The ambition to involve younger people in future planning processes in order to get full participation of all groups in the society requires a deep and well-planned dialogue. Although, participation not always means inclusion. The purpose of this study was to analyze how the younger generation in the society is included in the future work. This is based on a case study of the developmental work in the municipality of Skellefteå.Questions that were answered were how the municipality has made the participation possible? To what extent has the younger generation been involved? How did this group experience their participation? The methodology consisted of mixed methods that include observations, surveys to the session leaders and to the participants in the dialogue and three interviews with two participants and one municipal civil servant.The result showed that the open information didn´t reach the younger generation to the open dialogues although the dialogue design gave good conditions for participation.

The location on the river delta of Klarälven, adjacent to lake Vänern, makes Karlstad one of the Swedish cities where a significant flood risk is present. The city has several major floods in its memory which has caused great material damage and economic losses, the latest of which occurred in the winter of year 2000/2001. The purpose of the study is to examine how the approach to flood risk has changed in the municipality of Karlstad since the 1950s, and how this change has affected the current situation regarding the city's vulnerability to flooding. To investigate this, a document analysis was conducted, where key documents in the media and from the municipality of Karlstad was studied. Furthermore, an interview study was conducted with respondents who currently are employed or previously have been employed in the municipality of Karlstad, who in various ways work with issues of flood risk. The result of the study shows that several changes have taken place since the 1950s in terms of the municipality's approach to flood risk, which for instance has led to preventative measures being taken to a greater extent than previously in the physical planning.

Municipalities must establish budget annually but they are free to decide how the governance should be designed, this can lead to lack of consistency and measurability within and between municipalities. The purpose of this thesis was to present a proposal for a unified and more measurable financial structure of a municipality where this was lacking. In our theory we describe the issues of traditional management control and we introduce an alternative control with non-financial ratios included, called the Balanced Scorecard. In the empirical data it is investigated how the governance of a municipality could be designed, according to the respondents. In the analysis the information gathered to reach the answers to what are considered to be useful governance in municipality, are examined. In the conclusion, we design Balanced Scorecards with both financial and non-financial ratios to the councils of the municipality..

Every year, Swedish municipalities transfer considerable amounts of profit from public housing companies to the owner municipality. Municipalities are allowed to do this, provided that the money is used to pay for certain purposes. But there are no legal repercussions if they do not comply. Not all municipalities choose to transfer profits. Based on partisan theory, this difference could be explained by the political governance of the municipality.

The national spatial planning guidelines and the subsequent legal regulation in the Natural Resources Act and the Environmental Code has been a part of the Swedish planning system for almost 40 years. In the recent years, critics have claimed that the regulations are outdated and does not work the way it was intended. This paper examines closer why it is perceived that the regulations does not work, with a focus on how the national interests are managed in the municipal planning. Why is the national interests not applied in the municipal planning as intended? Is the error in the system or in the implementation of it? The aim of this essay is to study the gap between theory and practice by studying how the land management provisions in the Environmental Code is applied in five selected municipalities. The aim is also to find interesting issues for futher studies of the topic.

In the new media society, social media has become an important part of many organizations' daily lives. Organizations, whether public or private, must be where their audience is and many times, these can be found on social media channels like Facebook. Leading researchers in the fields of crisis communication and relationship management believe that social media is a great tool for managing relationships between an organization and its' public, whether it's before, during or after a crisis.The purpose of this study is to examine how the Karlstad municipality use Facebook to manage civic relations before, during and after a crisis. The municipality's approach will be compared to the citizens' experiences of the municipality's communication in different stages of a crisis.The theoretical framework used in this essay is the research on crisis communication and relationship management. How these two frameworks can be integrated with social media like Facebook, is an important part of understanding how the Karlstad municipality make use of Facebook to manage civic relations and communicate before, during and after a crisis.The empirical study consists of a qualitative interview, two qualitative content analysis and an online survey.

The possibility and the right to be able to communicate with municipalities or other state companies and politicians are natural for the Swedish citizens. However, they may be unaware that this communication process is called citizen dialogue.Today there are so many ways to communicate; one-way communication is not possible in the same way as before. It is above all social media such as Facebook, which has opened the gates one could only dream of.  Via a medium such as Facebook creates a strong citizen dialogue in which the municipality and citizens communicate openly and ask questions and give response.The purpose of this study is to find out how Karlstad?s municipality uses, and maintains, citizen dialogue on Facebook. What are the guidelines and how do the municipality use these? In this paper a qualitative expert interview and a qualitative content analysis has been used to answer the purpose of the essay.

Abstract The planning of landscapes and towns has changed from a top-to-bottom perspective, including a focus on common interests, towards an inclusion of dialogue between planners and inhabitants of the planning area. In the countryside areas there are many interests which could be incorporated in such a dialogue. Still, the landowners have the final right to make the decisions for his or her property. The purpose of this paper is to examine how a dialogue for countryside development works and could be working, what participators of such dialogues are thinking about their right to direct and transform the landscape, and which roles the planners may take in such a context. With this background in mind, I also look back into the history with the intention to understand the situation of today.

In the new media society, social media has become an important part of many organizations' daily lives. Organizations, whether public or private, must be where their audience is and many times, these can be found on social media channels like Facebook. Leading researchers in the fields of crisis communication and relationship management believe that social media is a great tool for managing relationships between an organization and its' public, whether it's before, during or after a crisis.The purpose of this study is to examine how the Karlstad municipality use Facebook to manage civic relations before, during and after a crisis. The municipality's approach will be compared to the citizens' experiences of the municipality's communication in different stages of a crisis.The theoretical framework used in this essay is the research on crisis communication and relationship management. How these two frameworks can be integrated with social media like Facebook, is an important part of understanding how the Karlstad municipality make use of Facebook to manage civic relations and communicate before, during and after a crisis.The empirical study consists of a qualitative interview, two qualitative content analysis and an online survey.

Urban densification as a planning strategy is of interest in the planning context of today. It is also seen as a part of the sustainable development. Urban densification as a concept is commonly used in the discussion of a sustainable development. Thus, the question about urban densification is an important challenge in the current planning context. A deeper understanding of the process which urban densification has developed from is necessary, since planners then will be more able to manage this challenge.

The aim of this study is to make clear the conception ?Sustainable Urban Development? through an investigation dealing with how the sustainable goals are attained in today?s Swedish urban planning. And also try to clarify where and why sustainable development is failing or lacking. Besides that I have investigated how actors take position towards urban sustainability. The essay is based on a literature study about sustainable urban development and it?s changes through the time and place.

We live in an exciting society, characterized by continuous changes and challenges. The effects of the globalization are widespread. The continuous flow of people, capital and goods follows in the wake of advances in communications, transport and information technology, resulting in a changed situation for different stakeholders in the society. This situation leads to increased cooperation and exchange, but also increased competition. The primary means of collecting empirical data for this study was interviews and a document study.

In the field of municipal services there are a wide range of aspects a small community must consider, especially considering that the circumstances in which a municipality operate continuously are changing. The changes include, for example, migration, individual lifestyles, the political governance and environment. Especially the latter might have a big impact on a town based on tourism such as Borgholm. We particularly have taken an interest for how this might affect the internal branding and internal brand communication of Borgholm municipality.Through our research we have found that Borgholm municipality in no particular extent is working with living the brand or any similar concepts. Also, we have found that the success of the internal branding of the organization in a great extent depend on the individuals of the different branches of the municipality?s work rather than on a coherent communication structure which reaches the whole organization..

The aim of this dissertation is to examine why smaller municipalities[1] in Sweden experience difficulties when implementing the 16 environmental objectives that are designed to solve Sweden's environmental problems.The theoretical framework used for this dissertation is implementation theory which provides three conditions that need to be met in order to have a successful implementation.  These three conditions have shaped the research questions that examine if Torsby municipality has the "understanding," "ability" and "will" needed to implement the decision correctly.  The dissertation employs a case study method to examine why Torsby municipality has experienced difficulties implementating the target: programmes and strategies for planning, which is an interim target to environmental objective number 15: A good built environment.  Qualitative text analysis and interviews with politicians and civil servants from Torsby municipality and the county administration board of Värmland have been conducted in order to answer the research questions.   The material used for this dissertation is mostly from the government bills that are the foundation of the Swedish environmental policy and the documents and reports about the environmental objectives that the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket), the Swedish Environmental protection agency (Naturvårdsverket), and the Environmental objectives council (Miljörådet) have released.The result of this dissertation supports previous research which has shown that smaller municipalities have problems implementating the environmental objectives due to a lack of financial resources. This dissertation also shows that the problems can be due to a lack of understanding the purpose of the objectives.  This leads to a lack of political will to implement the objectives.  Since the municipalities do not have the political will to implement the objectives the appropriate resources needed for a successful implementation are not appointed and therefore the municipalities are not able to fully implement the environmental objectives. [1] Municipalities with less than 20 000 inhabitants..

The purpose of this work is to study a circulation project in Enköping municipality, where the society?s rest products are used to make beneficial products. In Enköping the rest products from waste treatment plants and private sewers are used to fertilize and irrigate Salix plantations that later are harvested and burned at the local combined heating and power plant, ENA Energy AB, to produce electricity and heat. Possibilities to apply this kind of project ona municipality in Russia are also explored.Guryevsk municipality in Kaliningrad region was chosen since there is a need to improve energy systems and reduce emissions to water and air. This municipality strives to become environmentally friendly.