This thesis concerns how local governments use the concept Sustainable development, and what the concept means. The concept of Agenda 21 and local Agenda 21 will also be discussed in this essay, because it's an instrument for local governments to specify their work towards Sustainable development. I have interviewed civil servants in leading positions in the municipalities? work with environmental questions and Sustainable development. In the choice of method for this thesis, I use the qualitative method and for the interviews I chose the ?semi structure way of interviewing?.This thesis shows that local governments? implementation of Sustainable development and Agenda 21 differ between the municipalities.

Sustainability has become more interesting to several companies through the last years, the trend attracts lots of attention around sustainability. Sustainable development means different to different people. The most frequent definition that we have found and which we believes compare with our definition of Sustainable development.?a social change which satisfies daily needs without endanger next generation?s possibilities to satisfy their needs?.We have in this project commence from the English word sustainability and establish our own apprehension of its meaning, in the Swedish translation we have chose to call it Sustainable development.This study is a part of an extensive project which is going on around the world and the material of the empirical study is designed after the international variation.Our study on over fifty small and medium sized enterprises has got the conclusion about what they think of Sustainable development. We have compiled their answers and then the answers have been divided in three main categories.These main categories are:? Environmental-? Social-? Economic sustainabilityWe have also described what kind of obstacles which can be considered as standstill?s in the work with Sustainable development, we have been summery them in three main categories:? Time? Cost? KnowledgeWe have seen that enterprises mostly see it as an competitive advantage to work with the main categories which is included in Sustainable development, but the three standstill?s makes it difficult fore them to reach right up to Sustainable development..

The design of buildings is today considered to be crucial for obtaining Sustainable development. Research concerning sustainable building is considered to be a Swedish area of strength and development projects as Hammarby Sjöstad and Bo01 are often pointed out as Swedish prime examples of sustainable building. Some still argue though, that that these projects should not be presented as sustainable, due to its incompetence to meet their objectives. This contradiction has attracted my curiosity. By doing this study I hope to gain understanding about the difficulties Bo01 and Hammarby Sjöstad are surrounded with and its significance for Sustainable development.

The concept of Sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of Sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of Sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define Sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

The purpose of this study is to find out teachers and students thoughts about Sustainable development. Research shows that Sustainable development should be a part of all education. When this is the case, the student´s will develop a competence to act in this matter. This is important so student´s encourages to act and make decisions based on knowledge about Sustainable development. This field investigation is based on four interviews with teachers and eleven interviews with student´s. The result shows that the teachers has learned a lot about the concept, and in different ways realizated this in their teaching.

The concept of Sustainable development is a challenge that demands cooperation from all levels of society for it to be successful. The focus for this thesis is how politicians within the local councils understand the concept of Sustainable development and how they implement it in political decision-making.The basis for the study is a questionnaire that was distributed to 303 local politicians in three municipalities of varying size in Southern Sweden. The study concentrates on departments within the local councils that are directly connected to the Swedish environmental law and the Swedish planning and construction law. One of the primary goals with the aforementioned laws is the achievement of Sustainable development within one generation.The outcome of the study was that over half of the local politicians could correctly define Sustainable development according to the World Commission on Environment and Development?s (WCED) definition.

In June 2006 the Council of the European Union agreed on the review of the EU Sustainable development strategy. This renewed strategy voices a commitment to Sustainable development that includes a diverse list of safeguarded interests. Sustainability is to be attained in the spheres of democracy, solidarity, the rule of law, gender equality and at the same time it should promote a dynamic economy. Given this multifunctional application of Sustainable development, curiosity may soon give rise to questions such as; What is the legal significance of the concept? Is it to be considered a general principle of Community law? And can it be used as an instrument in adjudication and legal reasoning? Anyone who looks deeper into the concept of Sustainable development is soon to find a labyrinthine complex of ideas, expressions and opinions.

The purpose of this report was to investigate how the Umeå School of Business and Economics at Umeå university can work to increase the share of courses and programmes that discuss Sustainable development. Furthermore the purpose was to develop an action plan that can be used to increase that share. Methods used were a questionnaire directed towards the educators at the Umeå School of Business and Economics and an assessment of the content of courses and programmes connected to the Umeå School of Business and Economics. There was no clear structured way of working with education for Sustainable development, but at the same time there was a will to integrate Sustainable development in the education. Curricula were according to the educators an important tool to achieve this integration, their experience were that there are not enough time, people and money to work with Sustainable development in the education and they would like to see more clear directions from the management.

Sustainable urban development is a concept that has become increasingly important as the urbanization continues and more and more challenges are focused to the cities.  The Swedish government and authorities regulates and sets goals for how a sustainable urban development is to be achieved. These laws and goals are vaguely defined, which leads to disputes between the actors about how the term should be interpreted. By examining Västermalms Strand, an urban development project in Stockholm, this study strives to describe how involved actors interpret the concept of sustainable urban development and what the consequences of this are for urban development in Stockholm from an ecological, social and economic perspective. A case study has been carried out where a document study and interviews have been conducted. The interviews were conducted with four key actors from the private and public sector.

The design of buildings is today considered to be crucial for obtaining Sustainable development. Research concerning sustainable building is considered to be a Swedish area of strength and development projects as Hammarby Sjöstad and Bo01 are often pointed out as Swedish prime examples of sustainable building. Some still argue though, that that these projects should not be presented as sustainable, due to its incompetence to meet their objectives. This contradiction has attracted my curiosity. By doing this study I hope to gain understanding about the difficulties Bo01 and Hammarby Sjöstad are surrounded with and its significance for Sustainable development.

Environmental issues and Sustainable development is a high priority in today?s society and has received substantial attention lately. In the inaugural speech it is expressed that the goal for the IT?politics is a sustainable information society for everyone, which can be achieved by using IT to support sustainable growth. The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications has developed a document which outlines three specific proposals on what the government should focus on during a three?year period (2008?2010) that with the use of IT will contribute to a sustainable society.

The aim of this thesis is to study discursive change in the Swedish environmental political discourse between 1987-2005. The text of three Swedish budget propositions are analysed for this purpose.The results from the analysis are related to a few relevant theoretical perspectives that hold partly different views on what constitutes ?Sustainable development? and ?ecological modernization?. Through these theories the thesis continues the discussion around the two central but somewhat blurry terms Sustainable development and ecological modernization. The aim of this discussion is to conclude whether the discursive change in Swedish environmental politics can be said to go more in the direction of Sustainable development or ecological modernization, or if elements of both perspectives can be found.The analysis shows that the Swedish environmental discourse has come to include more and more political fields such as general welfare politics, during the period.

This master thesis is a study of how city cemeteries can be used and contributes to a socially sustainable urban development. Today Sustainable development and sustainable urban development is something that more or less every organization is working with. Therefore it is also relevant to integrate our cemeteries in this work so that they can become a part of the sustainable urban development process.The thesis gives a basic understanding of sustainability as a concept and also defines socially sustainable (urban) development. The work then immerse itself in various types of park structures and how the relationship between the human individual and the public space work, to satisfy the needs that different people have.The literature study that has been made is also the base for the design of the walking interview that has been made for the two city cemeteries. The cemeteries that where studied where the Assistens cemetery in Copenhagen and the Eastern cemetery in Gothenburg.

This paper contains an analysis that sets out to investigate how Sustainable development is portrayed in textbooks used in gymnasium level civics education. The study covers three textbooks, all in current use. The paper sets out to explore the relationship between the books chapters on economics and those about environmental issues. The sum of these two parts is in the context supposed to make up the books big picture of green Sustainable development, i.e. the ecological aspect of Sustainable development. An analytical model will be used to categorise and compare the three textbooks.The method chosen for this is analysis of ideas by use of ideal types.

In this study environmental work in the Swedish hotel chain "Scandic" is investigated. Earlier studies point out sustainability and different environmental certificate programs as essential for the housing sector to contribute to sustainable tourism. The purpose and willingness to fulfill such a mission has been investigated by interviewing central actors in the hotel chain. The result shows that there is a desire to be part of environmental certificate programs mainly for the reason to be part of the system and not for the benefit of nature. Sustainable development is understood as being environmentally friendly. Different solutions to adapt and being more environmentally friendly is discussed.