This essay deals with the relationship between the mendicant movement and the urbanization during the thirteenth century. The aim has been to explore the significance of the Dominicansand the Franciscans for the creation of an urban landscape. This was made through the study of the urbanization process in southern Halland focusing on the town of Halmstad where the friars were established. The importance of the mendicants was also studied through their absence in the Towns of Laholm and Falkenberg. To achieve this investigation in a contextual perspective material from different areas was used such as archaeology, history and history of science and ideas.

IKEA is probably one of the most well known Swedish companies in the world. During thepast decades millions of people all across the globe have decorated their homes according tothe style of IKEA. But just exactly how big and influential are they? Many, if not to say all,municipalities in Sweden wants IKEA to establish and build their famous stores in one oftheir Towns. But at what cost? When deciding on a municipality to establish in, IKEAnormally tends to have an advantage when it comes to controlling the conditions and terms ofthe establishment.To undertake this dissertation I use a theory based upon the inter-organizational theoriescalled resource dependency theory.

IKEA is probably one of the most well known Swedish companies in the world. During thepast decades millions of people all across the globe have decorated their homes according tothe style of IKEA. But just exactly how big and influential are they? Many, if not to say all,municipalities in Sweden wants IKEA to establish and build their famous stores in one oftheir Towns. But at what cost? When deciding on a municipality to establish in, IKEAnormally tends to have an advantage when it comes to controlling the conditions and terms ofthe establishment.To undertake this dissertation I use a theory based upon the inter-organizational theoriescalled resource dependency theory.

The number of inhabitants of the Towns and city centers have generelly increased, concurrent as the population in smaller Towns has decreased. In Stockholm, the migration is very fast and here is also the most populous place, if one compares with other Sweden. In order to respond to the increasing population and the pressure they put on city spaces has Stockholm's town a town building strategy that says "build inwards". It means that one stem seals the town with spaces and business activities in central locations. The increased population in the Towns and the densification of buildings leads however to an increased pressure on parks and public places.

The movement of the allotment gardens reached Sweden in the beginning of the last century. The allotment gardens quickly spread among the big Towns from Malmö in the south and to the far north of the country. Today, there are about 42 000 owners of allotment gardens in Sweden. This work will show the differencies and similarities comparing the original ideas of allotment gardens with how they are used today. The specific questions were; what are the reasons to acquire an allotment garden; is it used for raising vegetables and fruit or only for growing flowers; is what is cultivated there also gathered and used or is it cultivated only for the pleasure of gardening; and finally how the owners of the allotment gardens spend their time there ? by cultivating the land or by recreational activities. Literature studies were made as well as an inquiry at one allotment garden area i Lund. The ideas of the original allotment gardens in the beginning of the 20th century were as much based on the need of getting out of the aparment to a healthy environment, as cultivating vegetables for economical reasons.

This essay aims to broaden the understanding of intolerance towards people with religious and/or cultural Islamic association or background. This thesis has intolerance and Islamophobia as central components and starts with the question: In what manner do twelve pupils talk about Islam and Muslims in their third year of the vocational program, in small Towns and in the countryside? The survey took place in the south of Sweden in a rural municipality where a total of twelve students from the industrial, electricity and vehicle program in the Swedish gymnasiums participated in two separate focus group interviews. The essay will use an intersectional analysis to see where the students position themselves and Muslims in relation to each other and to society. The essay also contains a comparison of Islamophobia in the country side and in the city environment.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there was any connection between coping strategies; emotional and cognitive strategy and perceived level of stress among primary school teachers in primary and middle school. It was also investigated whether there was a difference between full-time and part-time employees and perceived level of stress. As a theoretical background Lazarus' transaction theory of stress was used as an explanation of mental stress, Lazarus coping strategies for stress and Karasek?s and Theorell?s model of psychosocial work environment was used to explain unhealthy at work. To measure coping we used Coping inventory resources and to measure the stress we used Percieved stress scale.

In a time of increasing urbanization the human tenure effects on the land has lead to a decrease and fragmentation of areas that are valuable to urban wildlife. These actions have had a detrimental effect on the species and habitats that exist in cities and Towns.This paper investigates, through the study of relevant literature and the undertaking of interviews and field visits, the role that biodiversity plays in our society. The current attitude towards urban biodiversity and the responsibility for its promotion within the landscape architect profession has been explored.This paper includes three English case studies and a design proposal investigating how one can work to promote biodiversity on a smaller scale.This paper concludes that urban biodiversity is multi-functional ? being of ecological, social and cultural significance. The landscape architecture profession must be aware of the need to combine a variety of different factors such as economical, social and environmental aspects.

The amount of electricity is limited in Namibia and the large distance between Towns andvillages complicates the energy supply in the country. Therefore an alternative way to provideaccess to appropriate energy technologies is needed. The Government of the Republic ofNamibia (GRN) has adopted an approach of helping off-grid households by establishing EnergyShops in each region in Namibia and these shops are going to sell basic renewable energy andenergy efficient products. The Renewable Energy Efficiency Institute in Namibia (REEEI), theinitiator of this thesis, is coordinating the establishment of these Energy Shops.The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the needs of energy products for the Namibianpopulation and develop an assessment method for the Energy Shop in how to select appropriateenergy products already on the world market. The purpose was also to develop a method forchoosing an Energy Shop.

The purpose of this paper is to see how politicians use Internet communication in their daily work and how they use it to interact with citizens of Vasteras city. To reach my conclusions I used both theoretical methods such as literature studies and qualitative interviews with the Towns 11 trustees. Accoarding to this study the politicians saw not only a lot of potentials and advantages in Internet communication but also many difficulties and obstacles. In this case the cons far exceeded the pros. One of the main reason is the bad experiences which caused by rasist attacks/threats made to politicians and also the difficulties in handling of sensitiv documents which was seen as a stress factor.

In 2011, the Swedish National Agency of Education introduced a new national curriculum including the compulsory school and upper secondary school. The new curriculum has been widely discussed by media and in the schools. This essay aims towards investigating how four History teachers in two upper secondary schools have experienced the introduction to the new curriculum, and whether they believe that the new curriculum has affected their teaching practice. The investigation conducted in this essay is based on four semi-structured interviews with four History teachers who work at two upper secondary schools situated in different Towns of Sweden. The results of the investigation indicate that the interviewed teachers have experienced the transitional period between different curricula to have worked well even if it has been time demanding and also has increased their work effort.

Product sharing systems is recently starting to become a more common phenomenon. Carpools exist in more than 40 Swedish Towns and both Stockholm and Gothenburg have established bicycle sharing systems. Other products for which sharing systems have been established throughout Sweden are clothing and tools. From the point of view of the consumer, product sharing systems is a form of consumption which can be placed somewhere in between renting and privately owning a product, where the consumers usually pay a membership fee or a monthly fee to have access to the products whenever they need them. The concept is relatively new, and there are many products for which product sharing systems do not exist.

This report describes a comparative study about reading- and writing development in ?A-Towns school? in The Gambia and in ?Villaskolan? in Sweden.The purpose of this study is to compare two teachers in Sweden with two teachers and two volunteers from the school in Gambia, with focus on their thoughts and methods on teaching reading and writing at each school and in their social context. The aim is also to observe and describe how classroom environment at both schools can encourage students to read and write.The theoretical base of this study is rooted in a sociocultural perspective but I have also chosen to illuminate behaviorism and cognitivism. The study is qualitative and the main research methods are interviews and observations of the classrooms.My conclusions are, even though considerable differences in approach and conditions, teachers in both schools work hard and show dedication towards their students.Another finding is that teachers use different techniques and working methods to achieve the same goal -to teach their students to read and write based on what is required of them in their cultural and social context. The different ways of teaching have been caused by the existence of different perceived needs based on culture and tradition.One conclusion is also that read and write requirements for students in the Gambia and Sweden are different from each other.

It is a difficult task to define the little word ?modernity?. One may argue quite a lot about what modernity is as well as when modernity breaks trough. The burgess class was the group who initiated modernity in most cases. Since these people mainly dwelled in the cities it was in the cities were modernity started.

The purpose of this study is to analyze how places can be marketed through tourism brochures. The study is based on a discourse analysis and texts and pictures from three brochures, which come from the region of Småland in Sweden, have been analyzed. The first brochure is from Visit Småland, the second from Vetlanda municipality and the third from Värnamo municipality. With the rise of globalization one of the consequences has been the increased opportunity for tourists to visit places all over the world, which also resulted in a greater competition between places than before. One reaction to this has been the increased marketing of each place unique characteristics in the tourist brochures.