Midway Evaluation in Environmental Sciences - Teemu Jama

Zoom

Title of thesis:
Zoning for Zero: Climate Impacts of Zoning Plans in a Nordic Context

Student:
Teemu Jama

Doctoral committee:
Dr. Jukka Heinonen, Professor, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland
Dr. Elisa Lähde, Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Aalto University, Finland
Dr. Henrikki Tenkanen, Assistant Professor, Department of Built Environment, Aalto University, Finland

Abstract:
My thesis will critically examine the climate impacts of contemporary urban planning practices, specifically focusing on institutional zoning plans within a Nordic context. I will argue that current approaches for urban zoning plans often fail to generate sustainable impacts, leading to unintended carbon-intensive outcomes and even contributing to increased emissions. The research employs a mixed-method approach, combining geospatial, data-driven quantitative analysis with critical inquiry, underpinned by Roy Bhaskar's Critical Realism, to analyse how zoning as a planning instrument influences planetary well-being. Key findings include that land-use efficiency goals in zoning plans do not align with sustainability objectives due to their increased impacts on direct and indirect carbon footprint emissions, especially in the Nordics. Instead, in the Nordics, less compact decentralised zoning, reimagined with climate impact-oriented designations for situated urban development, could significantly nudge large-scale systemic change for planetary well-being. In the thesis, I will conclude that if zoning can break free from per capita-based efficiency calculations as a basis for zoning solutions, it can drive fundamental transformations in the real estate sector and urban lifestyles, far above the influence of conventional Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and isolated sustainable policies.