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Mental återhämtning i urban grönstruktur: Stockholms planering för parker och natur 2006 och 2017

Diebitsch Antoni, Linus LU (2026) SGEK03 20252
Department of Human Geography
Abstract
Urbanization and densification place increasing demands on human mental capacity, making access to restorative environments in the city increasingly important. This bachelor's thesis investigates how the City of Stockholm plans for green structure as a resource for residents' mental health and recovery, and how strategies for this have changed between 2006 and 2017. The purpose is to highlight how the city manages the conflict of objectives between the need for new housing and the preservation of health-promoting green areas. The study applies a qualitative text analysis of two central policy documents: Stockholms Parkprogram (2006) and Grönare Stockholm (2017). The analysis is based on environmental psychology and Kaplan and Kaplan's... (More)
Urbanization and densification place increasing demands on human mental capacity, making access to restorative environments in the city increasingly important. This bachelor's thesis investigates how the City of Stockholm plans for green structure as a resource for residents' mental health and recovery, and how strategies for this have changed between 2006 and 2017. The purpose is to highlight how the city manages the conflict of objectives between the need for new housing and the preservation of health-promoting green areas. The study applies a qualitative text analysis of two central policy documents: Stockholms Parkprogram (2006) and Grönare Stockholm (2017). The analysis is based on environmental psychology and Kaplan and Kaplan's Attention Restoration Theory (ART), focusing on the concepts of Being away, Extent, Fascination, and Compatibility. The results show a clear paradigm shift in the city's planning. The 2006 program emphasizes the park as a protected oasis for tranquility, seclusion, and silence, where physical barriers against city noise are prioritized to enable deep recovery. In the 2017 guidelines, the focus has shifted towards multifunctionality and integration, where greenery is seen as part of the infrastructure in a dense city. The strategy has moved from protecting specific places for rest to creating activity-based and space-efficient environments. The conclusion is that the city's current strategy risks overlooking the need for mental recovery. By prioritizing multifunctional and highly active surfaces, the opportunity for the recovery advocated by ART may decrease. For sustainable urban development, a return to a balance where low-intensity, protected environments are preserved as a complement to the pulsating life of the dense city is therefore proposed. (Less)
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author
Diebitsch Antoni, Linus LU
supervisor
organization
course
SGEK03 20252
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Urban planning, mental health, mental recovery, green structure, Attention Restoration Theory (ART), densification, Stockholm
language
Swedish
id
9220870
date added to LUP
2026-01-28 09:07:08
date last changed
2026-01-28 09:07:08
@misc{9220870,
  abstract     = {{Urbanization and densification place increasing demands on human mental capacity, making access to restorative environments in the city increasingly important. This bachelor's thesis investigates how the City of Stockholm plans for green structure as a resource for residents' mental health and recovery, and how strategies for this have changed between 2006 and 2017. The purpose is to highlight how the city manages the conflict of objectives between the need for new housing and the preservation of health-promoting green areas. The study applies a qualitative text analysis of two central policy documents: Stockholms Parkprogram (2006) and Grönare Stockholm (2017). The analysis is based on environmental psychology and Kaplan and Kaplan's Attention Restoration Theory (ART), focusing on the concepts of Being away, Extent, Fascination, and Compatibility. The results show a clear paradigm shift in the city's planning. The 2006 program emphasizes the park as a protected oasis for tranquility, seclusion, and silence, where physical barriers against city noise are prioritized to enable deep recovery. In the 2017 guidelines, the focus has shifted towards multifunctionality and integration, where greenery is seen as part of the infrastructure in a dense city. The strategy has moved from protecting specific places for rest to creating activity-based and space-efficient environments. The conclusion is that the city's current strategy risks overlooking the need for mental recovery. By prioritizing multifunctional and highly active surfaces, the opportunity for the recovery advocated by ART may decrease. For sustainable urban development, a return to a balance where low-intensity, protected environments are preserved as a complement to the pulsating life of the dense city is therefore proposed.}},
  author       = {{Diebitsch Antoni, Linus}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Mental återhämtning i urban grönstruktur: Stockholms planering för parker och natur 2006 och 2017}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}