Background: In newspaper articles, we can nowadays read headlines as"Stop the robbing!"and"They pay extra tax through rent". A column in Göteborgsposten describes enormous amounts of money, pouring between municipal companies. Numerous of local newspapers have started to pay attention to their municipal companies and the transfer of profits from municipal housing enterprises and electric power companies. What are upsetting these journalists then? Both Hyresgästföreningen (The Swedish tenants? association) and Boverket (The Swedish National Housing Board) indicate that the fiscal purpose of transactions within the group no longer is primary for municipalities.

This essays overarching aim is to contribute to the theoretical discussion of transformation processes that are shaping the urban landscapes and further to problematize contemporary planning discourses in Sweden. Drawing on the concept of Foucault?s heterotopia and actor-network theory for spatial analysis, the paper seeks to analyze the complex urban landscape transformation process as an emergent property of human and non-human actor-networks seeking to transform and order space. With the district of Rosenlund in Gothenburg as a starting point, this thesis intends to examine how the cultural infrastructure - used by the residents and visitors of the city - are related to the city's planning and development processes. The case study is based on a boat (Rio Rio) in Rosenlund canal that is defined as a cultural infrastructure.

The white-backed woodpecker is a forest bird being critically endangered in Sweden. The species is dependent on older forests rich in deciduous trees and dead wood. The main problem for the survival of this species is present shortage of habitat. Conservation work on this umbrella species is at present focused on finding remaining or emerging habitat networks. Large areas are scrutinized in search for suitable habitats to be protected or managed for the species sake.

Kulturmiljövården är en viktig del av den fysiska samhällsplaneringen. Även om planeringen i första hand handlar om utveckling och framtidsperspektiv, så är de befintliga strukturerna och deras historia ett aldrig försumbart inslag i den planerade verkligheten. Hur dagens planering förhåller sig till den historiska miljön är till stor del en produkt av de rådande planeringsidealen och samhällsklimatet i övrigt. Kulturmiljöbegreppet har under de senaste decennierna vidgats, dels genom att fler typer av miljöer klassas som kulturhistoriskt intressanta, dels genom att det s.k. brukarperspektivet, d.v.s.

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..

Today's planning strategy, densification of cities, makes it difficult for municipal authorities to find spaces to build preschools and daycare centers on. The Planning and Building Act , Chapter 8, § 9 states that " if the site should be developed with buildings that contain one or more dwellings or premises for after-school , preschool, school or other activities, it should be on the property or near it, enough free space which is suitable for play and being outdoors. " Each municipality has to define the expression enough free space and a number of municipalities have established guidelines for preschool and daycare centers concerning dimensions. The guidelines measure the number of square meters of free space per child with the aim of contributing to a qualitative environment. But the size is just one quality and the issue is how other non-quantifiable qualities are taken into account in the planning process. The paper compares three municipalities, Gothenburg, Malmö and Lund.

This report tries to discuss the concept of social sustainability; what it means and how residential development can be made more socially sustainable. This is done by interviewing several and various representatives in JM AB, the municipality of Uppsala and residents of Åriket to explore how JM AB as a housing developer and the municipality are working with issues regarding social sustainability and what the residents in one of the new housing projects themselves think of these issues. The result of these interviews will be compared and analyzed with the prospect of finding common variables and hopefully ways of improvement.This will result in our own recommendations of areas of improvement either by broad initiatives or specific actions to increase the social sustainability. Areas such as meeting places, sustainable functions and joint efforts between different parties. During the work on the report we come in contact with several other areas of interest that we are not able to process ourselves and therefore recommend them for future studies..

Event is something that an increasing number of Swedish cities are investing in since it contributes to higher attractiveness of cities and generate economic revenues. New arenas are built around Sweden to meet the increasing demands to host such events. Event projects are carried out in Sweden and it is important that the planning phase is carried out thoroughly to get a successful project. This thesis aims to look more closely at selected organizations and how they plan their projects and whether it is possible to follow project plans in the event projects. Karlstad has many events that recur annually, including the Swedish Rally.

This essay attempts to show a relativistic effect on the representation of motion situations. A summarize and defence for lingusitic relativity as scientifically valid and some taxonomic clarifications is initially presented. The relativistic effect is measured by using the elicitation tool Event Triads, developed at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. The tool consists of a set of films displaying various motions. Test-subjects are asked to verbalize a situation in a way they see fit.

?Livskvalitet Karlstad 100 000? är Karlstad kommuns vision för hur Karlstad stad och kommun ska kunna uppnå 100 000 invånare. Tre av visionens fyra ledstjärnor, liksom den gällande översiktsplanen från 2006, åsyftar mestadels Karlstad stad och dess utveckling. Därför är det viktigt att poängtera utvecklingsmöjligheter för resterande orter i kommunen, såsom Väse. Väse är en landsbygdsort strategiskt belägen mellan Karlstad, Kristinehamn och Filipstad. Orten hade år 2008 1983 invånare.

Översvämningar har potentialen att göra stora skador på sociala, ekonomiska och ekonomiska aspekter i samhället och antalet översvämningar har ökat i Sverige på senare tid. Naturens miljöer klarar sig dock bättre inför naturkrafter som översvämningar på grund av att ekosystemen utvecklats under långa tidsperioder och är anpassade till föränderliga förhållanden, till skillnad från människans urbana miljöer. Naturens system är resilienta. Människan har sedan tidigare hanterat översvämningar genom att försöka stänga vattnet ute från bebyggda miljöer men sedan 1990-talet har synen ändrats till att låta vattnet ta den plats det behöver (kallas integrerad översvämningshantering). Klimatanpassning har nu blivit allt mer angeläget vid planering och stadsutveckling.

This report is a commission from the Care Unit of Hässleholm municipal. The purpose is to illuminate what is distinguish for contact persons at sheltered housing in the Municipal of Hässleholm? It contains three questions at issue. What are the expectations of the contact men? What information is given? How is communication between the professional categories working out?The report also contains a background with a brief Swedish history in care of older people.

This Masters thesis is concerned with the complex planning process of setting up a citizen bureau in a public library. The aim is to find out how citizen bureaux are designed and to suggest a simplified model of strategic planning. The planning process is studied from a business perspective in the library context, and this perspective is also used to study citizen bureaux and their written plans elsewhere. A combination of qualitative methods are used: observations, focus group discussions and interviews. Observations in the public library showed a great need for an environmental analysis as well as structure to the planning process.

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.

Uppsalahem AB is a municipally owned real estate concern that owns and administrates housing for nearly 30 000 people. The company puts a lot of effort into reducing the energy use of their housing stock. This project is a master?s thesis in the energy systems programme at Uppsala University, carried out in collaboration with Uppsalahem. The aim of this thesis is to provide energy saving measures for fourteen student housing buildings in Uppsala, Sweden.