Place is on the one hand a commonsense everyday word with diversely connotative meanings, and on the other a contested concept with different interpretations across a broad range of academic disciplines and discourses. This thesis researches theories of place and their implications for the theory and design practice of Landscape architecture. Responding to problems of insufficient theoretical grounding and inconsistent use of the concept of place within the discipline presently, it argues the need for a theory of place better articulated in relation to Landscape architecture. It seeks to contribute to such theory formation by drawing on ideas from related disciplines ? tracing diverse understandings of place beyond the commonsense meanings of the word and into the deeper reaches of place theory as tools to explain physical, social and spiritual aspects of the environment, and human relationships with it.

This degree project is based on my personal relation and engagement to the small-scaled cultural landscape. My viewpoint is the village Torpa in Östergötland. My observations of the changes and development together with the stories of the village people has lead me to the questioning about the future prospects of the small-scaled cultural landscape. The rationalization of the society and our urban culture has lead to big changes in the cultural landscape and the people have reduced to a small crowd. Fewer and fewer hands are managing the small-scaled cultural landscape and fewer and fewer young people have connection to this kind of landscape and its management.

A lot of habitats have declined or disappeared as the old cultural landscape changed to the modern agricultural landscape of today. Places such as power line corridors, racing tracks, gravel pits and military training sites have become refuges for many species associated with the old cultural landscape. These sites have been exposed to ecological disturbances that create the same type of habitats that were found in the old cultural landscape.The military training sites in Sweden has an impressive diversity of species. Disturbances from the military exercises have created habitats that are important for a wide range of species.The purpose of this thesis is to study some of the ecological disturbances occurring in the military training sites of the Swedish Armed Forces and examine how they affect different types of habitats. The thesis explains through litterateur and field studies the reason to the rich biodiversity often found at military training sites.

This work derives from the question ?What is a beautiful road??. The question is being discussed in interviews with two employees at the Swedish National Road Administration and two former members of the ?Council of environment and beauty? at the Swedish National Road Administration. The interviews are summarized in my own discussion about the concept of ?Beautiful roads?.

The essay treats how an architect can direct motions of humans with architecture. This is made through an investigation of how the architect Bengt Edman has treated accessibility and motions when creating the student housing complex Vildanden and how it has affected the motions of humans within the area. To visualize how Vildanden relates to the rest of Lund I have made a comparative study with the city planning ideals that prevailed in the period when the area was built.The essay is based on the author's own observations through a phenomenological perspective and a field study including observations and a literature study..

The purpose of this essay is to analyze and show possibilities how a city can grow into the scenery of a oak dominated landscape and how this encounter can add values to the city. The city in focus is Linköping, a city that is approaching one of Sweden?s largest oak dominated cultural landscapes. To this landscape high ecological and cultural values are connected. The recreational values are also of importance especially because of its urban location also because the city is mainly surrounded by flat agricultural land.

The title: ?Klara färdiga GÅ? can be translated as ?Ready steady GO?, and is ment as a request to start move. In this project I want to invite people to walk more by creating creative, demanding and playful walkways and paths, where the body can be allowed to work just a tiny bit harder.It?s because walking means exercise and fresh air, for free and without spetial equipment. Walking can also be fun, it allows people to stop, change direction and experience things.I think activity should be fun, inspired by children playground my project is a contribution to how adults might stay healthier in a city, where too often healthy activity is solely confined to the gym or sports fields.

Every place is a stage where people interact. The nature of the stage and its scenography to some extent shapes the interaction. Considered as a place, the school ground gives rise to many varying expectations. Lower school pupils often have clear ideas of how they are expected to behave and how they are expected to use the place. But as the pupils age, the purpose of the school ground grows less obvious.

Since the beginning of the new millennium the world?s population has increased exponentially fast. The majority of this growth has been accommodated for by urbanization of the developing world. This in turn has lead to a wide spread of informal settlements. Thus, areas of urban slums, that have risen illegally on the marginal lands within and at the periphery of the formal city.

The aim of the "Green forest management plans" is to help forest owners to reach the environmental goal of the forestry act. But are they able to do that? Is it possible to plan preservation of species on single estates? How do single-estate-plans differ from a landscape analysis and how can the landscape approach be used in operative planning? This work was initiated to give an answer to these questions. This study was made in a landscape of 4200 ha in Östergötland county, south-eastern Sweden. A lanscape analysis was made and then compared to the Green forest management plans in the same area. The nature conservation areas (areas that were set aside to be managed with environmenatl goals) differed quite a lot between the two alternatives.

Landscape architects has many ways of transforming our cities and landscapes. Traditionally, most attention has been put to visual qualities. Pen and paper are well established as the way to present proposals and to analyse in the Landscape architects profession and training. But are we perhaps missing out on other ways of seeing the landscape? The purpose of this paper is to present sound as a tool of transformation. Sound in public spaces has long been treated just as noise and therefore unwanted.

This study focuses the development on the protection of landscapes with old industries and how it nowadays is appreciated by the inhabitants. The overall aim of this study is to increase the knowledge about how the so called industrial landscape in Norrköping became a cultural heritage that the citizens want to protect. The study also aims to investigate the citizens´ knowledge about the industrial landscape in Norrköping, and what value they think that the place possesses. Data was collected by an information research and six qualitative interviews. The interviews where analysed by qualitative methods techniques.

Sustainable Development is often described as a balance between ecological, economical and social aspects. Between these exists a complicated interaction that creates conflicts in the planning of the landscape. We see a growing need for a functional interaction between values and interest and an understanding for different perspectives. Cooperation and dialogue are key ideas with the focus on cooperation rather than the goal. There is a lack of forum for dialogue and cooperation within municipalities where a great knowledge and competence are gathered.

Landscape architecture is a visual profession, but other senses also affect our interpretation of a place. Sounds can give us a lot of information about an environment, and they are often perceived as positive. Despite this, research about outdoor sounds most often focus on the reduction of unwanted sounds ? noise ? but the absence of noise does not result in a good soundscape. To accomplish this, sounds we appreciate are needed.

The purpose of this master dissertation is to show an example of how to renovate three different parks in an area of national interest in Höganäs, Sweden aiming to deal with their heritage value as well as making them attractive to today?s user. The question formulation can be described as following: How can i as a Landscape architect renovate parks with different characters conserving their existing qualities. By studying and documenting the park´s history and current usage and using methods of evaluating a park?s heritage value ( Kulturhistorisk värdering av bebyggelse, Unnerbäck 2002) i could conclude which qualities to conserve and suggest and motivate what features to add or renovate.