Densification is one of the urban visions for sustainable development - a vision that has become a part of the solution to the unsustainable sake dilemma. With the dense city land will be saved, energy consumption reduced and social cohesion improved. The dense city is considered to be ecologically, economically and socially sustainable. Applying an urban design concept has thus proven to be problematic. Density has been found to be a complex concept which is far more complicated than measuring how much built surface that needs to be covered. It is also not disputed what different degrees of densification mean and whether densification in itself is sustainable.

In this undergraduate thesis you will venture on a journey through the land of democratic values and urban planning. My research question is stated as: whether or not urban planning can show effects on democratic values and whether or not the municipalities in Sweden takes these possible effects into account when planning their city centres. You will in my theory part of this thesis be able to read about different views on urban planning and on democracy. Famous authors like Robert D. Putnam and Richard Florida will be examined as well as other theorists on democracy and urban planning.

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.

If one looks at physical planning in Sweden today one can see that while talking about densification of existing development, reduced emissions and careful use of important land, urban sprawl is a fact with development of sheer residential districts in the urban edges and shopping malls in each and every municipality. As sustainable development is an essential goal for physical planning to strive towards, it is worth questioning if the direction of today?s planning will lead to the goal. A sustainable development can be seen as an obvious to goal aim at. In reality the aim means a hard and complex work.

If one looks at physical planning in Sweden today one can see that while talking about densification of existing development, reduced emissions and careful use of important land, urban sprawl is a fact with development of sheer residential districts in the urban edges and shopping malls in each and every municipality. As sustainable development is an essential goal for physical planning to strive towards, it is worth questioning if the direction of today?s planning will lead to the goal. A sustainable development can be seen as an obvious to goal aim at. In reality the aim means a hard and complex work.

The urbanization of the world is increasing. How it affects bird populations have been well studied during the last decade, and comparisons between urban and non-urban habitats have been carried out. A common method for measuring habitat quality is to calculate the population density. This method is easy to use, but have been criticized during the last couple of years. In this study, data of population densities was compared with data on reproduction success.

If one looks at physical planning in Sweden today one can see that while talking about densification of existing development, reduced emissions and careful use of important land, urban sprawl is a fact with development of sheer residential districts in the urban edges and shopping malls in each and every municipality. As sustainable development is an essential goal for physical planning to strive towards, it is worth questioning if the direction of today?s planning will lead to the goal. A sustainable development can be seen as an obvious to goal aim at. In reality the aim means a hard and complex work.

The urbanization of the world is increasing. How it affects bird populations have been well studied during the last decade, and comparisons between urban and non-urban habitats have been carried out. A common method for measuring habitat quality is to calculate the population density. This method is easy to use, but have been criticized during the last couple of years. In this study, data of population densities was compared with data on reproduction success.

The importance of daylight for humans has been known for a rather long time. Applying this knowledge in the science of urban planning is not very common, at least not in Stockholm, Sweden. Living in a country far from the equator with great differences between daylight and darkness during the year, daylight gets even more important for our wellbeing. This study aims to highlight the subject of daylight planning and contribute to the discussion about how to include daylight in the process of urban planning. By critically observing a new built district in Stockholm and applying guidelines of how to use daylight planning, this paper shows how important it is to include daylight planning early in the process.

Urban densification as a planning strategy is of interest in the planning context of today. It is also seen as a part of the sustainable development. Urban densification as a concept is commonly used in the discussion of a sustainable development. Thus, the question about urban densification is an important challenge in the current planning context. A deeper understanding of the process which urban densification has developed from is necessary, since planners then will be more able to manage this challenge.

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.

This study shows how city planners and politicians in Karlstad plans different parts of the city, what type of model/ city ideals they use when planning, and how it is expressed. The study was made using a qualitative method, were a discourse analysis was vital for the elected planning document and blog posts. Qualitative interviews were also made with five people with significant meaning, who hold different positions in the city planning of Karlstad. In the produced material, it appears that the city planners and politicians in Karlstad are planning for traditional city ideals as a foundation in the planning, with influence from new ideas as for example sustainable planning and economic growth. In some parts of the city a modern and rational planning remains.

ABSTRACTToday's modern technological society is constantly evolving and house planning is one area that is constantly creating new technical solutions. By looking back at selected architectural eras during the 1900?s, the idea is to study and analyse three building structures in Gothenburg with a focus on quality and content in the urban space.In order to provide a background for the three selected areas, their history has been studied. The main question for the research is: how do different building structures affect the content and qualities in the urban space?The areas have been selected to represent three typical epochs in Swedish building history.

Stadsförnyelse i innerstadsnära läge. Utarbetning av en strukturplan för stadsdelen Rothenburgsort i Hamburg.

Urban planning in Sweden goes back to a prolonged tradition, and even since the beginning of the 16th century there´s been general plans for urban planning for cities in Sweden.Nowadays every municipality has a directive from the government to establish or re-new the general master plan covering the whole municipality every 4th year.The aim of this paper is to illustrate and shed light on the extent for the planning document and guidelines, and how they change from every active period and in what extent the provisional planning reaches its visions regarding the outcome of the actual city growth. This study was completed by studying the position of every apartment building that?s been constructed for the chosen area over the years of 2000 - 2014 and draw comparisons between the current master plan main visions regarding constructions ? and comparing the two separate visions to pin out the differences in the same subject.The result shows that there are some deviations from the plans but not as much as one would have thought in the city growth, and some deviations from the different planning documents. Some of the deviations was greater than others but overall the visions was about the same..