This paper researches how the palimpsest concept is used in relation to landscape, and how it can function as a tool within landscape architecture. Palimpsest originally refers to old parchment handwritings, where new text has been applied on top of effaced, but still discernable, earlier writing. Superimposition of information is the core of the palimpsest concept, used within a range of scientific as well as cultural fields. The purpose of this paper is to find how a landscape palimpsest can be distinguished among the many different layers of landscape, such as historical or cultural, and to examine the potential use of the concept in theory and practice of the landscape architecture field. The study is conducted as a literature survey, examining the use of the palimpsest concept within academic works related to landscape.

Comparing your own work with art has been an obvious standpoint for landscape architects, especially during the midst of the 20th century. With this as background this essay intends to find out if there are any change to this condition visible today. This essay discusses the two notions of ?landscape architecture? and ?art? with the intention of describing what they mean. A connection to todays active landscape architects is given through an examinating part of the essay.

The aim for this essay is to adress questions concering ethnic and cultural experiences and in what way it affects our experience of being in different landscapes. By studying how ethnic experiences are expressed in the landscape and the ongoing process of interaction between them, this essay sets out to discuss the significance of cultural aspects in the landscape. The perspective of this essay is that both landscape and ethnicity can be viewed as something constructed which is shaped and maintained by ongoing interactions in the landscape.While examples are taken from different parts of the western world, the main focus is to study how these experiences take place and are being negotiatiated in a particular landscape, an allotment area outside Malmö, Sweden.In the first part it is shown how the landscape can be read as a landscape of powerrelations and how these relations are related to ethnic experiences.In the next chapter the discussion concerns whether we can talk about different ?ethnic landscapes?. Research suggest that the use and perception of the landscape differs among ethnic groups.

The thesis presents an optimally designed kinematic structure for a new 6-DOF haptic devicebased on TAU configuration. The configuration of the TAU-2 proposed by Suleman Khan andKjell Andersson [1] was modified and its mobility was verified by using Grübler criterion tohave a 6 DOF. Analytical kinematic models for the inverse and forward kinematics weredeveloped for the haptic TAU configuration to determine a set of optimal design parameters.Kinematic performance indices such as volume of the workspace, kinematic isotropy and payload index, were defined based on the singular values of the Jacobian matrix. The Jacobianmatrix was scaled to homogenize the physical units. The Jacobian matrix dependent on theposition and orientation of the end-effector gives local isotropy and pay load index, so globaldesign indices were defined, which represent the performance of the mechanism in the wholeworkspace.

This study investigates how the concept of Social Responsible Investment (SRI) can be applied to futures trading. More specifically, this study examines the possibility of creating a SRI-product for an investor, active in futures investments within commodities, energies and stock indices, and the content of such a product is suggested. We conducted a qualitative study, based on a number of interviews. The study suggests that investments in futures of specific assets are to be equated with investments directly in the underlying assets from a SRI point of view. Therefore, we analyzed the underlying assets of futures traded commodities, energies and stock indices, and used social screening, together with specific screening criteria, for the analysis.

The landscape can be something that you rest your eyes on, something that goes quickly past outside the windscreen or the place for the daily work. To me, landscape is everything around us ? the city, the field and the forest. But what is landscape for you? What does the idea of the landscape stand for? How does our view of the landscape become influenced of the place where we grow up? And the differences between peoples different views of the landscape ? what does they depend on? My point of the view for this paper is that the landscape ideals mostly depend on the landscape where you grow up and that it depends less on the differences between the individuals. As a landscape architect the idea of the landscape is the essential. The more we learn, the more we realize how complex it is, but deep down we always have our own experiences and memories and that shapes our personalities.

The landscape is a great asset for Göteborg as a city and places in the landscape are much used by the public. This diploma work deals with the question of how nature in Göteborg can become more accessible and how a place in it can be supplemented with new landscape elements. It is a proposal for a new urban park at Björlanda peninsula in the western part of Hisingen, Göteborg, which today belongs to the Swedish Armed Forces and is a part of the Nature-2000 area "Nordre älvs estuarium". The reason for choosing this place is that it is the only area around the costal area in Göteborg that has not been built on and that it contains a very varied landscape. The proposal is presented as three different broschures, dated 10-20 years ahead: A map of a possible system of urban parks including a detail of such a park, Västra Hisingen (the western parts of Hisingen) The idea with a system of urban parks is to make the landscape generally more accessible and maybe open it for people that do not use it today. A broschure of the central area Välkommen, with my design proposal for an urban park at Björlanda peninsula The design aims to utilize the landscape elements water, mountains, vegetation and sky and to intensify the experience of them. A flora for Välkommen that shows a selection of plants for the design proposal.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) promotes the Ecosystem Approach (EA). In this thesis it is analyzed how the EA approach could be applied to regional management of coastal areas in Sweden. The aim of this report is to compare management for preserving biodiversity on a landscape level in two regional coastal areas in Uppsala and Västra Götaland respectively. In Uppsala, one of the plans consists of a previous nature reserve and in Västra Götaland, a Regional landscape strategy has been established. The ecosystem approach is used as a theoretical framework in this thesis.

Begreppet landskap kan betyda både utsiktslandskap, så som det används på engelska , och område, region, som är grundbetydelsen i de germanska språken. Torsten Hägerstrand introducerade i början på 1990-talet begreppet förloppslandskap, som vänder sig mot ett statiskt betraktande av landskap och istället tar fasta på landskapets processer. Målet med denna litteraturstudie är att presentera en översikt av förloppslandskapets idéer. Syftet är att med detta som bakgrund föra en diskussion kring förloppslandskapets relevans i dagens planeringssituation. Europeiska landskapskonventionen företräder en landskapssyn där samspelet mellan natur och samhälle betonas, men till skillnad från förloppslandskapet så är fokus inställt på människans upplevelse.

Thinning is one of the most important silvicultural activities in middle aged forests, partly to minimize damages and partly because it leads to earlier harvesting revenues and increases the value of the remaining trees. There are many different indices used to describe stand density and thereby the need of thinning in forests today. Studies have shown that forest variables can be estimated with high accuracy using airborne laser scanning and it is likely that the method could also be used to estimate forest density indices. In this study, the possibility of using the forest density index ?H² to determine and map priorities for thinning operations for a forest area was examined.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att utvärdera två landskapsindex: ett formindex som beräknar formen för varje markanvändningsyta ( eng. "patch"); ett diversitetsindex, som beskriver de olika markanvändningarnas relativa utbredning. Formindexet beräknas på två olika sätt, beroende på om dess storleksberoende inkluderas eller ej. Utvärderingen körs för ett landskap på cirka 50 km2, men även för tre mindre områden i landskapet: åkerbygd, mellanbygd samt skogs-bygd. Samtliga områden jämförs sedan i två olika skalor, flygbild respektive satellitbild..

The purpose of this thesis is to describe what Building Information Modeling, BIM, could mean for landscape architects, and also hopefully to make sense of the possibilities and problems of the system. BIM is about virtual design and is based on all consultancy groups in the design team modeling in 3D. Intelligent objects and metadata, such as price and material, are used. The project group has a common interchange format for simple sharing of information. To get an idea of how the situation with BIM for landscape architects looks like today, I collected information mostly through interviews.

Rural development in Southeast Sweden- three different views and their consequences for the agrarian landscapeThis paper deals with the future for the rural areas of the southeast province of Östergötland, Sweden. The aim is to unveil, analyse and compare different views on rural development and their consequences for the agrarian landscape. Three views are considered, namely that of the different levels of Governments and their departments, that of the farmers and landowners and, finaly, that of the inhabitants of the rural areas.Differences in the views upon rural development is reflected in differences in the ways of thinking of landscapes. Is the open, and actively cultivated, landscape the ideal for all? Who is to decide what needs or ought to be done to achieve certain desired values and/or goals ? and who pays for it? The one thing that is, and should be, clear from the beginning is that all development, whether positive or negative in an area, bears consequences for the landscape.

In this paper I will attempt to recreate a prehistoric landscape surrounding the rock carving site of Släbro at Nyköping in Södermanlands län by using GIS. The main focus area is the river valley at Släbro and the six panels with rock carvings that have been dated to the Bronze Age. I?ll attempt to shed light on a long lost landscape. The shore line displacement have been extensive in this area a reconstruction will visualize the relationship between the panels, and their relationship to the surrounding landscape.

Älvkarleby, landscape character and design proposal is a Graduated Thesis (30 ECCcredtis), in the subject of landscape planning at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Department of Rural and Urban Development. This thesis is a study and implement of the method "Landscape Character Assessment" (LCA), developed in England and Scotland as tool to analyse and highlight the landscape in different planning processes. The purpose of LCA is to increase the understanding and strengthen the role of the landscape. The thesis consists of three main parts: landscape characterization, guidelines and a design proposal. The landscape characterization emphasizes the values of the landscape in different types of planning processes, a documentation to base estimations on in any kind of change in the area. Theese estimations have resulted in guidelines that give proposals to the development of the landcape, focusing at the desingproposal.