Since time immemorial, nature has been conceived of as a female entity. This ancient concept is also a recurring element in contemporary Swedish horror fiction. The purpose of this thesis is to compare the feature of nature in the selected works of Anders Fager, Andreas Marklund and Frida Arwen Rosesund and in what ways these respective depictions rely on a tradition where nature is gendered female. The theoretical starting-point for this comparative study is ecocriticism and its subcategory ecofeminism, which are modes of literary criticism where the role of nature in general, and its female connotations in particular, are appreciated as significant literary features. For executing an analysis that goes beyond what is explicit, the exploration of these three writers? texts also adopts a psychoanalytical perspective.

The aim of this study is to describe how nature is portrayed in swedish poet and critic Aase Berg?s two earliest poetry collections, Hos rådjur (1997) and Mörk materia (1999), and how it relates to notions of humanity, culture and civilisation. The concept of ?nature? is problematized in a short survey of how it has been used by and critizised in ecocritical literary theory, which is used as the main theoretical framework for this survey, with an emphasis on selected theoretical concepts by Donna Haraway. As a methodological starting point, ?nature? is tentatively defined as ?that which does not let itself be subsumed under the human, culture or civilisation?, and this definition is contrasted with how the concepts are handled in the texts.The investigation shows that the relationship of nature to the human is a fundamental theme that provides a structure for both poetry collections.

Urban forests are important for people to get at break and be able to relax in a stressful world. Several studies show that we feel better through being out in the forest and historically this was the normal environment for us. As a result of population growth and urbanization we tend to spend less time in nature nowadays than before. Due to this development urban forests have become a central role in our society as a place where people can fulfill their needs and interests. The management of the urban forest is therefore important, especially for municipalities that own forest which is supposed to be of benefit to local residents.Falköpings municipality owns approximately 260 hectares of forest in the popular and most visited recreational area along Mösseberg?s southern slope.

This thesis is a critical discourse analysis of the vision of Malmös contemporary urban development. By analysing official documents produced by Malmö municipality our aim is to make discursive and sociolcultural practices in the constitution and construction of the city visible and problematicize them. To do so we use critical discourse analysis and theories on Urban Studies. Malmö is a city historically labeld as a ?labour- city?, with heavy industry as its main labourmarket.

Mitt arbete innefattar en "Urban building" med bostadsrätter och kontor där utgångspunkten har varit cykeln då jag ansett den vara det mest stadsmässiga elementet. Placeringen för byggnaden är Hornsbruksgatan på Södermalm där det med projektet blir till 130 nya bostäder och 1200 kvm kontor som är väl anpassade för cykling såväl som cyklister..

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 NIPF (Non Industrial Private Forest) owners in Sweden have very differentiated goals and needs with their forest. They have different backgrounds and some of them live at their forest estate while other live in an urban environment, and some are economically dependent on their forest estate while others are not. The heterogeneity among these forest owners creates problems for market actors that want to aim marketing messages to catch their interest. This is the problem background to the task that was provided to us as an investigative masters thesis for us. Their request was a plan for ensuring a successful marketing towards different segments of the NIPF owners. We commenced with a literature study based on market information and previously carried out similar investigations. We summarized the most important market information from the literature and created some hypotheses regarding goals and needs of the NIPF owners.

Using the example of 55 former towns in Greater Poland, the author investigates the belief thattowns formerly deprived of town privileges are the most likely to be qualified as future formalurban entities. This paper approaches the subject of urban deprivation and restitution with amultiaspectual study of the concept of urbanity. Since a preponderance of Polish degraded townspossess a prominent urban physical structure, the study focuses mainly on urban morphology as acontributing factor to urbanity. Other approaches include the central place theory, demographicconditions and the role of urban perception. Taking into account Poland?s shifting geopoliticalhistory the study also seeks to identify and explain spatial patterns of varying degrees of urbanityamong the studied towns.

Urban density is not new, but rather one side of the continous processes of change underway in the city. During the urbanizing boom of the industrialization, when the cities grew bigger, the first spaces to be built on were vacant and planted areas in the interior of the district. The gardens that once were there were replaced by yardhouses. The idea of urban density is that a dense city means less distance between residential areas and workplaces, resulting in fewer shipments and travelers, which ultimately leads to lower energy consumption and lower emissions. Urban density may lead to shorter distances, but not necessarily. In the wake of urban density the greenstructures of the city is shattered. The possibilities for green areas to contribute to the health of the city and its inhabitants is dramatically reduced.

The right to the city has lately become the rallying cry for many urban social movements all over the world to challenge neoliberal planning, gentrification, the privatization of urban commons and growing spatial and social gaps in city and society. This senior essay studies urban social movements that in different ways advocate the idea of the right to the city. The term right to the city was coined in the late 1960s by French urban theorist Henri Lefebvre, who promoted the idea of the city as a common, a space belonging to everyone. The right to the city is not ?a return to traditional cities?, but ?a right to urban life? (1996:158).This study focuses on the city of Hamburg.

Drawing on earlier research, and using observations as the method, this study presents a design of a nature playscape for children. Applying outdoor pedagogy to the fundamental structure of a specific location, the study proposes a design of a playscape, over a more obvious design, for instance one based around a quiz walk.The theoretical framework is Gibson?s theory of affordance, and the goal has been to create a "play flow". The study concludes that spatial rhetorics can be an important tool when teaching children about nature..

Uppsatsen behandlar temat urbana tillväxtstrategier i svensk planering. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur översiktsplaner har påverkats av entrepreneurial city, platsmarknadsföring och kreativa klassen som alla är olika teorier om urban tillväxt. Undersökningen utgår ifrån fem kommuner med en översiktsplan från tidigt 90-tal och en aktuell plan antagen omkring 2010. Översiktsplanerna studeras utifrån de valda teorierna (entrepreneurial city, platsmarknadsföring och kreativa klassen) om urban tillväxt för att ge förståelse för hur strategierna i kommunernas översiktsplaner har påverkats av teorierna. Den genomförda undersökningen visar på en förändring över tid som pekar mot mer tillväxtorienterad planering..

In the end of 1998 the company Holmen Skog AB was certified accordint to the FSC system with an area of 1 036 000 hectare. After that Holmen Skog AB has been working actively with the nature conservation in the forestry. In order to control the quality of the company?s nature conservation in final fellings they started a yearly inventory which is called BAKRUS (Judgement of ecological and culture care in relations to policies for a persevering silviculture). After 1999 the control was expended to include all actions in the forest.

Urban trees contribute significantly to our society. By providing ecosystem services and a habitat that other urban species and ecosystems depend on, both biodiversity and the people in the city benefit. Some characteristics that the trees possess include functioning as biological filters for the atmosphere and water, as well as positively impacting people's mental health. However, urban trees are challenged by stressors such as pollution and a drier environment, making them particularly sensitive to climate change. The goal of this study was to estimate the expected magnitude of climate change in Gothenburg and compare it with the current urban species' natural climate boundaries to understand the extent of the climate threat and which species appear to be most at risk.

The purpose of this study is to examine how risk is perceived by the urban architect's in the region Dalarna, as well as how this is reflected in their everyday work with risk and decision- making according to urban planning. The ambition is also to show how their risk awareness could be improved. The study is written in cooperation with Länsstyrelsen Dalarna as a part of their regional long-term goal to improve the region's proactive risk' and crisis management. The study is based upon 12 semi-structured interviews with local urban architects conducted during the summer and autumn 2007. The result shows that some architects are motivated for working with risk and think that risk awareness should be integrated in their everyday work, while others are not motivated and think that risk is more of a passing trend.