CONCLUSION & REFLECTIONS

Through the Urban Ecological Planning course we have gotten the opportunity to work in depth with fieldwork research and stakeholder involvement in planning of possible interventions. As students with different academic backgrounds and fields of study, we have learned new methods and means of studying urban areas. It has been a challenge to work together considering our individual ways of working, as well as geographical distances and time zones. However, the group collaboration has been rewarding as we have learned a lot from our different cultures and how there can be both similarities and differences in our urban structures.

We used methods like transect walks, direct observation, photography and videos, interviews and online surveys to gather information about the case area in our respective countries. Through these methods we got lots of information about the area on a deeper level and it also helped us to select the focus area on our respective sites. Similarly, the Situational Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, Power- Interest Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Land Use Map helped us to further analyze our case area and find out the problems associated with it. The above methods were useful in the midst of COVID-19 situation as we took the method with necessary precaution and safety. The group discussion and other sessions could not be conducted as the COVID-19 cases were rising in most of our case areas and strict rules were being implemented by the respective government discouraging such actions.

Reflections on Methods

Reflections on Challenges

The greatest challenge this semester has been working together over the internet, considering the geographical, timely- and technical boundaries we have met throughout the project. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not been able to work together physically and focused on one common project. Therefore it has also been difficult to get properly involved in each other's case studies, as the work has been mostly individual. Although the combined project digged deeper with methods like SWOT analysis- and qualitative and quantitative data analysis, individual project report lags due to insufficient data curation in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. It was the project’s obstruction to not get in touch with face to face interaction with users, livelihood or stakeholders to get their opinion and feedback, owing to the risk of COVID 19 contagion. This has led to limitations and further challenges, which forces us to adapt new methodologies to pave the research of case studies. For instance use of digital surveying. It has also been challenging to combine our different projects into one common format, as everyone has different backgrounds and experiences with editing software. However, we have helped each other through the process by dividing tasks based on our individual skills and knowledge.

Reflections on Strategic Interventions

After analyzing problems associated with our respective case areas we proposed various strategic interventions which were feasible and realistic according to our respective case areas. It was interesting to see that the most of ideas of the intervention came from our own major stakeholders on our respective sites. We conclude that the users of the space or area often know best how to improve and enhance their surroundings, and it's up to us as planners to make sure that their opinions are taken into consideration for urban development.