Spending a night out in the nature is away for many to experience a slowerpace of life. Refuge cabins are a typeof open-air facility sometimes provided for more far off locations, yet it is in the vicinity of cities and towns that the opportunity for getting out into the natural environment is mostly sought after. Several nature reservs exist around Stockholm with the good intention of promoting the opportunity for outdoor activities. The aim of this study is to investigate how the provision of refuge cabins can be a means of facilitating and augmenting outdoor life experience in a proposed nature reserv to the west of Stockholm.

Through interviews with children of ages 4-5 years old and by observing children children at play at three preschools with different types of outdoor surroundings, I have investigated if the preschools outdoor surroundings have any influences on the children´ choice of play. The hypothesis was that natural surroundings can entice children´s interest in nature being in it and play. I have also investigated if the children know why it is important to be outdoors and if they know it has a positive influence on their health.The result of my investigation is that the children play about the same games at the three different preschool gardens, but at the preschool with more natural surroundings, the children have more contact with plants and animals, and could learn of the different phenomena of nature by the preschool teacher answering their questions. Most of the children in the interviews know it´s useful to be outdoors and be on the move and get fresh air, but many of them thought it was most important to play. By being outdoors the children get exercise, fresh air, play and at the same time they establish an understanding of the nature and a healthier life..

Small!size!enterprises!within!the!outdoor!industry!seldom!use!a!structured!process!or!method!when!involving!users!in!product!development.!One!reason!for!this!is!that!many!structured!development!processes!are!designed!for!large!companies!with!very!different!resources.!When!involving!users!in!product!development!processes,!the!most!common!user! is! an! elite! athlete.! She! or! he! often! has! different! requirements! than! the! regular!consumer!and!in!the!customers?!point!of!view;!this!leads!to!nonCmaximized!developed!products.!!The! result! of! this! thesis! is! a! user! involvement! process! for! small! outdoor! companies!based! on! the! Sister! Kenny! Research! Center! Innovation! Handbook,! a! product!development!process,!which!itself!is!based!on!a!phaseCgate!model.!The!process!focuses!on!the!user!category!enthusiastic!amateurs,!since!this!is!what!companies!in!the!industry!require.!The!process!also! focuses!on!how!and!where! small!outdoor! companies! should!involve!users!and!give!recommendations!on!how!many!users!that!should!be!involved!in!a! product! development! process,! different! from! what! the! theory! recommend.! The!process! also! builds! on! that! ideas! should! come! from! the! users! first,! and! then! being!further!developed!by!the!company's!product!developers.!The!degree!of!communication!between!users!and!the!company!is!shown!and!the!report!clarifies!the!user!involvement!intensity!in!product!development!processes.!!The!involvement!process!that!has!been!developed!has!also!been!summarized!in!a!guide!that! can!be!used!by! a! company!on! a!daily!basis.!This! contains! information!on,! among!other!things,!how!users!are!selected!and!how!to!plan!a!workshop.!!! !.

In this examination paper I?m using the qualitative method: phenomenographic analysis to present twenty educated and working pre-school teachers opinions about being outdoors in Swedish pre-school. The purpose is to describe the variation between different pre-school teachers? opinions, not to focus on wrong or right.    The paper starts with a review over the opinions presented by the literature on the subject.

I denna studie beskriver jag problemet hur planering och zonering av destinationer för friluftsliv och ekoturism kan göras. Genom att utveckla och analysera teori och resultat abduktivt har analys och slutsats utvecklats med Kristianstad Vattenrike som utvalt studerat område. Kristianstad Vattenrike är ett av Sveriges fem biosfärområden och sträcker sig nästan över hela Kristianstad kommun med en mångfald av olika naturtyper. Som utnämnt biosfärområde ska man bidra till hållbar utveckling och utveckla området utefter ledorden bevara, utveckla och stödja och planera området i kärnområden, buffertzoner och utvecklingsområden.För att uppnå studiens syfte att abduktivt visa i teoretisk och analytisk växelverkan hur man kan planera och zonera en destination för friluftsliv och ekoturism så har jag valt att beskriva hur planering av friluftsliv kan göras, om zonering, om planering för ekoturism och rural turismutveckling. Dessa har utvecklats abduktivt med utvald kvalitativ metod för analys av en destination, Kristianstad Vattenrike, och hur det planeras i praktiken för eventuell zonering av friluftsliv och ekoturism enligt tre intervjuer och skriftliga källor om Kristianstad Vattenrike.I studiens resultat och analys analyseras tre frågeställningar för syftet: 1) Vilka förutsättningar för friluftsupplevelser och ekoturism erbjuder natur, landskap samt infrastruktur i Kristianstad Vattenrike?, 2) Hur planeras det för friluftsliv och ekoturism i Kristianstad Vattenrike? och 3) Varför ska zonering användas som medel för att planera hållbara destinationer för friluftsliv och ekoturism?Här beskrivs vilket brett utbud av naturtyper som erbjuds i ett friluftsliv som hela tiden utvecklas med behov och efterfrågan på området, men också med produktutveckling.

In this examination paper I?m using the qualitative method: phenomenographic analysis to present twenty educated and working pre-school teachers opinions about being outdoors in Swedish pre-school. The purpose is to describe the variation between different pre-school teachers? opinions, not to focus on wrong or right.    The paper starts with a review over the opinions presented by the literature on the subject.

This is a project showing a proposal on how a high-rise building gains qualities similar to middle rise houses of 7-9 stories. The closed, isolated and often anonymous life in the high building opens up through gardens. The resident meet the outdoor environment on the balcony, or has direct access to a garden.Instead of moving in a closed core, the resident will meet the climate and outdoor conditions as soon as he or she leaves the apartment.The project consists of two parts, where the first is presenting a building proposal, the second is expanding the knowledge through background research. The topics are history concerning the skyscraper and the skyscraper globally, closing up with the situation in China..

Integration policies have failed to make diversity into anything more than occupying the same physical space. People of different cultural background still do not share their lives to any real extent. Attempts made within planning and landscape architecture to catalyst the integration process have mainly been focused on structural measures, such as residential policies. As for outdoor environments, non-verbal casual encounters in the shape of crossing paths are assumed to lie at the heart of urban social integration.The aim of the thesis is to question this assumption and, as the thesis will show, there is literature supporting this aim. Looking at the works of Gordon Allport, Lewis Coser and some of their followers, I find intercultural contact to require more complex ways of interaction in order to reduce prejudice and to generate tolerance and understanding.

Integration policies have failed to make diversity into anything more than occupying the same physical space. People of different cultural background still do not share their lives to any real extent. Attempts made within planning and landscape architecture to catalyst the integration process have mainly been focused on structural measures, such as residential policies. As for outdoor environments, non-verbal casual encounters in the shape of crossing paths are assumed to lie at the heart of urban social integration.The aim of the thesis is to question this assumption and, as the thesis will show, there is literature supporting this aim. Looking at the works of Gordon Allport, Lewis Coser and some of their followers, I find intercultural contact to require more complex ways of interaction in order to reduce prejudice and to generate tolerance and understanding.

Syfte och frågeställningarSyftet är att undersöka hur naturen påverkar människan, samt på vilket sätt företag kan använda sig av friluftsliv i ett led till ökade ekonomiska och hälsorelaterade vinster. Detta med föresatsen att friluftsliv är en kombination av naturvistelse och fysisk aktivitet.? Vilken inverkan har naturen på människan?? Hur kan en arbetsgivare tjäna på att erbjuda sina anställa friluftslivsaktiviteter?? Hur kan friluftsliv utveckla gruppdynamik?MetodForskning och litteratur har granskats för att svara på studiens syfte. En hypotetiskt deduktiv metod för sökning av fakta och forskning kring naturens positiva inverkan på hälsan, kopplingen natur och hälsa samt grupper och grupputveckling har använts. Resultatet av en enkätundersökning kring företags intresse av friluftsliv som friskvård, utgör även det en del i bakgrunden i denna kvalitativa litteraturstudie.Sammanfattande diskussionSverige förlorar varje år stora summor pengar på sjukfrånvaro till följd av fysisk inaktivitet.

Tidigare undersökningar av motivationen att utöva friluftsliv har identifierat motiv som social samvaro, fysisk aktivitet, naturupplevelser och avkoppling, dock har området mest berörts i samband med planering och förvaltning av naturområden. Den här studien har undersökt motiv bakom människans friluftslivsutövande i syfte att förstå dessa drivkrafter i relation till mänskliga behov. Studien bestod av 31 deltagare från olika delar av Sverige, i åldrarna 22-75 med varierande sysselsättning, friluftslivs-utbildning, civilstatus och nationalitet, varav 16 kvinnor. Data samlades in genom att deltagarna fick skriva berättelser om sin motivation. Det insamlade materialet meningskoncentrerades och analysen resulterade i att tre abstrakta motiv kunde urskiljas: (1) att komma bort från något, samt (2) att få inre och (3) yttre stimulans.

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 primary ambition of this degree thesis is to create a representative outdoor environment that surrounds Malmö Konsthall (Malmö art center) which reflects the amazing inside of the artcenter. During this work it has become more and more obvious that Magistratsparken, which is situated right next to the artcenter, ought to be incorporated into this project. This thesis aims to examine the possibilities of implementing temporary outdoor artshows on this site. First; is there any interest in exhibiting art at this site? And secondly, if that is the case, what are the spatial needs and how can you prepare the place for future exhibitions and still keep its flexibility for different kinds of art forms to comfortably perform at this site?.

AbstractTitle: The game of playing: A media ethnographic study of children playing videogames on a Swedish after school recreation centre. Spelet om spelandet: En medieetnografisk studie av barns dataspelande på en fritidsklubb.Number of pages: 46Author: Peter BrandbergTutor: Amelie HössjerPeriod: Spring term 2008Course: Media and Communication studies DUniversity: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The aim with this study is to describe how children play video games in an everyday context. In this study this context consists of a Swedish after school recreation centre. By combining three different aspects on the activity this study tries to understand how both the video game and the social and cultural context in which the activity takes place in influences it. This by taking one analyse of the specific game that the children played at the time of the study and how the overall environment is structured into account.

During my practical training I have seen what after-school offers children. Large groups of children and little staff, often results in that the children had to play freely until they go home. Few activities are offered to the children and the staff is busy looking after the children and ensures that they are not fighting.The purpose of this study is to find out how children feel about their leisure activities and if they think they are being offered a meaningful leisure. The main research questions were:How do children experience their leisure-time?Do after-school offers children a meaningful leisure and is it the children's interests and needs that govern the activities and the environment?How do the number of children in the leisure group affect the leisure time?The methods to collect data in the study are observations and interviews.