My Master's thesis "Approaching Change in Rural-Urban Metabolism" aims to create a practice oriented solution to institutionalized problem of mandatory growth and increasing extractivism.
Abstract of the thesis
The Ecological Reconstruction (ER) vision by BIOS research unit aims to change the societal metabolism of Finland to reach the Paris Agreement and other climate goals. In the core of the vision is the holistic view of the economy which contradicts the narrow views of mandatory growth in the market economy. In spatial planning growth oriented approaches are common and growth is often seen as mandatory even in non-growing areas. In the future demand on local production will increase because of decreased security of food and commodity production. This requires a change in rural-urban metabolism which could increase the political importance of rural areas. Two questions arise: Which are the possible contradictions and possibilities between the ER vision and the development practices of rural areas nearby cities in Finland? How should these contradictions and possibilities be approached in planning while promoting systemic change? Shrinking rural neighborhoods often already face problems and have a conflict with centralization and urban growth oriented policies, which creates potential for change. Contradictions arise from the intertwined dependence on non ecological production. I propose co-evolutionary and polyrational spatial planning approaches because in the literature those are considered suitable for uncertain and fragile contexts. However, regional and municipal strategies might be in contradiction with the ER making fast institutional change towards holistic understanding of economy and resources improbable. Also historically shaped growth oriented and neoliberal institutional norms and interpretation of the land-use and building act might hinder the actualization of the ER goals and acceptance. Influencing on municipal strategies and planning towards more holistic economic policies might require bottom-up tools to support the top-down tools of the ER. I create a new fatalistic-egalitarian planning approach and propose a parallel urban planning institution concept as a possible tool for societal change. The thesis process was iterative and represented an essay-like mixture of research and planning methods. It belongs to the category of research based planning or research with planning methods, which belongs to the gray area of epistemology and the debate of knowledge in between design and research. Thus the results and conclusions are not explicit but rather present possible solutions to emerging planning problems.
The contents page and structure of the thesis.
The operative function and situation of the parallel institution regarding the land-use
planning hierarchy in Finland and influential objects of the Ecological Reconstruction vision.
