This study explores the meanings and understandings of home of seniors experiencing homelessness and the supports and services these individuals need in their homes as they age. Guided by interpretive social sciences and critical gerontology this study engaged with 7 homeless seniors living in a seniors’ shelter in the City of Toronto. Using arts-based research methodology, this study had 7 seniors make collages to represent their vision and understandings of ‘home’. In addition, participants were asked what specific support and services they would need in their homes in order to support their overall health and wellbeing. Based on individual art session recordings and collages, thematic analysis was used to identify key themes in order to understand what home means, and what supports and services are required for homeless seniors. For these participants home is a unique physical space with nuanced meanings and provides unique elements that a shelter cannot. In addition, these participants identified specific in-home and community supports they would require in their homes. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

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Jane Austen's novels have often been viewed as realistic portrayals of the time in which she lived. This paper attempts to modify this view by examining her work in the context of the novels of Samuel Richardson, the writer whom she reportedly admired above all others. There are many differences between the two authors, but their subject matter is essentially the same: the hearts and minds of marriageable young women. Richardson's heroines, however, are threatened and harassed while Austen's are free to experience without fear, and to learn without danger. In "Sir Charles Grandison or The Happy Man", a parody she wrote of Richardson's Sir Charles Grandison, Austen satirizes Richardson's timorous heroines and aggressive heroes; in her novels, women are self-assured and men are not frightening. An examination of the social history of the eighteenth ce ntu ry and the letters of Jane Austen, however, demonstrates that the world of her novels is not the one she knew. Her much misunderstood letters, in particular, show that her attitudes towards sexual relationships have much in common with those of Samuel Richardson. In addition, her letters illustrate the source and significance of her celebrated irony. Finally, this study concentrates on Mansfield Park, the novel that appears to contradict Austen's other novels. Mansfield Park is didactic and unironic; it has an oppressed heroine, powerful male characters, and a society that neither appreciates nor defends women. In Mansfield Park the Richardsonian inheritance and Austen's social and sexual views come together and provide insights into her work. Jane Austen's heroines, with the exception of Fanny Price, inhabit a safe place she creates for them. Her rejection of the dangers of women's lives, which Richardson depicts so well, is proof, not of her realism, but of her artistry. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Proper and dignified care for an aging population, especially those with Stage IandII Alzheimer's disease is a challenge. To stay and live in one place as conditions progress irreversibly is perhaps one of the areas where architecture could make a contribution. In addition to patients, the needs of caretakers and visiting family members play a role in the program for a new facility. As an architectural premise, the focus is directed toward an environment that is memorable, provides basic comfort, and instills a sense of belonging. Essentially, the proposal advocates an architecture made operational by providing spaces that enable deep archaic memories which seem to remain present in the psyche of Alzheimer's patients even in advanced stages. / Master of Architecture

A place is more than a geograhic location. It is the sum of the immeasurable and sensible idiosyncracies that serve to identify as specifically as coordinate points can. Places are filled with traces of what once was and as such, they are imbued with the possibility of pointing to what could be. This thesis considers the potential of place in inspiring Architecture. / Master of Architecture

This thesis project is an exploration of the sensory experiences through which one passes in the removal from the outside world toward introspection and mental clarity. The program consists of one large meeting space and four smaller meeting spaces sited in the Virginia Tech Duck Pond. / Master of Architecture

Title: Which is the student´s perception of the city? Aim: The aim is to describe and analyze how students perceive a city's image and the factors that characterize the city's place brand. The subsidiary aim is to observe the impact of the city's image has to attract students for residence. The research questions are: 1. What factors do students perceive as characteristic for the city's image? 2. What impact has the factors on students' choice of residence? 3. How do the students’ perceptions differ? Method: Data for the study were collected through preliminary study, an interview with the city's leaders. The pilot study gathered data, which gave basis to our web-based questionnaire sent out to the campus students at the University of Gävle. The study therefore mixes qualitative and quantitative method but relate to quantitative research design. Collected data were analyzed by descriptive-, factor, correlation and cluster analysis in SPSS. Results & Conclusions: The result shows that students associate the factors activity, feelings and environment as the strongest with Gävle´s place brand. The most significant in students' choice of residential location are restaurants, sports, challenge, site location and career. Various student groups have different opinions of what they associate most strongly with Gävle´s place brand and in their choice of residential location. Suggestions for future research: The current research examines the larger part of the physical aspects of a city's place brand which creates opportunities for future research to study the intangible factors of a place brand from a student perspective. Other recommendations are to conduct interviews with students to more deeply investigate the factors that influence their choice of residence. We also urge to test our model developed for other target groups in a city and a final suggestion is to test the study's research design and model for other student cities. Contribution of the thesis: The study presents the students´ perception of the Gävle´s place brand, important factors from the students´ perspective are presented in a new theoretical model. Practical use of this paper is given to the cities leaders by understanding what attracts student´s to choose residence. Keywords: Place branding, image, settlement, students, Gävle. / Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva och analysera hur studenter uppfattar en stads image och vilka faktorer som utmärker stadens place brand. Delsyftet är att undersöka vilken inverkan stadens image har för att attrahera studenter för bosättning. Framställning av studiens forskningsfrågor: Vilka faktorer uppfattar studenter som utmärkande för stadens image? Vilken inverkan har faktorerna på studenternas val av bosättning? Hur skiljer sig studenternas uppfattningar? Metod: Data till studien har samlats in genom förstudie i form av en intervju med stadens ledare. Förstudien samlade data vilket gav underlaget till vår webbaserade enkät som skickades ut till campusstudenter på Högskolan i Gävle. Studien blandar därför kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod men förhåller sig till kvantitativ forskningsdesign. Insamlad data analyserades genom deskriptiv-, faktor-, korrelations-, och klusteranalys i statistik programmet SPSS. Resultat & Slutsats: Resultatet visar att aktiviteter, känsla och miljö är de faktorer som studenter förknippas starkast med Gävles place brand. De variabler som associeras starkast till Gävle och är samtidigt mest betydande för studenternas val av bostadsplats är restauranger, idrott, utmaning, platsens läge och karriär. Olika studentgrupper har olika åsikter över vad som de förknippar starkast med Gävles place brand och för val av bostadsplats. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Den aktuella studien undersöker till större del fysiska aspekter hos en stads place brand vilket skapar möjligheter för framtida forskning att studera immateriella faktorer i ett place brand ur ett studentperspektiv. Andra rekommendationer är att utföra kvalitativa intervjuer med studenter för att djupare undersöka faktorer som har inverkan på deras val av bosättning. Vi uppmanar även att pröva vår modell på andra målgrupper i en stad och ett sista förslag är att testa studiens forskningsdesign och modell på andra studentstäder. Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen framställer studenternas uppfattning om Gävles place brand, vilka faktorer som är viktiga ur studenternas perspektiv och presenteras i en teoretisk modell. Praktisk användning av uppsatsen ges till stadens ledare genom förståelse för det som attraherar mest för studenternas val av bosättning.  Nyckelord: Place branding, image, bosättning, studenter, Gävle.

Denna uppsats handlar om Arvika i västra Värmland som bland annat är känt för sitt rika kulturliv. Kultur är ett differentierat begrepp som har olika definitioner beroende på vad man syftar på och vem man frågar. Uppsatsens syfte är att utskilja om det finns en officiell bild av Arvikas kultur och om äldre och unga personer har en annan bild för att förstå om kulturen har betydelse för platsens identitet. Resultatet blev att bilderna till viss del ser olika ut men även att de liknar varandra. Bilden av Arvikas kultur är ofta estetisk men olika individer snarare än olika grupper hade skilda åsikter om vad de definierar som kultur samt hur de identifierar sig med den och platsen. / This senior essay is about the town of Arvika, in Western Värmland, Sweden. Arvika is famous, among other things, for its rich cultural life. Culture is a difficult concept that has many meanings depending on who you ask. The paper tries to highlight or draw out the official perceptions of Arvika´s culture and whether the elderly and the young inhabitants have a different image and perception of Arvika´s culture. The essay examines the importance of culture for the (place) identity of Arvika. The study found out that the official and ”popular” images of Arvika on the whole are similar, but diverse as well. The images of Arvka´s culture are often aesthetic. The differences are individual rather than age or group related.