Apurahat ja residenssipaikat Tiede Citizen involvement in the transformation of urban lawns into grasslands and its societal-environmental effect Päähakija Ph.D. Olascoaga Beñat Myöntösumma 115600 € Tukimuoto Yleinen rahoitushaku Alat Biologinen ja ekologinen ympäristötiedeYhteiskunnallinen ympäristötiede Myöntövuosi 2019 Jos omistat hankkeen, voit kirjautua sisään ja lisätä hankkeen tietoja. Kirjaudu sisään Jaa: Takaisin apurahalistaukseen There is a decrease in biodiversity in cities due to urbanisation and habitat fragmentation. Consequently, human-nature interactions and experiences in nature by citizens are greatly reduced. This project aims to increase biodiversity in Helsinki by transforming urban lawns into grasslands through pro-biodiveristy actions conducted by citizens. During its three year period, this multidisciplinary project will study the environmental and societal effects behind the transformation of species-poor lawns into species-rich grasslands. The environmental effects will be analysed in terms of changes in soil physichochemical parameters, soil fauna and vegetation parameters as well as soil-atmosphere greenhouse gas emissions. The societal effects will be analysed in terms of citizen well-being and pro-environmentalism as well as in terms of social relationships between individuals engaged in the project via questionnaires and follow-up interviews. Loppuraportin tiivistelmä The aim of this project was to i) explore public attitudes towards urban lawns and meadows, ii) transform lawns into meadows through public participation and iii) monitor the dynamics of greenhouse gases and biodiversity on transformed urban meadows for a period of three years. The project focused on the residents and premises of two student housing associations operating in Helsinki metropolitan area (i.e. AYY and HOAS). In the attitudinal survey available to the residents, 70% of the respondents stated to be interested in participating in the transformation of a lawn into a meadow. Respondents keen to participate in greenspace transformation had a significantly higher score for environmental concern and had a significantly stronger environmental identity than residents not willing to transform lawns into meadows by themselves. After monitoring the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions and vegetation during a summer, six lawns covering an area of 50 m2 each were transformed into meadows during that autumn through public participation by digging the existing soils 35 cm deep, turning them upside down, mechanically breaking them and by sowing a pollinator-friendly mixture of 13 species of wildflowers. Dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions and vegetation were monitored over the following two years since the transformations took place. At the end of the project period, emissions of greenhouse gases from the transformed meadows did not significantly differ from those recorded in control lawns, and soil physicochemical properties as well as fungal and bacterial biomass in soils of control lawns and transformed meadows remained similar. Yet, vegetation in transformed meadows tended to be significantly richer than in lawns, containing on average 15 wildflower species at the end of the project. At the end of the project period, we collected 35 different species of bumblebees, honeybees and solitary bees from this grassroots approach to transform urban lawns into meadows. Takaisin apurahalistaukseen