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In a world where climate change has brought in a new era of unpredictable weather patterns and rising sea levels, the challenge of urbanization calls for spaces that combine quality of life and safety. With a substantial proportion of the world's population living in low-lying coastal areas, the importance of coastal and marine environments is emphasised. As a beacon of hope among these challenges, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) offer a multi-faceted approach rooted in the dynamics of nature. At their core, NbS solutions are inspired by natural systems that address various societal challenges and result in more resilient societies. These solutions are not only related to disaster risk reduction (DRR) and flood risk management (FRM), but also make valuable contributions to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other global action plans because of their multifaceted benefits. This research examines the metrics that determine the success of NbS within coastal and marine ecosystems. Two main research questions are central: “What are he key drivers and limitations to achieving success in NbS in coastal communities?” and “How can success of NbS projects be measured and evaluated?”. To answer these questions, a dataset of 80 well-reported NbS projects was compiled. The methodology used in this master's thesis is an exploratory approach, investigating and delineating the success factors of NbS within coastal systems. Analysis of the dataset shows that successful NbS projects overshadow the unsuccessful ones. In particular, wetlands and beach systems take centre stage, often concentrated in countries such as the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium. A wide range of co-benefits also emerge, including social, environmental and economic dimensions. Remarkably, NbS initiatives aimed at flood mitigation are consistently successful. However, projects aimed at erosion control or biodiversity conservation/restoration show a more nuanced picture, indicating the potential effectiveness of NbS in flood risk management. Furthermore, the main motivations for choosing NbS are usually related to a combination of factors and include 1) coastal defence improvement, 2) policy context and 3) sustainability. Moreover, the analysis shows that there was a steady upward trend in the number of lessons learned over the years. Most of these insights were reported between 2000 and 2018, with a notable increase in the implementation of NbS projects, especially since 2005. Despite these interesting findings, gaps in understanding remain. These gaps highlight the need for ongoing research and pilot testing to refine and optimize NbS approaches. Importantly, this master's thesis highlights that achieving success with NbS is closely linked to collaboration between different stakeholders, leveraging diverse expertise, securing financial resources and the adaptive capacity of natural systems. Ultimately, this research highlights a promising way forward and offers insights that can guide the development and implementation of Nature-based Solutions in coastal areas, promoting resilience in the face of complex challenges.

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Over the last decades, the rate of urbanization in Sub-saharan Africa and other cities in the global South has been on an upward trajectory. However, the increase in urban population has not been accompanied by improvements in infrastructure and other services such as housing, putting immense pressure on urban areas. The lack of proper housing policies that guarantee accessibility and affordability of decent housing has led to the proliferation of slums and informal settlements. Due to the unclear tenure, these settlements have been spaces of contestation, tension, and conflict between various actors. The interaction between such factors is evident through constant evictions in informal settlements. Evictions render citizens homeless, violating their right to adequate housing and a range of other rights such as the right to life. Mukuru settlement is one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. The settlement is adjacent to Nairobi’s industrial area and seven kilometers from the Central Business District (CBD). Due to its strategic location, Mukuru is home to around 300,000 people, most of whom work or are looking for employment opportunities in adjacent industries or the CBD. However, irregular land allocations have led to increased evictions and conflicts between residents and the private individuals claiming the land. In addition to conflicts arising from land tenure, residents here suffer from the “poverty penalty,” which is evident through the minimal provision of social and physical infrastructural services and the high price that residents have to pay to access these sub-optimal services. All these challenges represent a denial of the rights of the people living in Mukuru. In 2017, the settlement was declared a Special Planning Area (SPA). Under the declaration, the city government was required to prepare an integrated development that would be used as a blueprint to improve livelihoods and solve the eviction crisis. Therefore, this thesis is guided by the following question: How and to what extent does the declaration of the Mukuru SPA prevent forced evictions and guarantee the right to adequate housing? The study adopts the right to the city framework to answer this question. As various scholars have discussed, the openness of the right to the city can be open to misuse and misinterpretation. Using the framework requires a definition of what kind of right is being discussed, whose right it is and how the right is claimed. This study anchors the right to the city on a human rights approach, placing the Mukuru residents at the centre of the claim. Finally, the study was carried out using qualitative methods. Most of the data was gathered through secondary sources, with two Key expert interviews carried out to gain further understanding of the case. The Kenyan government has made considerable steps in enacting laws that govern evictions. Additionally, the declaration of the SPA represented the government’s response to the cry and demand of thousands of people living in Mukuru whose rights have been denied and violated over the years. The planning process was bottom-led and succeeded in providing the required solutions. However, as this study has uncovered, the plan's current implementation is impeding the potential that it holds.

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Rural depopulation undermines the rural community's social and cultural capital and economic condition. Japanese Rural municipalities have experienced rapid depopulation decline and an ageing population over the past three decades. Historically, the reason behind depopulation is linked with such as a change in agricultural practice, employment, and educational opportunities. To mitigate rapid depopulation, the Japanese government has introduced rural exchange programmes. The study also takes notice of social innovation, which plays an integral role in neo-endogenous rural development. The main goal of this research is to analyse the factors for rural depopulation and whether the rural exchange programme fosters social innovation and materialises regional development. This study conducted spatial analysis and qualitative analysis to answer research questions, and the hilly-mountainous (rural) area in the Miyazaki prefecture was selected as the study area. The result of spatial analysis implies spatial patterns of depopulation in the study area. Especially, there is spatial autocorrelation with the district's geographic, demographic, and economic characteristics. The result of regression analysis shows that economic factors, the higher percentage of labour population, population working in the primary sector have a strong influence on rural depopulation in the study area. Demographic factors, such as a higher percentage of the ageing population are also remarkable. Meanwhile, the impact of geographic factors, such as the distance to the biggest city in the prefecture, is relatively small. Besides, qualitative analysis indicates that cultural conditions, including lack of self-esteem in the village, may trigger depopulation. In terms of the contribution of the rural exchange programme to rural development, the qualitative analysis suggests potential and clear limitations. On the one hand, the programme attracts young urbanites and their families to the study area and encourages rural entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurial activities can mitigate the depopulation factors, revitalise the rural economy and enhance social capital in the region. On the other hand, insufficient collaboration, and public support lead to making tangible outcomes and hinders social innovation. This research suggests that a new support system for REP participants is required to materialise rural development. The support by (ultra) regional stakeholders and horizontal cooperation can be a catalyst for social innovation.

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European Union (EU) member states decided to trigger economic growth by attracting foreign direct investment in their countries and by making the European labor market more flexible. This flexibilization of labor in terms of working time, work-contracts and wages comes with the price of difficult working conditions in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices assembly plants (such as smartphones, tablets, laptops). The EU has put in place weak protection tools such as European Works Councils and Corporate Social Responsibility. These tools are voluntary and rely on implementation in the private sphere, pushing the state further away from its role of service provider. In addition, as trade unions in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries lack power over their employer in ICT industry, NGOs have taken a step forward. ‘Fair ICT’ initiatives seem to have appeared to fill in the void left by the states, the EU and trade unions. Therefore, this paper aimed to see how civil society initiatives are translated into protection of ICT assembly factory workers in the European Union. The post-Marxist framework, which sees civil society movements as the new bearers of long-term and gradual societal challenges, appeared as the right vision of the world to understand the work of ‘fair ICT’ initiatives. Ten semi-structured interviews with nine activists from different civil society organizations (TCO, CATAPA, ICLEI, SOMO, Südwind, Electronics Watch, TSA-FFE, University of Edinburgh), as well as anonymous information from two CEE countries ICT workers, and additional documentations provided by interviewees (or available on their websites) were analyzed through this post-Marxist perspective. Findings show that the ‘fair ICT’ initiatives make use of several ‘common’ strategies for NGOs: lobbying, networking, engaging with industry and creating knowledge (through research and awareness raising campaigns). These strategies have also been screened in terms of effectiveness. Lobbying appears as the least effective strategy and the effectiveness of networking is debated as well. Research and awareness raising campaigns do not focus enough on the situation of ICT assembly workers in the EU to trigger real change for them. Industry engagement also faces critics, especially social audits associated with certification mechanisms which could tend to profit industry more than workers. Finally, findings show that ‘fair ICT’ initiatives have a socially innovative strategy. They could, however, contribute more to the empowerment of ICT assembly workers and to a change in social relations.

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Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand has seen rapid economic development and urbanization in the past decades, leading to a multitude of urban problems including environmental degradation and traffic jams. To alleviate these issues, the first-ever mass transit system; the Bangkok Mass Transit System or the BTS was thus implemented in the city in 1999 and has since expanded its service geographically into the adjacent provinces. Although mass transit systems like the BTS have the potential to contribute to the city’s sustainability by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving citizens’ well-being, and fostering economic growth, not everyone in the city profits from such benefits. These benefits come with the cost of neighborhood gentrification and the subsequent displacement of low-income people as lands are (re)developed to take advantage of the proximity to the mass transit stations. As a result, a proliferation of new condominium buildings takes place along the BTS lines and diminishes affordable housing stock in the gentrified neighborhoods. This particular type of gentrification can be called ‘transit-induced gentrification’. This is relevant to sustainable development as decent and affordable housing is a human right and one of the core elements of sustainability. Moving forward to sustainability in urban development will not only need to remove social inequalities and ensure access to decent and affordable housing for all (UNDP, n.d.) but also inclusive cities in which everyone can benefit from urbanization. Accordingly, focusing on the BTS, the thesis studies transit-induced gentrification in Bangkok and its impacts on different groups of land users. The case study approach within the qualitative method is used to study the phenomenon in two case study areas in Bangkok; Onnut and Samrong. The development of this thesis is guided by two main research questions; 1) To what extent does the (introduction of) mass transit lead to gentrification in the case study areas? and 2) What are the outcomes/impacts of transit-induced gentrification on different groups of land users in the case study areas? In the attempt to answer the research questions, the thesis adopts the theories of the rent gap, the consumption explanations of gentrification, and gentrification-induced displacement. Interviews with two groups of land users; local land users and condo residents, are also crucial to the study. The findings suggest that the BTS may have a direct impact on the increase in land values in the proximity to the stations. Because the BTS enhances the accessibility of the neighborhood, the neighborhood becomes more spatially attractive for both middle-class condo residents and real estate developers who seek profitable returns. Data from the interviews show that the two groups of land users are impacted differently by transit-induced gentrification, with more negative for the local land users and more positive for the condo residents. The findings have many implications for sustainable development. Although many positive impacts of the BTS and transit-induced gentrification are found, its adverse impacts, especially on the low-income population, must be recognized and addressed. Policy-oriented strategies will be required to manage transit-induced gentrification and alleviate its negative impacts.