The purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyze the processes and efforts involved in rebuilding the war-torn state of Afghanistan. The examined period span from the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, to the elections in 2005. This period, commonly known as the Bonn-process, sets out the initial time for the reconstruction of the state.A theoretical framework, which considers the necessary mechanisms for successful state-building, will be used to analyze Afghanistan's re-building process. The mechanisms include the prerequisite of a stable security environment, emerging from a cease-fire, together with the development of a well-functioning economy, re-introduction of rule of law and rejuvenating civil society.The failure to establish a secure environment has had a devastating impact on all analyzed aspects of the re-building process. It is therefore crucial that the international society continuing to assists the Afghan government in its efforts to strengthen its capacity, in order to improve the security situation.

The building and plant sectors represent a large part of Sweden?s energy use. Putting energy requirements in public procurement as a tool for reducing energy consumption in the building and plant sectors is therefor an opportunity that operators can take advantage of. The aim of this thesis was to map the energy requirements in procurement that operators in the public sector use today in building and plant projects. The analysis was made with respect to if the energy requirements corresponded to the parts with large energy use in building and plant projects and also in which way energy requirements in procurement are written in the contract.

This essay in historical archaeology deals with cultural-historical values of buildings and inthis case the old train- and ferrystation in Helsingborg. The building has from the day of itsopening in 1898 been exposed to threats of demolition since its original purpose was as atemporary building with intension of being replaced within a couple of years. After havingseen two World Wars, eventhough Sweden never participated, and the ferrytraffic with its upsand downs the station was an important part of Helsingborg. All the ferrytraffic over the straitto Denmark was handeled by the old train- and ferrystation untill 1955, when a competativeferrycompany was built close to the old station. After a hundred years of service the oldstation was closed down when a new station was built i Helsingborg in 1991 with theintension of gathering all travelers in one building.

This bachelor thesis describes why investors should invest in environmentally certified buildings instead of non certified buildings. The report provides an overview of possible factors influencing an investor in the investment process of an environmentally certified building. The report explains why building companies find incentive to build green buildings and how a cash flow method can be adapted so it can be used in the valuation process of an environmentally certified building. Environmentally certified buildings are used as a strategy to reduce emissions that threaten the environment as well as a strategy to obtain market shares for the building companies. This report focuses on the economic advantages of an environmentally certified building.The construction- and real estate industry stands for approximately 40 percent of the energy consumption in the world.

Energy efficiency has become a very topical issue that has been discussed throughout the European Union for preventing negative environmental impacts that have been associated with the consumption of energy. In the residential sector have mainly municipalities set strict requirements for the reduction of energy consumption while the renewable energy has been asked. Different concepts of low-energy buildings have been developed to reduce the cost of operation and maintenance in existing buildings such as in new ones.This thesis has aimed to minimize the energy cost of a large building which has had low energy consumption features originally. Energy reviews has been initiated in order to be able for showing how the house electricity could be carried out even more efficiently.The work was initiated through a literature study to clearly increase the reliability on the energy subject. Different concepts of low-energy buildings have been treated in connection with its specifications, afterward those have been compared with the obtained results.

Questions concerning the Cultural Heritage must be integrated in social planning.Therefore there is a need for adequate methods for cultural environmental analysis, toreceive knowledge that is relevant in an integrated conservation. The thesis is a review ofmethods for cultural environmental analysis and discusses the qualifications necessary fora method in order to receive adequate information as well as it discusses what kind ofinformation to be considered relevant. The thesis also analyzes a specific method forcultural environmental analysis in order to exam if it has got the qualifications concludedas necessary if it is to be used in an integrated conservation. The conclusion is that amethod for cultural environmental analysis should collect information about the entireenvironment (integrated information about nature and culture, in a historical perspectiveand how it is today), about social structures, physical remains (buildings etc) and what thecollected information tell about the history of the studied area, as well as what is importantin the landscape of today. Information about how the environment should be treated in thefuture is also of importance.

This essay focuses upon the Kivik monument and its conservation difficulties, since its discovery at 1748 until modern time. The Kivik monument is found in southeast of Scania, and dated within the Bronze Age period. The perspective of the conservation on the monument has merely been on the monuments inner cist of stone and the rock carvings on the cist-slabs. When the monument was first archaeological examined at 1931, its sizeable cairn (75 m in diameter) had almost vanished and the cist was sheltered by a casing of concrete and metal roof. Between 1932 and 1933 the monument has undergone a large-scale restoration, and this criticized restoration resulted in a low antiquarian value with the responsible authority.

The industrialized timber housing process is capable nowadays to build multi-storeyhouses since fairly new changes in the Swedish regulations where made after theadmission of the European Union in 1994.The industrialized process moves parts of the construction process into a highlyeffective factory where 3D-volumes of the building are prefabricated beforetransportation to the building site for assemble.The assembly process is relatively effective compared to the completion of thebuilding service system and this is therefore the main focus in this thesis. This thesisattends problems with completion of the building service system, and thereforedemarcates from other aspects, such as technical and economic aspects, of thebuilding service system.The degree of completion of the flats differs from completion of the connectivepassages, for example hallways, in a way that suggests a need for further investigation.This thesis includes analysis of the possibilities to increase the prefabricatedconnective passages, to the extent of containing building service systems.An increase of the prefabrication of the building service system has a greatdevelopment potential, even though some restraining factors need to be solvedbefore implementation.This thesis was made in collaboration with two of Sweden?s leading companies on themarket of multi-storey industrialized timber housing, Moelven ByggModul AB andLindbäcks Bygg AB..

When building a house or similar the stress on the ground increases and deformations can arise. The deformations create a foundation that the building is not constructed for and damages on the building arise. The increased stress on the ground can be derived back to the building, but it is possible that the increased stress may well derive from different sources such as other buildings or trees.       The building is an older property, built in the late 19th century alternatively early 20th century, and is today used for rental housing and has suffered severe damages due to subsidence. The goal of the thesis is to find possible causes for these subsidences. The thesis was executed as a combination between literature- and casestudie. After careful studies it has been found that a probable cause for these subsidences is trees. Through field- and lab studies it has been found that the trees has effected the ground through there accumulation of water.

The concept of building work environment co- ordinator is a relatively new concept that has its origin in the amendment to the Working Environment Act which came into force on 1 January 2009. The terms; building work environment co-ordinator appointed for planning and design and building work environment co-ordinator for the execution of building or civil engineering work ushered in the industry. Once these disciplines complement one another, you can achieve a smooth handover to ensure a good and healthy working environment.In this thesis, we study a company in Uppsala and their operations and handover by interviewing the relevant staff in question. The result shows that there are currently no present guidelines for how and when the handover should take place, it is up to each individual to provide themselves with the relevant information.If the handover of the work environment would occur to the extent it should it would lead to minimized proportions of unforeseen risks and events that may occur during the production phase, which ultimately leads to a better and healthier working environment..

The industrialization in Sweden has increased the large number of areas that have been contaminated with various types of pollution. One of those sites are the property Höjen 3:24 in Arboga where ?Arboga Mekaniska Verkstad? once been. The property wants to increase the use of the old former foundry building with the adjacent ?plate-workshop? and believe there are two options for the building: That the building either should be used as a warehouse/concert hall, or rebuilt into a cultural center. An environmental evaluation has shown that the levels of heavy metals are over the Swedish environmental protection agency guidelines of less sensitive land.

Stone walls in agricultural land are incorporated in the general protection of biotopes. They are protected because they provide a habitat for endangered species. Therefore it is illegal to carry out proceedings in an area that is included in the protection of biotopes. In order to do that, exemption is needed which can only be granted if there are special reasons. The essay stipulates what these special reasons are.In an exemption errand the interest for nature conservation must be weighed against a public or a private interest.

The purpose of my independent work was to develop and test a task-specific assessment matrix to the students writing logs that occurs in connection with their APL (workplace-based learning). The matrix is based on upper secondary school subject plan House building from The Swedish National Agency for Education and the four courses House building process, House building 1, House building 2 and House building 3 - conversion. Due to the matrix structure, I used the example matrix of Malmö University. The task-specific assessment must both serve as a guide for students in the implementation of the log writing, and in the evaluation of the assessment work. Both students and teachers then get a common assessment tool for evaluation.

This study examines the use of building modeling and energy simulations in the design process  of  a  building.  The  take-off  point  is  the  notion  of  energy  simulations  being needed early and throughout the building design process, and that the lack of energy simulations may be explained by the fact that they are time consuming and therefore often too expensive. A greater interoperability between software tools used by relevant disciplines,  such  as  the  architect  and  the  energy  specialist,  would  create  smoother workflows, which would reduce this cost and open up for more frequent and iterative energy  simulation  processes.  The  study  is  an  assessment  of  the  modeling  tool  Revit and  the  simulation  tool  Virtual  Environment  and  whether  they  can  create  smoother workflows, and make leeway for a more frequent use of energy simulations throughout the  design  process.  It  also  investigates  the  limitations  of  what  can  be  examined  by simulations in Virtual Environment. This will hopefully help clarify the future role of energy  simulations  in  design  processes.  The  method  is  a  trial  by  error  approach  of testing the two software tools by building and simulating a model. The results of these tests  show  that  the  workflow  is  not  optimal  (and  therefore  time  consuming)  for frequent  and  iterative simulations  throughout the  design  process,  but  it  also  reveals some  great  possibilities  of  what  can  be  performed  with  these  two  powerful  tools  at hand.  Further  development  with  regards  on  platform  independency  of  the  building information  model,  including  seamless  exporting  and  importing,  seems  necessary  to strengthen the future role of energy simulations..

Deciduous forests are, according to the National Environmental Quality Objectives, a priority area. Deciduous forests are rich in species and the occurrence of dead wood is an important factor for biodiversity. In order to identify valuable deciduous forests for bio-diversity, conservation needs good analyses and planning tools. Habitat models combined with geographic information systems can be used to study the spatial structure of suitable habitat. The Lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor) has been proposed as an indicator species for deciduous forests, since this species is highly specialized on insect larvae in dead wood and requires large areas of deciduous-rich environments. Many riparian forest with high species richness and high nature conservation values are found along the Ume river in Umeå municipality.