BLUEMAP: Map-based citizen knowledge on the use and development of Viennese blue spaces

Problem Statement

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of blue spaces in cities. By this bodies of water such as rivers and lakes in urban areas, as well as water installations such as drinking fountains, water playgrounds and cool-spots are referred to. Among diverse regulating, supporting, and provisioning ecosystem services, urban blue spaces provide a range of cultural ecosystem services that contribute to human health, wellbeing, and quality of life. Cultural ecosystem services refer to the non-material benefits that people obtain from nature, including aesthetic, spiritual, and recreational experiences. Urban blue spaces can offer opportunities for a wide range of recreational and social activities which can have positive impacts on both mental and physical health, as well as to contribute to the identity and sense of place of a community.

However, despite the numerous benefits of blue spaces, they remain often undervalued and underutilized in urban planning and development. There is a growing need to better understand the role that blue spaces as part of the city’s blue infrastructure can play in complex urban systems and to develop strategies for incorporating them into urban planning and design at the local planning levels. This requires a transdisciplinary approach that brings together expertise and knowledge from multiple viewpoints, including academic and practice-oriented actors as well as citizens as the experts of their day-to-day environments.

Goals and Question

BLUEMAP focuses on mapping and analyzing citizen knowledge on the accessibility, availability, and quality of Viennese blue spaces and blue elements of smaller scale. The project has two key aims, the first of which contributes empirically to the international academic discourse on the role of urban blue infrastructure in planning for healthy, livable, and resilient cities and the second to the local knowledge needs and citizen engagement practices in Vienna. BLUEMAP approaches both research aims employing digital participatory mapping tools.

As the first aim, BLUEMAP will develop a two-step empirical framework for identifying areas in Vienna with low perceived availability of blue spaces and elements and for capturing citizen’s views on the quality and potential development of these areas as quantitative geographic information. These activities answer the following research question:

1. How can place-based citizen knowledge on the availability and quality of urban blue infrastructure inform the development of nature-based solutions in urban contexts?
   
   In addition, BLUEMAP answers the following two research questions serving local-level knowledge needs:

2. Which Viennese neighborhoods have the lowest perceived availability of blue spaces and elements? Based on the views of the local residents, how could the availability of blue infrastructure be developed in these areas?

3. Which Viennese blue spaces provide city-wide benefits? Based on the views of the local residents, how could these spaces be developed or protected?