Sociotope map : Mapping perceived green area values fromadolescents’ perspective in Lempäälämunicipality in Western Finland

Abstract: Urbanization in all over the world has created pressure on the remaining open space, especially green areas,in the cities. Hence, the importance of green areas has become more relevant. It has been acknowledged thatthey are economically valuable as they promote the identity of cities and stimulate for example tourism.They also have a major impact on both physical and mental health and preserve ecological balance.However, knowledge on their social values to users has not been explored that much. Young architectAlexander Ståhle has developed a concept of sociotope that explores green space social values from the userperspective and therefore gives deeper understanding on how people perceive their environment. Sociotopemapping in turn is a way to present sociotopes on an easily understandable form; map. Recent research ongreen areas social values has found indication of different background variables such as age, socio-economicstatus, culture, effect on how people value green spaces. Hence, this case study was an attempt to gain moreknowledge of sociotopes in a Finnish municipality of Lempäälä from the adolescents’ perspective. Theresults showed that adolescents appreciated social values and used green areas arenas for social interaction.