Through a case study analysis of the Central Park placemaking initiative in Winnipeg, this Major Degree Project explores the process of collaborative planning with new immigrant communities. While existing research examines the potential of placemaking to promote physical improvements through collaborative planning, we know less about whether placemaking initiatives achieve the long-term social outcomes associated with collaborative planning theory. Located in downtown Winnipeg, Central Park is surrounded by a diverse multi-cultural community, consisting of many new immigrants. In 2008, the CentreVenture Development Corporation launched a placemaking initiative to revitalize Central Park. The community was a key collaborator in the planning and design process. This thesis examines the long-term social outcomes of this initiative. The main research methods for this project include key informant interviews, and archival and secondary source analysis of existing data. The research finds that collaborative planning processes offer the potential to promote sustainable inner city neighbourhood revitalization. Placemaking through collaborative planning can develop new institutional capacity for participants. By developing and harnessing relational, intellectual and political resources communities can mobilize co-ordinated action toward future initiatives. The findings of this research advance the literature and understanding of collaborative planning processes, particularly within the context of placemaking with new immigrant communities. This thesis adds to the literature of inner city neighbourhood revitalization and collaborative planning theory. / October 2015

The business environment has been changing as it becomes easier to interact acrossboundaries with globalisation. One of the key elements of globalisation is the culturaldiversity resulting from the cross-cultural and ethnic interactions between individuals.This constant growing globalisation challenges small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) to interact with different cultural backgrounds in their foreign markets and withtheir local staff. This cultural diversity can bring both positive and negative outcomes toSMEs depending on how they approach these challenges.The purpose of our research is to discover the contribution of cultural diversity in theinternationalisation process of a Swedish SME, named CodeMill and to understand howthis contribution is ensured by this particular SME. Our research focuses on two specificcriteria of cultural diversity, which are expressed as (1) the individual's internationalexperience as an employee and (2) the SME's social network abroad. Our studyprovides them with practical contributions presented in a final framework, whichexplains how to take advantage of cultural diversity to enhance the positive outcomes ofit and strengthen their internationalisation process.A qualitative case study was conducted with CodeMill, a locally based InformationTechnology (IT). They fulfilled the principal requirements in terms of employees andyearly turnover in order to be categorised as an SME. Conducting seven semi -structured interviews in total, with people from different hierarchical levels and spheresenabled us to gain insights on how matters relating to cultural diversity are handled inCodeMill. Secondary Data served to confirm information we received from theinterviews and functioned as an additional source of information.The study proposes a framework that has been revised from the analysis of ourempirical findings. This framework is positioned within the field of Cultural DiversityManagement in an internationalisation context. The gathered findings implicate that thelevel of informational diversity, which needs to be used with a high synergy level,determines the importance of the contribution of cultural diversity. This can be ensuredvia three key elements: leadership, research & measurement, and follow-up. Thecompany’s Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), especially included the three investigateddimensions of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking proved to be applied inCodeMill. They were considered to have a positive influence on the internationalisationprocess of the company. CodeMill enhances its internationalisation process thanks to sixcompetitive advantages ensuing from its level of cultural diversity. However its socialnetwork hinders the opportunities to enter new markets. We found proof that CodeMillbenefits strongly from connections at an organisational level (e.g. partner companies,international customers); whilst an individual’s international experience, gathered fromliving abroad or just having personal international contacts, did not significantlycontribute to the firm’s internationalisation.

The "college-for-all" norm encourages all students to attend college, and while rising college ambitions point to the effectiveness of this encouragement, differences by race and income in who goes to the most selective institutions and who actually graduates from those institutions point to persistent inequalities. With few exceptions, the majority of research on college access has focused more on documenting these inequalities and less on explaining how students end up in their respective institutions. In particular, we lack in-depth examinations of how students navigate the college admissions process, which represents one of the last hurdles between students and college attendance. Considering the increasingly complex nature of college admissions, especially for the most elite schools, the application process is a key gate-keeping mechanism in the reproduction of inequality in higher education, both in terms of who attends college and whether or not they finish (vertical stratification) and what kind of school they enroll in (horizontal stratification). My dissertation delves into this process and finds that institutions such as universities and high schools tend to reinforce disadvantages by failing to adjust their messages for different student populations. All students in my study are fed high college aspirations, but not all have the same "college knowledge." When less advantaged students attempt to pursue the dominant college pathway, like they see so many of their peers successfully navigating, they meet with unrealized aspirations and college "under-matching." Though interest in under-matching and horizontal stratification in higher education is growing, we know very little about the processes that lead to these outcomes. Drawing on extensive field research at two high schools and interviews with 137 respondents, I examine the three stages of the college-choice process – aspirations, search, and choice. I examine how institutional forces, such as high school organization and culture and higher educational marketing, lead students to engage in the college application process in very different ways during each of the three stages. I argue that the first step towards understanding more about why low-income and minority students struggle to graduate college is to look at the circumstances under which they made their college choices. / Sociology

Förutsättningar för inkorporation – upplevelsen av möjligheten är en studie, skriven av Hanna Öfors, som sätter fokus på invandrares upplevelse av sin möjlighet att bli en del av det svenska samhället. Detta har gjorts genom fyra djupintervjuer med invandrare som har kommit till Sverige i vuxen ålder och som kan betraktas som relativt sätt tillfredsställande fall, om deras egna upplevelser.  Studiens syfte är att teckna en bild av hur nysvenskar upplever sin inkorporationsprocess och möjlighet till delaktighet i det svenska samhället.  Dessutom är studiens strävan att identifiera vilka komponenter som är av betydelse för en upplevelse av delaktighet respektive utanförskap. Den teoretiska referensram som studien utgår ifrån innefattar dels kapitalteori med särskilt fokus på socialt kapital, och dels av teorier om delaktighet och utanförskap samt identitet, vilket har infogats som komplement till dig förstnämnda. Den tidigare forskning som presenteras lyfter fram äktenskap och samboskap som positivt för inkorporationen. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att det är viktigt att individen har ett högt socialt kapital inom minst ett fält för att hen ska kunna känna delaktighet och tillhörighet i det svenska samhället.  Att ha ett arbete lyfts av flera informanter fram som extra viktigt för denna möjlighet.  Vidare visar resultatet också, vilket understöds av tidigare forskning, att en relation, såsom äktenskapet, innebär ett ökat socialt kapital och därmed ökad möjlighet till delaktighet och tillhörighet i det svenska samhället. Genom att ta reda på vad som förutsätts för att en inkorporationsprocess skall upplevas som tillfredsställande skulle det kunna bli möjligt att påverka diskursen kring invandring och inkorporation i en positiv och mer gynnsam riktning för de individer som framgent kommer till Sverige. / Conditions for incorporation – experience of possibility is a study written by Hanna Öfors. It focuses on immigrants and their experience of the possibility to be included as a part of the Swedish society. This is done, by interviewing four people who moved too Sweden as grownups and whom, relatively speaking, could be looked at as cases of satisfying incorporation,   about their experiences of incorporation. The purpose of this study is to investigate and understand how immigrants look at their incorporation process and the degree to which it is possible for them to be a part of the Swedish society. Moreover, it is meant to identify the components that are important for them to feel included in or excluded from the Swedish society.  The frame of reference that this study is based on is built on three components, capital theory, concentrated on social capital, and theories about participation, alienation and identity. The three latest terms has added as a complement to capital theory. Recent research says that partnership and marriage has a positive effect on incorporation.    The results show that an individual ought to have a large amount of social capital, in at least one field, for them to feel a part of the Swedish society.  Employment is pointed out to be an extra important factor for this possibility. It is also shown that a relationship, such as marriage, leads to an increase in social capital. The same results are also proved in earlier studies.  By finding what is needed, for an incorporation process to be satisfying, it could be possible to influence the discourse around immigration and incorporation in a positive way. Hopefully this could lead to more favorable conditions for immigrants in the future.

The goal of this study was to develop a nuanced understanding of the first-year experience of Latino males attending a predominantly White public flagship institution of higher education. Specifically, the study sought to examine the relationship between their ability to draw upon and use various forms of social capital, and their persistence to the second year of college. Qualitative data were collected at the conclusion of the students’ first year and at the beginning of their second year of college and the study was guided by social capital theory. Results indicate students gained access to an elite institution of higher education and persisted to the second year through application of their strong academic ganas, rich familial wealth, and through the essential support of key high-volume institutional agents. Students engaged in a strategic and deliberative transition process during the first year that was customized to fit their personal needs and life experiences. Students engaged in discerning, tactical and selective friendship creation and management during the first year, and treated this exercise as a long-term investment in their success. Finally, academic support programs facilitated transition and served as vital sources of support and resilience during the first year of college. Research findings will be of interest to researchers, policymakers, administrators and practitioners who aspire to improve the college completion rates of their Latino undergraduate populations. / text

Cultural capital facilitators are an unexplored phenomenon in the higher education literature despite their crucial presence on community college campuses. Through the use of social capital theory, social networks, and cultural capital theory, this study explores the role that cultural capital facilitators play in first-generation, community college student information acquisition and ultimate success. Multiple qualitative methods are utilized to discover the cultural capital facilitator characteristics and attributes, social networks and types of cultural capital information shared between first-generation students and cultural capital facilitators. Implications for community college practitioners are also presented in terms of the role that classroom instructors play as cultural capital facilitators as well as the characteristics and attributes that these individuals can acquire through professional development opportunities. Finally, the interconnectedness of cultural capital facilitators' social networks and the domination of academic, cultural capital information are elaborated on for community college personnel in their examination of structural and functional barriers to first-generation student success.

Over the past fifty or so years there has been a well examined decline in socialconnections and many other facets of American communities (Fischer 1982; Putnam2000; Freeman 2001; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Brashears 2006; Dunham-Jones &Williamson 2009). New urbanism has been proposed as a tool to reverse some of thissocial decline in communities. This study seeks to understand the possible socialconnective benefits of new urbanism in a number of ways. First, a new urbanistcommunity is compared to a similar adjacent community that also happens to betraditional suburban community. The study examines differences between the twocommunities in terms of social connections, social interactions, and communitysatisfaction. Second, the study examines individual design elements of new urbanism to understand their relationships with social interactions and social connections. This study also examines community cohesion in terms of diverse social interactions and bridging ties. Previous studies suggest that bridging ties are more likely to be formed between persons who are connected with weaker social bonds (Granovetter, 1973) as well as persons who interact through spontaneous rather than planned forms of social interaction (Molm, Collett, & Schaefer 2007). Lastly, this study seeks to understand if any of the new urbanist design strategies examined are related to bridging ties. The findings of this study suggested that new urbanist communities do have more social interactions, social connections, and community satisfaction than do traditional suburban communities. The findings also suggested that four new urbanist design strategies: porches, community meetings, and mixed-use zoning are positively related to social interactions and social connections. Moreover, findings suggested that persons connected by weaker social bonds are indeed more likely to have bridging ties, however, they did not support the idea that persons who have more spontaneous interactions will also be more likely to have bridging ties. Lastly, the findings indicated that of all the new urbanist design strategies, only the neighborhood business center was positively related to bridging ties. Conversely, a negative relationship was found between resident's who use their porches and bridging ties.

In the unique post-war and post-socialist arena several recent studies onformer Yugoslavian countries indicate that young people confronted by challengesof risk and uncertainty are turning away from the national and politicalsphere. Instead, they often seek trust and opportunities in their networks and relationshipson a personal level. This thesis explores the narratives and everydaypractices of young adults in Sarajevo regarding their friendship sociabilities. The aim is to provide an insight on how friendships are characterised, experiencedand related to the specific social and economic organisations that influencesthem. Based on fieldwork carried out in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina myproject wants to present how young adults are reflecting and developing aspirationsin the light of their available choices and opportunities in life and how theyare using their friends in order to access various types of benefits and support. It is argued that in specific contexts friendships constitute the main social capitals and orientation points for young people. In order to explore and navigate through the different interests and agendas present in their community when it comes to personal education, career development and housing young peoplenecessarily choose to favour the reliance on their informal solidarities in form offriendships.

In the last decade there has been a substantial increase of new migrants into large cities in Việt Nam, changing the social, cultural, and political fabric of Hồ Chí Minh City. Rapid urbanization and land use changes in Hồ Chí Minh City have occurred alongside mass internal migration. The movement of people has become an important piece in the 1986 economic reforms of đổi mới and a main focus of Vietnamese public policy from the late 1990s until today. With the influx of new actors comes a new set of social interactions and negotiations between people in daily life that are embedded within a broader socio-economic framework. New liberal policies on internal migration have spurred great mass internal migration into cities which has several implications for not only the entire country, but specific to this research, for the social dynamics of how Bình Trị Ðông ward is managing the influx of migrants. Not only did this field research seek to explore the social relationships and integration among migrants living on the urban fringe but the issue of local governance and infrastructure provisions in the form of migrant housing is central to this research. In short, this thesis asks: what are the social experiences of migrants living in Bình Trị Ðông? What is the role of local government, if any, in managing the social and cultural changes among migrants? My research finds that migrants are each striving towards their own individual goals of economic gains, treating Bình Trị Ðông as a temporary living space, thus preventing a strong sense of community and social bonds from flourishing. Meanwhile, more equitable planning policies of prioritizing the needs of ordinary citizens over economic development signal a shift in local development policies. Yet the government’s shift towards greater participation has not necessarily changed the lived experiences of residents. Migrants here are oriented towards their own goals thus stunting interpersonal relationships and deepening social segregation, leading one to question what ties, if any, unite people in this neighborhood.

This study investigates the relationship between gender, social capital and resilience in four of British Columbia’s rural, island communities. Each community’s unique circumstances provide a distinctive context in which to study the interaction between these concepts. This study utilizes quantitative data from several sources, including Statistics Canada, BC Stats, and a mail out survey conducted by the Resilient Communities Project (RCP). This study also utilizes qualitative data from several sources, including two sets of RCP interviews, interviews carried out in the Haida First Nation community of Old Massett, and participant observation. The results of these case studies confirm the necessity of taking context into consideration in any study of the operation of social capital. Within this specific context, social networks operate very differently than in an urban setting. The small size of these rural communities means that the entire community functions as one social network, within which residents have ties of differing strengths. The strength of their ties determines their access to resources within the network, as access to these resources is only given to those who are accountable and trustworthy. Through visible and repeated social interaction, residents built strong ties to one another. These ties allow for processes of generalized reciprocity to take place, wherein residents give to others with no immediate expectation of receiving back, knowing that should they need help, it will be available. This process relies entirely on the trust built up through repeated interactions and the sanctions imposed on those who break it, and contributes greatly to community resilience. Women play a particular role within these communities. Unlike studies that find that women are disadvantaged by their social networks, the results of this study find that women have parlayed their higher levels of involvement in the social life of the community and the informal economy into beneficial social networks based on trust and reciprocity. In addition, their higher levels of education put them at the forefront of the new service economy with lower levels of unemployment and equal likelihood of self-employment, all of which contributes not only to individual resilience, but community resilience as well.