characteristics on the urban forests in the city

16 Discussion In the region with over 30% unimployment rate it is necessary to acess the impact of (un)employment in order to preserve declining resource Fast changing demographic structure needs reevaluated planning and management activities Restorative characteristics of nature contributes to recovery from stress and mental fatigue both long lasting consequences of conflicts

17 Conclusions (and recommendations) The results of the research should provide insight in restorative possibilities of the Urban forests in the context of post conflict developing countries. This research should provide basis for future research in adapting Urban Forests to specific conditions of the research area. Also, this research opened new possibilities for research on enhancing restaurative pover of the Urban forests.

18 Thank you.