Urban green spaces for all people : Supplying green spaces in Stockholm municipality from a social sustainability perspective

Abstract: As many cities face the challenges of urbanisation, effective provision of urban green spaces (UGS) is needed. There is an identified need to explore the potential to supply green spaces for municipalities and the challenges they face. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to look closer at the potential and challenges of supplying UGS from a social sustainability perspective in Stockholm municipality. The focus is to examine how the municipality can achieve their goal of supplying good access to UGS, that meets the diverse needs of people. To do so, the implication of good access for all people was first explored on a theoretical level with a literature review. Secondly, to establish a link from the theory and policy to the practical work, the experiences and knowledge of practitioners and consultants in the Stockholm context was explored with an interview study. Specifically, how planning tools and way of working can support, which was the main focus of the study. The results from the literature review indicates that different social factors may influence the perceived access and usage of UGS. Safety issues was the most noted factor that could have a negative effect for the perceived access to UGS. The interview study indicates that planning tools that are used within Stockholm municipality can enable to achieve the goal of good access for all people by a more intentional planning. However, the way of working in the planning process is critical. It requires a holistic mindset and the social perspectives needs to be integrated throughout the whole planning process. Social factors, such as safety concerns, are considerable for UGS planning, but also challenging to capture and incorporate into the planning process. To be able to reduce the gap between theory and practice, more unified research has to be done, to know more about what factors that influence perception of access, and the diverse preferences and needs that exists for UGS. This is needed to enable for practitioners to have a more solid knowledge ground for their work in providing UGS that can contribute to social sustainability in cities.