All over the world the urbanisation increases at the expense of green areas. Many plants and animals are endangered today because their habitats gets smaller or disappear. The green areas that are left in city centres and suburbs are often small and surrounded by roads and buildings. Despite this, several studies have shown that these small green areas may house large biological diversity.This project aims to study the biological diversity in small green patches in residential areas. The study has been carried out in Råsunda in Solna municipality (Stockholm county) during the period May?July 2006.Three equivalent areas (5000?10 000 m2) with quite many old oaks were chosen for the study and inventoried for birds and saproxylic insects.

SUMMARYThe demands on the public environment are big and in particular on the environment of communication which we spend a lot of time in on our way to work, school etc. The city-approach is a road section that leads from the periphery of the city to the centre of the city, often through boring and meaningless industrial areas that displays the back side of the city to the voyager on the city-approach. The intentions of this thesis in landscape architecture has been to study one of the two city-approaches to the city of Luleå, the close surroundings and contextual position in the city and not at least give suggestions of ways how the city-approach can be changed, clarified and improved. The study of the city-approach has been made by studying literature that concern city-approaches and the architecture of roads in general. Studies of different analysis methods has been made to find appropriate approaches to work with the specific study of the city-approach to Luleå.

The practice of landscape architectural involves forming the space in our cities and suburbs, as well as the landscape surrounding. The need of exploiting green environment leads up to, among other issues, flood problem during heavy rain and overfed water environments. The problem is partially caused by the shortage of knowledge, how the environment is responding of the innovations made by the city- urban planning and how to get sustainability. Research and knowledge how to take care of our environment, in a natural way, is increasing. The object of the thesis is to propose control and balance in urban wetlands, and discuss the difference a plant design can do. The thesis deals with discourses in the field of landscape architecture, biological diversity, dam construction, limnology, planting design and management, pollution of the environment and urban design practice.

The effect of climate change places demands on how we build cities. Cities have to be built denser to meet the objectives of sustainability but as a result of this densification city green areas are at risk of exploitationand disappearing. The question this raises is whether there has to be an opposition between a dense and a green city?Urban trees are playing a very important role in cities. They stand as the major part of the vegetation in citieswhich are otherwise dominated with concrete and stone.

The purpose of this study is to examine how consultants define conceptions of diversity and discrimination. There has also been an aim to find connections to the term intersectionality within the consultants? definitions. The link between consultants and academic research is interesting to examine in order to examine what they base their definitions of different conceptions on. In order to explore these definitions and discussions I have used the qualitative method of interviewing each consultant separately at different occasions.

My work deals with large scale design of the urban fringe. The thesis is divided in three parts; ?Current viewpoints?, ?Infra City ? conditions ? and ?Infra City ? project?. In the first part, I go through the history of trade shortly. Then I discuss the concept of nature, which ends up in a linkage between natural science and aesthetics in landscape architecture. The link between those two makes a project stronger and more multifunctional. The object of my case, Infra City, is a mall situated north of Stockholm on both sides of the E4 motorway going to Arlanda airport.

This project is about color and light and how it affects the atmosphere in the city. I choseto look closer into the central parts of the city, a place where I often feel a lack of lightand color, especially during the winter season. In the beginning of the project I made ananalysis of how intense colors are used in the city and how we can use color as a tool tocreate effectful spaces. Further into the project I chose to look closer into the effects thatare made by the facades, how the light from the windows affects the room outside when the dark falls. At the end of the project I caught a feeling inspired by the city and applied it into an installation of light..

This paper investigates the level of consciousness regarding to the diversity work in the municipalities of Malmö, Lund and Landskrona. The study focuses on persons in a middle management position connected to various spheres of activities in each municipality. A survey concerning each municipality's diversity plan, diversity work, recruiting process, education and knowledge was used to investigate the participants' consciousness. The survey poses similar questions regarding equality between the sexes to compare the results from each field. The paper presents an overview of the development of Sweden's labour market and society, and gives an account for the differences between immigrants and natives positions in the labour market.

In this composition we will treat issues about intercultural approach and managing diversity in Swedish municipal/public school. This survey includes several theories and conceptions as ethnicity, culture, multiplicity/managing diversity and intercultural approach/multiculturalism.We studied two different schools and their awareness concerning intercultural approach and managing diversity . The study is concentrating on two schools in two different communities. One of the schools had a greater ethnic multiplicity than the other school, and therefore, we thought, it seemed easier for them to accept an intercultural approach and managing diversity. But that was not the whole truth.

The purpose of this study is to highlight how a ring road and an external retail establishment may affect the city commerce. Umeå is the study object with interesting undergoing changes including a new external retail area south of the city and a new transport route that will lead the through traffic around the city.The study is based on a review of previous studies and a qualitative method. Four interviews were conducted with people who have a connection to commerce and/or municipal planning and where considered able to contribute with rich and relevant information. The result shows that the commerce in Umeå will be significantly strengthened in the context of a new external commercial establishment when the city?s overall attractiveness increases.

This essays overarching aim is to contribute to the theoretical discussion of transformation processes that are shaping the urban landscapes and further to problematize contemporary planning discourses in Sweden. Drawing on the concept of Foucault?s heterotopia and actor-network theory for spatial analysis, the paper seeks to analyze the complex urban landscape transformation process as an emergent property of human and non-human actor-networks seeking to transform and order space. With the district of Rosenlund in Gothenburg as a starting point, this thesis intends to examine how the cultural infrastructure - used by the residents and visitors of the city - are related to the city's planning and development processes. The case study is based on a boat (Rio Rio) in Rosenlund canal that is defined as a cultural infrastructure.

The city contains a great multitude of people of different ages and different lifestyles and the urban environment should be planned and designed for everyone to take part in the social life of the city. The main reason among people for heading towards the city centre is to make purchases or to run errands, but also the social aspects are very important. A socially active city is worth striving for as an empty city can lead to unsecurity, fear and hostility between people. This paper discusses mainly the possibilities to encourage people to do physical activities on public places in the city. In Sweden the lifestyle of people in general has changed to the worse in aspects of health over the last decades which has led to the fact that many people in Sweden today suffer from obesity.

The name of the study means ?The short arm - a study in diversity and arm?s length in the cultural collaboration model?. Right now there is a reform in the Swedish cultural administration where the responsibility for handing out state funds and grants to cultural organizations is changing from the state government to the local regional governments. The purpose of this study is to map the organisational changes caused by the reform and investigate how this affects the regional policies concerning cultural diversity and the arm?s length principle.

AbstractIn the literature on multiculturalism and group rights there is a strong tradition that sees diversity as something directly paradoxal to unity. In this tradition, scholars put forward a view of multiculturalism as a divisive and exclusionary process which breaks down the cohesion and unity of society. Related to this notion is that of a neutral and universally valid frame of reference in which political dilemmas can be solved; for example a neutral civil sphere where the ?true essence? of society lies. In this essay I attempt to criticise these two notions.

Fairtrade is a certification of products that has grown from the criticism of conventional trade. By increasing the focus on the producers? economic and social conditions, poverty can be fought and the producers? voice in the marketplace can be strengthened. Fairtrade City is a certification for municipalities who wish to engage in ethical consumption. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the Fairtrade City concept and how this can be a tool for working towards sustainable development. To be more concise, we want to answer the following questions: Why does Örebro municipality work with the Fairtrade City certification and how can Fairtrade City be used as tool for working towards sustainable development? The thesis is based on qualitative interviews and e-mail interviews with members of the steering committee for Örebro Fairtrade City and on literature studies. We have in our thesis identified Örebro Fairtrade City as a result of 1) that Örebro municipality through Fairtrade City wants to change their surrounding environment by engaging in ethical trade 2) that the surrounding environment effects Örebro municipality through isomorphism regarding its way to deal with sustainable development 3) that the municipality through its work with ethical trade becomes legitimized by their surrounding environment.