The thesis strives to reveal the dynamics between a central and a peripheral shopping area in Kalmar, Sweden. The establishment of larger shopping centers has become a hallmark of postindustrial cities. Cities globally are at risk of creating an urban economic rift between the central and peripheral shopping areas. By establishing major shopping venues around the traditional central business districts, cities hope to create a larger customer hinterland and thereby also increased economic growth. The aim of this thesis is answered by two research questions regarding collaboration and competition between two shopping areas; the central Kvarnholmen and peripheral Hansa City Mall.

Klimatförändringar och andra miljöproblem kan i framtiden komma att innebära stora påfrestningar på städer. Socio-ekologisk resiliens är ett sätt att förstå motståndskraft och förändring hos sociala och ekologiska system. För att göra städer mer motståndskraftiga för yttre och inre störningar har ett socio-ekologiskt resiliensförhållningssätt till planering ansetts givande. Konceptet socio-ekologisk resiliens kan också betraktas som en brygga mellan social hållbarhet och ekologisk hållbarhet.Denna uppsats undersöker ifall det finns uttryck för socio-ekologisk resiliens i svenska kommuners strategiska planering och om det finns strategier i kommunerna för att binda ihop social hållbarhet med ekologisk hållbarhet. Genom studier av teoretisk litteratur kring socio-ekologisk resiliens har fyra utgångspunkter för en planering för socio-ekologisk resiliens tagits fram och med hjälp av dessa fyra utgångspunkter analyseras nio kommunala översiktsplaner.Planerna har valts ut för att spegla ett genomsnitt av svenska kommuner.

This thesis deals with urban planning in connection with social and spatial integration.It´s a study of a new planning project in Malmö in southern Sweden. It´s an interesting case because this new, fashionable area will be located next to areas facing socio-economical challanges and stagnation. By using two theoretical models I analyse how the visions for planning a city are formulated and applied when policy is going to be operated. My models are ?the balanced community? and ?the dual community? .The conclusion is that the focus for Malmö and Hyllie is going towards emphasing the creation of attractive but segregated districs in a city.

In the near future we need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions significantly for the benefit of the environment around us. The European Union has de-manded a variety of climate and energy goals to be achieved by year 2020, the ?20-20-20? targets. With these aims, The European Union means that we must reduce our emissions from fossil fuels and instead increase our renewable fuels. With stump harvest in the forest it?s possible to increase the use of renewable fuels and reduce our emissions from fossil fuels.

Through millennia, humans have shaped the European landscapes. Agriculture, hunting andforestry have influenced virtually every ecosystem on the continent and formed what we todaythink of as the cultural landscape; a mosaic pattern of cropland, fields, pasture and forests. Thepast two centuries, globalization, industrialization and urbanization have come to pose a threatto the existence of these landscapes. European farmlands are now being abandoned at analarming rate, and the associated loss of landscape preservation, biodiversity and ecosystemservices is a concern to the scientific community and public alike.This thesis studies if the implementation of the relatively new conservation strategy rewilding(recreating self-sustaining ecosystems and reintroducing keystone species) can be a part of thesolution to preserve cultural landscapes and biodiversity in Sweden. Through interviewssupplemented with studies of published works, expertise from different fields has beencompiled to provide an overall picture of the capacity of rewildings as conservation method.

This essay deals with risk management and social risks, which have received increased attentionin recent years. Methods for dealing with social risks, for example within local Risk andvulnerability assessment (RSA), are currently under development. The purpose of this paper is toexamine if and how social risk can be quantitatively assessed and mapped using GeographicInformation Systems (GIS). The definition of social risk that the essay is based on states: "Theprobability of unwanted events, behaviors or conditions originating in the social conditions thathave a negative impact on the objects that are worth to preserve.? A number of social riskindicators that can be used for a spatial analysis have been operationalized based on thisdefinition.

Croatia became an independent country 1991 and has since then strived to reach a democracy level, which can lead to membership of the European Union. The purpose of this essay is on the basis of consolidate democratic perspective to illustrate Croatia?s democratic development.In order to fulfil the aim, I have applied a qualitative text analysis technique. Through analysis of books and documents, data was collected to accommodate a valid result. I have used consolidated democracy, with its five areas (political, civil, economic, legal and bureaucratic), as my theoretical framework to the data, to provide answers and develop an analysis.The conclusions show that the consolidate democracy in Croatia has developed a lot since the independence, and Croatia is on its good way to turn into a democratic state like other West-European countries.

In this paper discourse analysis on the Ethiopian National Action Program (NAP) to combat desertification is made. The aim is to describe how the overall image/picture of desertification, its causes, and effects and of possible solutions are presented in the NAP. The result of this analysis shows that the main cause of desertification is human activities mainly due to the poorly developed socio-economic situation in the dryland areas. It is indicated that an excessive dependency of the rural population on the natural resources, particularly land, is the major cause of land degradation and this deterioration of land is said to have been caused by the rapid population growth, overgrazing, forest clearing as well as past government and institutional failures. In addition it is indicated that the effect of desertification usually involves ecological changes that sap land of its ability to sustain agriculture and human habitation, therefore the most serious threat to human welfare.

Klimatförändringar och andra miljöproblem kan i framtiden komma att innebära stora påfrestningar på städer. Socio-ekologisk resiliens är ett sätt att förstå motståndskraft och förändring hos sociala och ekologiska system. För att göra städer mer motståndskraftiga för yttre och inre störningar har ett socio-ekologiskt resiliensförhållningssätt till planering ansetts givande. Konceptet socio-ekologisk resiliens kan också betraktas som en brygga mellan social hållbarhet och ekologisk hållbarhet.Denna uppsats undersöker ifall det finns uttryck för socio-ekologisk resiliens i svenska kommuners strategiska planering och om det finns strategier i kommunerna för att binda ihop social hållbarhet med ekologisk hållbarhet. Genom studier av teoretisk litteratur kring socio-ekologisk resiliens har fyra utgångspunkter för en planering för socio-ekologisk resiliens tagits fram och med hjälp av dessa fyra utgångspunkter analyseras nio kommunala översiktsplaner.Planerna har valts ut för att spegla ett genomsnitt av svenska kommuner.

In subsequent to Post-colonialism the African nations have dilated into different political directions. While some nations have established well-functioning democracies, others are still under authoritarian regimes. The aim of this thesis is to examine if civil society has an impact on democratic development in West Africa. Therefore the theoretical starting point is Putnam?s theory of social capital, but this study will also examine other possible causal explanations for democratic transition.This study will be based on a comparative analysis of Ghana and Guinea.

The purpose of this thesis is to cast light on the residential area Rosengård in Malmö which during the years between 1965 to 1975 was part of a programme known as "Miljonprogrammet", a project which was supposed to put an end to the housing shortages. The purpose of this thesis is also to investigate the social consequences in Rosengård, which arose as a result of Miljonprogrammet. Rosengård is one of many immigrant-dense suburbs in Sweden that by the media is given an exaggerated negative portrayal. Through our work, we also want to bring out and highlight the true image of Rosengård. The questions that have served as our starting ground include; what were the thoughts behind Miljonprogrammet? What were the consequences of Miljonprogrammet? What does the true image of Rosengård look like? What can the new government do in order to improve the situation in Rosengård? In order to answer these questions, four interviews were conducted with specifically chosen people.

In the constitution of Sweden everyone has the right of common access in the nature. Toprotect these rights, as well as the nature, in areas close to shores the environmental law ofSweden (miljöbalken) protects areas within 100 meters from the waterline. Due to amendmentin this law, Swedish municipalities have to present countryside development areas close toshores. Within these areas, which are to be displayed in the municipality?s comprehensiveplan, it will be possible to get exemptions from the protection if the planned measure willbenefit the development of the region.

The study is made in Nacka, a suburb of the capital of Sweden, Stockholm, and focuses on ?the parental school choice" that takes place when children start in first grade at the age of six. New differences in the number of pupils attending various municipal schools have appeared after reforms in the early 1990s giving parents free choice of elementary school for their children. Some schools are located in areas where most children have a middle class background, while others are placed in less attractive surroundings where the parents have a lower educational status, and are more often immigrants. Parents living in the latter kind of surroundings can now send their children to schools further off, but located in more attractive areas. This leads to some schools get an increasing number of pupils and others gets a decreasing.

The purpose of this study is to map out and to analyze the spatial variation of female representation at the national level in established democracies. The aim is also to explain the variation in the female representation. The main questions that the paper tries to answer are:1.How does women representation in established democratic parliaments vary?2.Why does women representation in established democratic parliaments vary?This study is a comparative and statistic study, i.e. a study that includes a bigger number of countries and where quantitative analysis methods are used in order to achieve comparative analyses.

I en överenskommelse mellan staten och Sveriges kommuner och landsting är åtgärder mot den kvinnliga ohälsan och sjukfrånvaron prioriterade. Som ett led i detta arbete genomfördes denna undersökning med syfte att undersöka läkarutlåtanden om hälsotillstånd utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Detta genom att fastställa könsskillnader avseende uttalanden om psyko-socio-ekonomiska aspekter som inte är av relevans för det medicinska tillståndet i läkarutlåtanden om hälsotillstånd. För att erhålla kunskap om huruvida psyko-socio-ekonomiska aspekter förekom i undersökningsunderlaget, analyserades 247 läkarutlåtanden om hälsotillstånd med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Den kvalitativa innehållsanalysen resulterade i fem kategorier med sammanlagt 16 identifierade faktorer som alla var av psyko-socio-ekonomisk karaktär och utan relevans för det medicinska tillståndet.