Public participation in urban planning is meant to increase democracy in the planning process. Even though all citizens have the option to participate in urban planning debates, few seize their chance to partake. This thesis describes a study on how user needs are met and prioritized in design processes concerning urban planning. The aim was to determine whether user-centered design (UCD) methods could be used as an avenue for public participation in urban planning and ultimately invite more citizens into the planning process.The thesis details a design process where a team worked to develop Farsta, a Suburb of Stockholm. The design problem was the question of how Farsta could become an attractive business location.

In a preparatory class are newly arrived students who have no or very little knowledge of the Swedish language. Some of the newly arrived pupils may have arrived in Sweden very recently and some of them have no or very limited understanding and experience of how the school system works in their country of origin. The purpose of this study is to find out how education in a selected preparatory class works seen from two SVA-teachers and students perspective. Questions related to my purpose reads as follows:In which way can two of the SVA-teachers respond in a selected preparatory class to their group of newly arrived students?What methods can be used by the two SVA-teachers in a selected preparatory class to their group of newly arrived students' language learning?How does the newly arrived student in a selected preparatory class experience their education and friendship?The study was conducted through a qualitative approach in a selected preparatory class in a multicultural school in a Suburb in southern Stockholm. Through observations on six separate occasions as well as interviews with two of the SVA- teachers in the selected preparatory class, and with three of the newly arrived pupils during a period of three weeks.

This thesis aim to investigate the living conditions among marginalized habitants of Suburbs in the Swedish welfare state. To approach an understanding of the complexity of marginalized urban areas, this thesis focus on studying the Stockholm Suburb Husby in a context of the May riots 2013.The research method used is qualitative interviews with seven informants, who have a connection to the Husby area.The theories applied to the empirical material is Gösta Esping-Andersens theory on welfare state regimes and Loïc Wacquants theory on advanced marginality, also known as ?The new urban poverty?.By observing the complexity of the Husby riots in a contextual aspect of the Swedish welfare state and the living situation in Husby, the analysis has shown that the Swedish welfare model is going through a changing process. This process means a shift from a social democratic welfare model towards a more liberal regime, with an increased privatization of public welfare and a focus on individual responsibility regarding the citizens own living conditions. Husby as an area is characterized by a low socioeconomic status, a high level of unemployment and poor school results.

In this study we examine five selected media organisations with different forms of productionplatforms that all appear in Stockholm's southern and western Suburbs, which are part of themillion-construction project. Their stated ambition is to present an alternative image of theSuburbs than that found in mainstream media. They want to portray themselves instead ofconstantly being described by others.The purpose of the study is to gain a better understanding of the reason for the emergenceof these media, their visions according to the media producers themselves, and how theyrelate to mainstream media. The study is based on a theoretical framework that focuses ondiverse approaches of alternative media and the journalists' role in a democratic society.The wide data analysis from qualitative informant interviews, with small observations as acomplement, showed results indicating criticism against the misrepresentation of StockholmSuburbs in mainstream media. Furthermore the results show that the overall dissatisfaction ofthis misrepresentation is one of the main reasons why the different media, which are bothrepresented by citizens and journalists, were founded.

The purpose of this study has been to examine reading habits and the use of the library by pre­school teachers in a mainly multicultural community, and also explore to what extent activities in the local library are aimed at preschoolers.The study used a sociocultural approach based on Vygotsky?s theories of learning and development and Söderbergh?s theory of early childhood language development, and was carried out during the summer 2009. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative, with a combination of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent out to each section of the municipal pre­schools within the catchments area of the local public library in a multicultural Suburb of Uppsala. Three short interviews were carried out with staff at the local and main library branches, as well as library staff at the County Council.The results show that, although preschool teachers find reading important in their work, many teachers read spontaneously and/or sporadically.

I gymnasieskolan florerar uppfattningar som till exempel att yrkeselever har låg studiemotivation. I vår studie har vi studerat yrkeselevers bakgrund och förutsättningar för att se om det finns belägg för dessa uppfattningar. Metoden vi har använt oss av för att samla in material är intervjuer med lärare och personliga brev från elever som besvarat frågor ställda av oss. Studien är gjord i tre olika skolor, en förorts-, en landsorts- och en storstadsskola. Studien mynnar ut i analyser av elevers och lärares utsagor, utifrån Bourdieus teorier om hur elevens kapital styr dess framtidsval.

The aim of our master thesis is first and foremost to win the competition One Prize - mowing to Growing: Reinventing the American Lawn, announced in USA by the organization Terreform 1, the first of December 2009. Apart from winning the competition we have also tried to reach a deeper understanding of food production today and its future possibilities. Our ambition to present a winning design proposal has to a large extent decided the structure of the entire thesis. Our completed and submitted design proposal - growforgold.org - is a way of addressing urban food production in a creative way, keeping the sovereignty of the individual in mind. Instead of presenting a place-specific design solution our proposal aims to create incentives and possibilities for urban farming to take place anywhere and anytime. Our submission to the competition represents both a tool and a platform which, put in practice, could make landscape architecture happen through the hands of the individual.

This is a thesis on how to develop and densifythe Suburb of Joanneshov south of Stockholm.Based on Stockholm?s urban history,Stockholm master plan in 2010, the currentdensity and sustainability debate, literarystudies, as well as a variety of analysisof the site it all ends up with a proposal onJohanneshov. The goals have been workedout during the work and has resulted inthat we want to extend the inner city streetand linking Johanneshov with surroundingdistricts, but we also want to create a wellused, diverse, urban area where the humanis in focus and a district that is easy to read.Much of the work is devoted to show howStockholm has developed historical and totry to put the future in a context, but also a lotof work has been put in the information andthe analysis of the site chapter. The plan proposalis still considered to be the work focus.Johanneshov is surrounded by Årsta inthe west, Hammarbyhöjden in the east,Enskede in the south and Södermalm inthe north. Gullmarsplan is a typical 40thcentury area with a functionalist structure.Johanneshov is with Gullmarsplan,the Globe an the Slaughterhousearea, an important node for the southernSuburbs as a place for communication,sports, entertainment and shopping.Today Nynäsvägen divides the area intoa western and an eastern part.

Mitt syfte med projektet är att vitalisera stadsdelen Husby i nordvästra Stockholm. Bryta upp zonerade områden och addera fler och varierade funktioner som definierar nya stråk, länka samman omtyckta områden och överbrygga platser som upplevs otrygga. Sammantaget ger det förutsättningar för ett mer levande stadsliv som attraherar fler att vilja bo, bo kvar och göra bostadskarriär i Husby.Centrala begrepp i projektet är mångfald, trygghet, flexibilitet och hållbarhet. Jag har arbetat med att identifiera, bevara och utveckla kvaliteter i kombination med att öppna upp befintlig bebyggelse som präglas av upprepning, slutenhet och rationella byggmetoder samt addera ny bebyggelse för att få en större mångfald och ett mer flexibelt utbud av både lokaler, bokaler och bostäder men även genom att analysera och bearbeta områdets struktur. Fokus har legat på de trafikseparerade miljöerna och hur de kan vidareutvecklas genom att bland annat addera gångvägar och skapa nya stråk längst tillfartsgatorna och samtidigt bevara kvaliteter som de nivåseparerade korsningarna mellan gångvägarna och bilvägarna erbjuder med säker skolväg och en trygg bilfri miljö för barnen..

This project investigates the cooperation between architect and engineer. The context of the investigation is the design of buildings for a sustainable society. The goal of the project is to further the development of the sustainable built society by increasing the knowledge of the interdisciplinary cooperation between these two fields. The focus is a close cooperation already from the start of a project. By involving both fields in the early design stages it is thought that the knowledge and skills of each field is better utilized.

In this thesis, a case study of Kungens Kurva in Stockholm is made. The municipality of Huddinge has designated the area, which is an external shopping-center, as one of its key development areas in the future. The municipality has established a future vision for the area, which extends until 2030. The vision claims, inter alia, that Kungens Kurva along with Skärholmen will become a vibrant Suburb. How well the values and aims of the vision are met in the current area situation is discussed in the case study by a number of analysis that carries out the existing structures and characters of the area.

Discussing light and lighting in the night-time environment of Tensta, a Stockholm Suburb built between 1962 and 1970, this thesis suggests that lighting should be designed for the outdoor environment as a whole. The feeling of safety and human perception are important components in this thesis. Starting with some comments on visual perception and how we adapt our sight to an interval of the visual input we get, makes it possible to understand that more light sometimes hides, rather than reveals, things. Amongst the dispersed houses, in the green parks of Tensta, this turns the pedestrian roads, lit by pole-top-mounted fixtures, into light tunnels in a dark surrounding. Talking about the feeling of safety I am inspired by, amongst others K. Lynch, B. Hjort and J.

This is a study on how a group of ten pupils choose their upper secondary schools (gymnasium). All pupils are ninth graders in a middle school in Husby which is a Suburb of Stockholm. Like the big majority of Husby citizens, they all have immigrant backgrounds and their time in Sweden varies; some are born here while others are born abroad and migrated later with their parents. My aim was to understand their upper secondary school choices through own and their parents? "cultural capital".

This thesis is a case studie of a newly arrived student placed in a regular class in a P-9 school in a Suburb south of Stockholm. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the class teacher for the regular class and the Swedish as a second language teacher are working with this student. The research questions are:What are the basic ideas behind the placement of newly arrived students in regular classes with no previous language skills?How is the language development for the newly arrived student according to the teacher of the selected class?What methods and materials are used by the teacher in her teaching to benefit the newly arrived student?s language development?The purpose of my study has been to investigate the teachers and the headmaster?s perspective on how the integration of newly arrived students into the regular class can be done and the decisions context for the placement of newly arrived students into the regular class. The study is based on interviews with two teachers and the school headmaster.

I have studied the Suburban municipality of Botkyrka, south of Stockholm, from a rural perspective. Through that I`ve compared how countryside comes into being with the planning and building of Suburbs. I have looked for a definition of Countryside, and found that it is often explained or defined in negative terms, as what it is not. In that it says nothing about what it really is, or about the qualitiies it has to it. Botkyrka is a Suburb, but it does in large parts consist of countryside. Apart from defining countryside and rural I´ve been searching for a definition of Suburbia, of it´s structure and the mental picture we have of it as a cultural phenomena. In order to understand the role that Suburbs have in planning I describe their history from Italian renaissance villas to sprawl. By opposing urban and rural, modern urban planning and how rural areas are created, I´ve come to a definition of rural planning and the making of countryside. To make countryside, planning and building should come from individual needs and desires. A relationship to the surroundings based on continous interaction between the human beeing and it´s environment, a constant process of shaping and reshaping. To put my thoughts to the ground I have collected examples of projects and ideas, that fits into my view of what rural planning and making countryside is all about. They are put in different categories according to the possibilities of influence and to what degree it is put into private hands. The first category is ?allemansrätten?, every mans right. That is the rigt to use private land as long as you don´t disturb or destroy.