What is a city? What do we mean when we describe something as urban? In what way should we build the city so that we can achieve a good environment for our own generation and for generations to come? These questions are constantly of interest and they are frequently discussed. It is also important to have considered these questions when working with city-planning. This essay contains a description of and reflections about the recurrent questions in today?s debate about the city and city-planning.

Public concern and the need of responsible way of doing business have brought forward the issue of sustainability at the forefront of discussion in the last decade. Even though, food retailers are playing an important role in the economy, they are exposed for criticism by media and consumers for any socially and environmentally irresponsible business practices because, the potential environmental and social impacts from their operations are significant. These impacts need to be recognized and properly addressed. The main objective of this study was to assess the sustainable business management of a cooperative food retail business in Sweden, known as Konsum Värmland (KV). The necessary data and information on history and status of KV, and its practical activities concerning the implementation of sustainable development programs as well as the motivation and challenges encountered by KV during the implementation were gathered via reviewing different documents, research papers and press releases; interviewing decision makers and other personnel in KV and other researchers from Swedish University of Agricultural University who have investigated KV.

1.1 billion people are today living without sustainable access to improved water. The debate over the water sector has been dominated by the discussion over whether public or private actors are the most competent to manage it. In this paper the arguments pro and contra the two positions are presented to try to overview the debate and to try to find new ways to approach the question of the people living without clean water. By examining possible alternatives towards the discussion of public and private actors, it might result in some new approaches on how to move closer towards a solution. One alternative is local, small- scale projects which focus on the situation of the targetgroup in most need.

The importance of chemical use is enormous for areas such as agriculture, industry and medicine and hence a prerequisite for our modern society. In order to protect humans and the environment from the negative effects of chemical use, chemical regulations have been used at a relatively early stage in our history. The purpose of REACH, the new chemical regulation of the European Union, is to generate new knowledge of chemicals within the European market and to increase the responsibilities of the enterprises when it comes to risk management. Whether the enterprises will implement the regulations or not will be of vital importance for the realization of the law?s intentions.The purpose of this study was to identify possibilities and problems that can occur when a downstream-user SME is about to implement REACH.

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.

Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen iKulturvård, Ledarskap i slöjd och kulturhantverk15 hpInstitutionen för kulturvårdGöteborgs universitet2014:40.

The importance of energy- and environmental issues has increased, and the work towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions plays a major part. The European Union has set up goals for the membership countries to work towards this to happen. The carbon dioxide emissions in Sweden have been reduced the last few years, but there is still a lot to do. About 30 per cent of Sweden?s carbon dioxide emissions generate from energy usage related to housing, this is why the housing sector is of interest to examine.

The viscosity of air buildings is a hot topic within the construction performers, which the industry feel they have too little knowledge about. This study is mainly aimed against air density in apartment buildings and airflow measurement. The study consists of a theoretical reference, educational visit, interviews and a survey conducted among construction workers at Magistratshagen in Linkoping.Earlier requirement in terms of air leakage through the climate screen was removed and today there are only energy requirement for a dwelling in Boverkets Building Regulations. The difference between a passive and a typical air tight construction is that the passive house have a maximum requirement of 0.3 l /s m2 of air leakage through the building climate screen. The requirement imposed on passive houses is to minimize the supply of power and energy for heating the building.Air tight constructions have heavy demands on the performance and accuracy of everyone involved with the project. The client must specify their requirements and also be prepared to pay for any additional costs. The architect and building planners have to design the building with regard to air tightness. Finally, the construction workers are required to do a careful work in order to get all the connections in the building air tight.The study suggests that an air tight building is a closed system where no forced ventilation exists. There are no reasons not to build too tight as long as there is a functioning ventilation. In this study the authors ask themselves how an air tight building changes over time. No theoretical information has been found on these changes, but the respondents assume that air density decreases with time. The deterioration is mainly assumed to be caused by construction materials changes over time. The study shows that construction workers knowledge of air tight construction is mixed, which they themselves admit in the survey..

In a sustainable society the use of renewable energy and recycling of materials is of high importance. Wastewater treatment plants use large amounts of energy in the processing of wastewater. This study seeks to evaluate wastewater as an energy resource and to examine treatment plants potential to become sustainable energy producers. The study is based upon the internal processes of Himmerfja?rdsverket.

In a business environment where the stakeholder perspective is evolving and sustainable development is receiving increased attention, it is of importance for companies to adjust. The demand and pressure is exerted from several stakeholders who force companies to take action and live up to the expectations because if failing to do so, negative consequences will most likely be the case. The attention of this study is on ABB Power Products (ABB PP) and their environment and working environment risk management. The aim of this thesis is to identify and describe how perceived environmental risks are managed and what the incentives are to work proactively to minimize the risks. The incentives for a proactive risk management strategy are researched through both a strategic and operational perspective.

The Swedish stock-market gives investors an opportunity to benefit from the global growth while financing companies invests and contributes to a socio-economic development. Parallel to the ownership of the funds also follows a responsibility as companies in the funds affect society and the environment. The growth of savings in funds, combined with an increased focus on sustainability has developed SRI (socially responsible investment). Therefore it is interesting to examine whether responsibility is an exception, which only concerns SRI-funds or a general principle, which includes the whole Swedish stock-market.The results of the survey makes it clear that all the Swedish major banks actively works to integrate sustainability within the respective bank's business to achieve a more sustainable financial system. Thus concludes the investigation that responsible investments are a general principle on the Swedish mutual stock-market.How responsibility is integrated in fund management differ between the banks.

In this essay we have been trying to get an understanding of what Swedish charter tourists cares for when they are going on vacation. The Tourism industry is a major field with a lot of winners, but it also comes with consequences. The purpose with this essay is to get an understanding of how aware the Swedish charter tourists is of these consequences. We would also like to get a perception of how the tourists themselves believe that their presence effects the locals at the destinations they are visiting (if they assume that they are). There are several different types of consequences that can appear in the context of tourism, but we have decided to focus on one kind.

The Swedish commercial real estate market is in the current situation globally affected and is actively interacting with the rental and capital markets through international tenants and investors who are setting new demands on the property owners. The European Union has set new requirements as well in purpose of reducing humanity?s negative effect on the climate and therefore the international real estate market has introduced Green Building-certificates in order to decrease the real estate industry?s environmental impact.Certificated buildings with low energy consumption are a more common sight in Sweden these days. The development, however, could go even faster if there was not certain difficulties between property owners and tenants. Previous research has revealed that tenants do not always have knowledge about, or may have access to the economic benefits that a green building can provide.

An ever-increasing population, urbanization and visions towards sustainable cities clarifies the need of densification. When densifying existing urban areas adding storeys could serve as a residential densification, which would also meet the market demand for centrally located apartments. An increased understanding of the potential of vertical densification gives way to the aim of this thesis to increase the amount of centrally located housing.This thesis provides knowledge of adding storeys and how property owners can identify opportunities in their existing building stock.The first question, What kind of residential densification takes place in Sweden today? highlights ways of residential densification; development of brownfields, infill and adding storeys, where adding storeys is what this thesis then focuses on. The result came through a literature review that also clarified important factors when adding storeys.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the possible effects of an unstable ventilation system and its influence on energy use and thermal comfort. The report also explores how qualified personal working with HVAC view and handles system control.In order to meet the requirements in energy efficiency and a comfortable indoor climate control regulation is a prerequisite. With optimized increased complexity of the climate systems, it becomes more challenging to control the system and the risk of unstable control increases. No previous studies about what affect an unstable system can have on energy use and thermal comfort have been found.The report is based on several tests were the controlling variable has been increased until the system becomes unstable. Two different types of unstable systems have been investigated.