The structural rationalization of rural firms in Sweden has led to many new creative ways of developing companies. The agriculture sector is characterized by the need of capital in form of buildings, labor and inventory. The rationalization process has led to free capacity in rural firms when new technology make buildings and inventory not longer necessary for the production process. To get a better cost coverage this free capacity can be used to start-up new business areas that help the rural firm to growth.The study aims to identify factors that motives entrepreneurs in rural firms to develop new business areas. The purpose is also to analyze driving forces that lies behind development of rural firms and the forces that support or not support development in rural firms.The study is built upon five cases that all can be categorized as firms with different size and orientation.

Urban sprawl är ett problem i hela världen. Ekonomi, hälsa, miljö och jordbruksmark är några saker som stadsutbredningen har effekter på (Habibi, 2011). I USA började problemen med urban sprawl efter andra världskriget när möjligheter till billiga bolån skapades. Detta gjorde att fler människor hade möjlighet att flytta till enfamiljshus i förorterna och användandet av bil som transportmedel ökade (Duany, 2010). Stadsutbredningen i Sverige startade efter andra världskriget då bilismen ökade även här.

Kandidatprojekt Kontor och Bostäder vid Hornsbruksgatan. Att i en intressant kontext, vid både stad och park skapa en levande miljö där de olika nivåerna nyttjas för att skapa nya stadsmiljöer. Ett blandat program, bestående av bostäder, kontor och kommersiell verksamhet, som normalt är ganska slutet öppnas upp för allmänheten och disponeras i förhållande till grad av offentlighet..

Denna studie behandlar Turkiets turistdestination Alanya utifrån ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. Vidare om all-inclusivehotellens påverkan på destinationen. Syftet med studien är att undersöka de sociala, ekonomiska och miljömässiga faktorerna. För att analysera detta använder vi oss av teorier som berör hållbar utveckling och hållbar turism samt positiva och negativa aspekter av all-inclusivekonceptet. Metoden för undersökningen är kvalitativ där en fält- och intervjustudie genomförs i Alanya.

The Main problem: How small-sized manufacturing companies can create and sustain a stable position in the industry, which leads to profitability.Purpose: The purpose with this essay is to compare two small-sized manufacturing companies, Datek Industrielektronik AB and AB Micatrone to study which strategical resources each company possesses. At the same time analyse if the strategical resources are to be consider as sustainable competitive advantage.Method: A case study has been implemented in two small-sized manufacturing companies. The collected primary data derives from semi-structured interviews.Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework is based on The Resource-based view where the independent variables are the VRIO-model, resource tree and external resources. The dependable variable is sustainable competitive advantage.Empirical foundation: The empirical foundation is based on the compilation of the few conducted interviews with Datek and Micatrone.Results & Conclusion: Datek and Micatrone show both similarities and differences in what creates their sustainable competitive advantage. The management of both companies creates according to the VRIO-model sustainable competitive advantage.

The world?s population reached more than 6.9 billion people in July 2011. It is expected that the population growth during the next 40 years will take place mostly in low-income countries and the population increase will be 2.3 billion people during 2011-2050. A rapid urbanization is also expected to result in 57.7 per cent of Africa?s population living in urban areas in 2050.

The retail sector is in a continuous development. What demand looks like and where the consumers want to shop has changed during the last years. Market place, demand, supply, external factors and politics affect how the retail sector develops. To make a market place attractive a variety of factors have to be considered.In Hong Kong a model called Rail & Property is used, this means that the development of the subway is integrated with the development of the city. The model is both successful and economically sustainable.Today the supply of shops and services in Stockholm´s subway stations is rather small.

The development of our time, is due to great progresses in technology and an enormous ex-plosion of knowledge, has lead to an increased effort of our attention as a result of a boundless torrent of information . Higher productivity and efficiency in our workplaces and homes crea-tes fewer opportunities for rest, leading to a community where stress has become a national disease. Recreation is an important part of our lives in order to be able to deal with stress and is now considered to be an essential resource when it comes to sustainable development. Green spaces are therefore today viewed to play a considerable roll for the national health. Nature has proven to have positive influence on man which leads to a decrease in blood pressure, an increase in power of concentration and lowered production of stress hormones.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

This study investigates and describes the phenomenon of ?technical tourism?, in the case ofwind power plants in Sweden. The main purpose of the study is a greater understanding ofa field which to date has remained largely uncharted.Technical tourism is a type of visits to a production site, where the technical aspect ofthe production is the main focal point for the visitor. The definition of technical tourism isbased on concepts within ?Industrial tourism?.

This master thesis explores the nature of public participation as a central and most current subject in the field of urban planning. A first impression exposes a seemingly unanalyzed consensus on the values and benefits which public participation provides the process of urban planning. The city may be a concern to all its inhabitants; hence knowledge and opinions of the local public are of great importance for the urban development. But is there really something new to these assumptions, and are the advantages of increased public participation in urban planning always obvious?  By using action research as a main method, I have put myself into the context of the Swedish municipality of Nacka and their projects dealing with the development of public participation.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur planerare i svenska städer kan arbeta för att minska invånarnas bilresande. I studien har Umeå kommuns arbete med hållbara resor analyserats genom att studera olika plandokument som tagits fram för att vägleda den samtida och framtida planeringen.Tidigare studier visar att det finns ett antal gemensamma nämnare för städer som visar på goda resultat för invånarnas val av hållbara resandet.  Planerarna har haft olika angreppssätt på prioriteringen av trafikstrukturen i dessa städer. Det gemensamma för städerna med goda resultat är att de har planerat långsiktigt, med ett hållbart resande i fokus.Av Umeå kommuns planeringsdokument framgår att visionen för tätorten har många delar gemensamt med dessa städer, varav målen för hur bilberoendet i staden ska byggas bort är det tydligaste. Efter att ha studerat Umeå tätorts nuvarande markanvändning, uppsatta planeringsmål och politiska beslut framgår det dock att översiktliga planeringsdokument och faktiska resultat ligger relativt långt ifrån varandra.

Abstract In my work, I have tried to define and clarify the conception of sustainability seen from my perspective as a landscape architect. With a basis in literature studies, I have analysed and commented on different applications, contents and meanings of sustainability and endurance. This compilation is based on how a number of writers, researchers and authorities consider the importance of integrating ecological, social and economic aspects of sustainability in city planning. My perspective has mainly been founded on the anthologies and compilations from the 80´s and 90´s where Per G. Berg and Björn Malbert acted as editors.

The effect of climate change places demands on how we build cities. Cities have to be built denser to meet the objectives of sustainability but as a result of this densification city green areas are at risk of exploitationand disappearing. The question this raises is whether there has to be an opposition between a dense and a green city?Urban trees are playing a very important role in cities. They stand as the major part of the vegetation in citieswhich are otherwise dominated with concrete and stone.

The title Urban furniture for young people reveals that this paper handles two central phenomenon in landscape architecture; the form and content of the urban spaces, respectively the users and their need for an appropriate outdoor environment in the city. In this paper youth is referred to as 15-18 year olds and the paper is based on theories of their physical use of the city?s outdoor environment. Urban furniture refers to equipment and components in the public room which becomes furniture when people takes them in to claim and gives them a meaning and a function that is useful for the moment. The starting point is that the users, in this case youths, defi nes urban furniture as something signifi cantly more than traditional park furniture, bicycle racks and waste baskets. This paper aims to investigate how the city?s furniture can be developed to meet the youths need to see each other, move and make their marks in the public room. The theories about how youths uses the city are presented in the Theory chapter.