The European Union is seen as democratic, and one of the criteria for a democratic decision process is that it must be fully transparent for the citizens. That is the only way for them to make their own decisions about political issues, and it is only possible as long as the citizens have access to relevant and reliable information. However, this is not always the case within the European Union, since it is often difficult to get a hold of different documents of the institutions, and since the civil servants to a great extent are forbidden to give away any information..

What is sketching for a landscape architect? Does it involve anything else than the sketching process, the tool withwhich we work and carry a project through? The answer is yes, it is a process but one that includes many functionslike making notes in drawings or words for remembrance, a way to convey your ideas to others and to clearifyideas for yourself or together in a group. This thesis aim to give a broader picture of what sketches and sketchingis through many voices, and images made by architects, a psychiatrist, a teacher, and landscape architect students.The focus is on the hand made sketch and show many examples of what a sketch can look like.What is a sketch? A sketch can be many things, but the general consensus is that it is made fast and as a draft. Itcan be made in any material, two or three dimensional.

This study is mostly based on previous research, which includes Sub-national actor?s attitudes and regional action towards the European Union. The purpose of the study is to investigate if four Swedish municipalities in Värmland operate internationally towards the European Union and deepen an understanding of their actions. The main research question is: - How can we increase our understanding of municipal action against the European Union? The research questions of this study are answered through qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were conducted.

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 aim of this paper is to examine how the Swedish implementation of the new trafficking laws may differ from the original intention from the UN and EU and if they are substandard due to poorly conducted law implementation. Or if it might be a victim of political symbolism, to win support and votes for the politicians in power from the people, a ?hollow showpiece? only meant to be shown off. Trafficking is a relatively new phenomena and problem to be researched and discussed. This paper investigates the impact of the Palermo protocols international definition of the problem, the convention against organized crime presented by the European Union on the Swedish legal system and its action plan. A qualitative text analysis focusing on the discourse of the intentions behind the internationally presented legal documents and compared against the carrying out of said national objectives.

Council Regulation 1/2003 regulates the application of the competition rules set out in Articles 81 and 82 of the EC-treaty and establishes a reform of the European Competition Law. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the complex of problems that the regulation leads to concerning the legal certainty for companies within the European Community..

Bark-stripping by red deer (Cervus elaphus) cause extensive damage to economically valuable spruce trees (Picea abies) in Swedish forests. The underlying causes for bark-stripping are not fully understood, and the frequency and severity of damage unpredictably differ between regions. In this study, I investigated if landscape structure (e.g. agricultural dominated landscape opposed to forest dominated landscape), forage availability, population density and disturbance (e.g. roads and settlements) affect bark-stripping frequency.

Today the right of the child to participate freely in cultural life and the arts is a goal on the political agenda. As a consequence, in 2011, twenty-six government agencies and institutions of culture were assigned to formulate strategies for activities for children and young people. These strategies are the empirical basis of this thesis. The aim of the study is to elaborate and problematize three issues concerning children?s culture from the viewpoint of a social constructionist understanding of childhood as constructed in various, often political, practices.

The main aim of this study is to examine the development policies of Sweden and the European Union from a postcolonial perspective. Sweden and the European Union are increasingly coming to be viewed as normative powers rather than military powers. So how does the colonial past of the western societies affect the policies of today? Are there any signs of the power structures of the past, and if so, how are these power structures manifested in the development policies of today? Since both Sweden and the European Union have come to be viewed as normative powers they are compared with each other to highlight their similarities and differences. The results of the study shows that both Sweden and the European Union can be seen as carriers of western values and interests.

The title of the final thesis is Filmic landscapes ? film as representation, tool and practice in landscape architecture. The aim of the final thesis is to investigate how film as a medium can be used to describe, interpret and manipulate the understanding of a place and its design. What kind of aspects of landscape architecture can film as a medium in a design-process emphasize or create? How can filming, as a self-standing act, contribute to the understanding of the landscape and a landscape-related design-process? The thesis is divided into two parts, one theoretical part that consists of an essay, and one practical part that consists of a 11minute long filmic reflection of the ?Glass-houses?in Kosta, Sweden, created by the Swedish designer and architect Bruno Mathsson.

The aim for this thesis is to study the international gender equality work from a perspective of the concept of universalism and particularism, with the United Nation?s Declaration of Human Rights, and especially -?The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women?, in focus. The shadowreports of Namibia and Sweden are used as examples of how countries with different historical, political and social contexts are working with gender equality.A theroetical framework is constitued by theories as postmodernism, postcolonialism and feminism with basis from social constructionism. The thesis is methodological influenced by Critical Discourse Analysis. Notions from former studies were also used as tools in the analysis.

This essay deals with the relationship between the mendicant movement and the urbanization during the thirteenth century. The aim has been to explore the significance of the Dominicansand the Franciscans for the creation of an urban landscape. This was made through the study of the urbanization process in southern Halland focusing on the town of Halmstad where the friars were established. The importance of the mendicants was also studied through their absence in the towns of Laholm and Falkenberg. To achieve this investigation in a contextual perspective material from different areas was used such as archaeology, history and history of science and ideas.

By using the cyborg as a structural tool to analyze certain aspects of human interaction with what can be perceived as landscape or landscape architectural elements, this thesis seeks to explore the concept of the cyborg landscape in order to place human practice in the context of postmodern ideas of the end of true nature. Ever since human kind has externalized evo-lution by using tools and extending the body with technological inventions, we have also taken our surroundings out of their natural trajectory. Everything we do that is conditioned by the use of technology is altering that which we perceive as nature and natural. Since we have been doing this for millennia we have of course also altered our surroundings by the influence of technology.This thesis uses three examples of landscape or landscape architectural elements that are conditioned by the integration of technology to explore this practice through a postmodern model of analysis based on the concept and basic premises of the cyborg, or the cybernetic organism. A cybernetic organism is in short an organism that has functioning technological parts integrated into its system.

Symbols in the hands of politicians can be a powerful tool of manipulation. The usage of symbols in speeches or texts can change a person?s will, without him or her ever knowing it.We have compared the usage of symbols in the articles surrounding the ratification of the constitution in 18th century America with that of today?s European Union, to see if any similarities between these two cases exists, and what implications this could have for the future of the EU. We have divided the symbols in both cases into different categories so as to enable us to compare the cases to each other. With the help of Masters Theory and the writings of Benedict Anderson and Murray Edelman we have concluded that there indeed exist some similarities between 18th century America and the EU.

The relationship between landscape - public - art and whatoccurs and happens in between is what this paper casts light on. The essay intends to investigate whether there is any boundary between landscape architecture and art. How does this border looks like? Can art in the context of landscape architechture lead to a closer cross-border collaboration between landscapearchitects,artists and the public, to create attractive and/or functional outdoor environments. The place where the meeting can take place is outdoors where the landscape architect works, in the public environment and around the public art.