ISSN 1239-6095
© Boreal Environment Research 2004

Contents of Volume 9 Number 6

Niemelä, J. 2004: Preface: Environmental problems and policies in growing urban areas: a multidisciplinary approach. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 457.
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Hämeri, K., Hussein, T., Kulmala, M. & Aalto, P. 2004: Measurements of fine and ultrafine particles in Helsinki: connection between outdoor and indoor air quality. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 459–467.
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Rehácková, T. & Pauditsová, E. 2004: Evaluation of urban green spaces in Bratislava. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 469–477.
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Venn, S. J. & Niemelä, J. K. 2004: Ecology in a multidisciplinary study of urban green space: the URGE project. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 479–489.
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Lodenius, M. 2004: Shores in the city: opportunities, threats and challenges — viewpoints of citizens in Helsinki. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 491–498.
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Joas, M. & Grönholm, B. 2004: A comparative perspective on self-assessment of Local Agenda 21 in European cities. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 499–507.
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Sairinen, R. 2004: Assessing social impacts of urban land-use plans: From theory to practice. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 509–517.
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Schott, D. 2004: Urban environmental history: what lessons are there to be learnt? Boreal Env. Res. 9: 519–528.
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Laurila, S. K. & Laakkonen, S. J. 2004: The municipal continuum: Research on maritime water pollution in Helsinki in the 20th century. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 529–541.
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Kansanen, P. H. 2004: The role of scientific environmental knowledge in decision-making in the City of Helsinki, Finland. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 543–549.
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Hämeri, K., Hussein, T., Kulmala, M. & Aalto, P. 2004: Measurements of fine and ultrafine particles in Helsinki: connection between outdoor and indoor air quality. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 459–467.

In this paper, we present aerosol number concentration and number size distribution measurements in the urban area of Helsinki, Finland. The outdoor air measurements were performed over several years between 1999 and 2003 giving a rather good overview of the general properties of fine aerosols as well as their daily, weekly and seasonal characteristics. The aerosol number concentrations in urban areas were significantly higher in winter as compared with those in summer. The morning rush hour during workdays was observed as an average peak concentration of more than 4 x 104 cm–3, but no clear afternoon/evening peak was observed. Typical number size distributions were calculated for the winter and summer seasons separately. During the winter the morning peak in the size distribution in urban sites was found always between 10 and 50 nm in particle diameter. These particles were probably from local traffic emissions. The summer size distributions showed that the ultrafine (below 100 nm) size mode had often two separate peaks, one below 20 nm and the other at about 50 nm. The indoor air measurements have been done during several intensive field studies in various locations around Helsinki. The simultaneous indoor and outdoor aerosol size distribution measurements showed that a good quality filter can reduce the concentrations by a factor of about 10 and therefore influence the human exposure to urban particulate air pollution significantly.
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Rehácková, T. & Pauditsová, E. 2004: Evaluation of urban green spaces in Bratislava. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 469–477.

Current land-use patterns in Slovak towns are undergoing a rapid change. The ratio of built-up spaces to green spaces is increasing. Green areas in the urban environment need to be preserved for their recreational, hygienic and aesthetic functions. A further reason is that green areas serve also ecological functions. This contribution deals with the topic of evaluating the urban green spaces in Bratislava. The green spaces were mapped at two levels. The first level included the areas larger than 10 ha: forests and forest parks; complexes of private gardens, allotments and weekend cottage gardens. The second level contained green spaces with the area between 0.5 and 10 ha: remnants of natural vegetation; parks; landscaped surrounds around housing estates and commercial premises; tree-lined avenues, alleys, roadside verges; cemeteries and historical cemeteries. The results of this research besides the geographic distribution of green spaces, their areas, origin, composition of plant species and woody growth structure also include data on the functionality of individual categories of green areas.
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Venn, S. J. & Niemelä, J. K. 2004: Ecology in a multidisciplinary study of urban green space: the URGE project. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 479–489.

The URGE project is attempting to review urban green space systems and their planning across Europe. Evaluation is made using interdisciplinary criteria. Our goal is to produce an objective review and subsequently provide tools for improving urban planning policy, and in particular, to improve the provision and quality of urban green space. This paper presents background information to the project, the methodology used and some preliminary results from some of the ecological criteria used.
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Lodenius, M. 2004: Shores in the city: opportunities, threats and challenges — viewpoints of citizens in Helsinki. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 491–498.

The attitudes of citizens in Helsinki towards sea shores were investigated by means of three different surveys in the late summer of 2002. Survey data showed clear evidence that the shores are important to the citizens of Helsinki. People visited the shores often and participated in many different activities including general recreation, sunbathing, nature observation, swimming and physical exercise. Problems mentioned in the surveys were related on the other hand to the purity and tidiness of the water and the shores and on the other hand to the development plans of the growing city. Most people want to keep the shores in natural condition, but at the same time they also ask for services like litter bins, benches and toilets. People using boats would appreciate better garbage management, fire places and landing stages. There was some variation among different age groups and areas, but generally the citizens of Helsinki are quite unanimous in their opinions concerning the importance of shores and archipelago for physical and mental welfare.
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Joas, M. & Grönholm, B. 2004: A comparative perspective on self-assessment of Local Agenda 21 in European cities. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 499–507.

The aim of this article is to describe a model for evaluating Local Agenda 21 processes. The local level extension of Agenda 21, Local Agenda 21 (LA21), is a typical instrument for extensive governance. It is primarily a voluntary sustainability policy tool with a goal of activating existing local government and other local stakeholder organisations in order to meet the local level challenges for the local and global environment, and social and local economic conditions. It also aims to create new governance structures among political and non-political actors. In a European perspective, the introduction of LA21 to cities can be considered as a success-story, but these activities are not distributed equally in Europe. To compare these differences we use a quantitative database from 146 European cities, all of them active in a LA21 or similar policy process. The data presented here is collected within an international research project entitled "LASALA — Local authorities' self-assessment of local Agenda", funded by European Commission, DG Research, 5th Framework Programme, 2000–2001.
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Sairinen, R. 2004: Assessing social impacts of urban land-use plans: From theory to practice. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 509–517.

The purpose of this article is to analyse the content and importance of social impact assessment (SIA) in urban planning. SIA can be defined as a systematic effort to identify and analyse social impacts of a proposed project or plan on the individual, on social groups within a community, or on an entire community in advance of the decision-making process. Social impacts of urban plans refer to various factors such as quality of housing, local services and living environment, gentrification or segregation, conditions of transportation etc. The article is focusing on the Finnish experiences, which are representing pioneering work in this field in the whole world. In Finland the new Land Use and Building Act, which came into force on 1 Jan. 2000, brought impact assesment as an integral part of urban planning. The SIA experiences in Jyväskylä City offer an interesting case. In addition, the paper presents a typology of various factors (dimensions of impacts) for different scales of land-use plans. It is important to understand what kind of impact typologies are relevant in various scales of planning such as detail plans, general plans or regional plans.
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Schott, D. 2004: Urban environmental history: what lessons are there to be learnt? Boreal Env. Res. 9: 519–528.

The paper traces the emergence of urban environmental history first in the United States and since the 1990s increasingly also in Europe. It identifies the development of large technical networks which provide cities with water and energy and which serve to take problematic substances and waste out of urban areas as a central theme of this new subfield where scholars from urban history, environmental history and history of technology converge. The concepts of `path dependence' and `urban metabolism' are introduced as useful heuristic devices to assess long-term effects of these infrastructures in a holistic manner. The paper shows that the implementation of networks and related household technologies was accompanied by comprehensive processes of social and cultural adaptation which fundamentally altered the attitudes and behavioural patterns towards resource use. Lessons of urban environmental history are seen in providing long-term horizons to current debates over urban technologies and their environmental consequences.
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Laurila, S. K. & Laakkonen, S. J. 2004: The municipal continuum: Research on maritime water pollution in Helsinki in the 20th century. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 529–541.

In general, the history of environmental research is not known very well. Our study contributes to filling this gap by focusing on the history of the methods that were used during the 20th century to study the state of the urban sea area in Helsinki, Finland. From the beginning of the past century, the methodological basis of municipal water pollution studies in Helsinki was broad, involving the use of physical, chemical, hygienic and biological methods. Since 1904, municipal laboratories have overseen and conducted most physico-chemical and bacteriological studies of pollution of urban watercourses, and they have done regular annual sampling since 1947. In the 1920s and 1930s, the municipal laboratories cooperated with the University of Helsinki and, secondarily, with the Helsinki University of Technology in order to develop the skills and manpower that were required in order to conduct pollution studies. Statutory monitoring was initiated in the mid-1960s, and it continues today.
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Kansanen, P. H. 2004: The role of scientific environmental knowledge in decision-making in the City of Helsinki, Finland. Boreal Env. Res. 9: 543–549.

The effect ecological information has on the decision-making process, largely in connection with traffic planning and land use in the City of Helsinki and its metropolitan area, is evaluated on the basis of some examples of projects. In Finland, significant changes in the environmental legislation have had a positive effect on the decision-making process from the environmental point of view. Planning of the new housing area in Viikki was a positive example in this respect. Even though real alternative assessments in the spirit of EIA principles were not possible to realise, the planners were able to offer alternatives that were based on ecological and other sectors of environmental research that resulted in partly preserving the most valued parts of the landscape and nature for the future. On the other hand, in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area traffic plan the ecological facts played a minor role in decision-making despite a significant amount of various kinds of research, reports and carefully applied EIA principles in the evaluation process of various alternatives. To control the process of building density and to minimise the loss of diversity of the surrounding nature is, from an ecological viewpoint, the greatest challenge to the city planners. This will demand from the researchers up-to-date and reliable information on the current state of the city's natural areas and an effective system to convey the data to the city planners.
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