Currently, new knowledge domains and professions emerge as a consequence of societal changes that transform that conditions for work and work integrated learning. Integration work directed to newly arrived immigrants is one example of such a new professional knowledge domain. In civic orientation, which is the empirical case in this study, quality, standardization and dialogue are explicit strategies that impact the planning, organization and decision-making in everyday work. The interest in this thesis concerns the professional knowledge that is developed in activities aiming to provide heterogeneous groups of immigrants an orientation in the Swedish society. By making activity systems the prime unit ofanalysis and scrutinizing the ways in which integration workers make use of a stipulated course material and interactions in a specific context, the aim is to contribute to the understanding of the pedagogical and communicative knowledge that is developed in practice. The analytical approach takes its point of departure in a socio-cultural perspective on workplace studies. Three separate studies have been carried out in which the empirical data consist of observations,interviews, video recordings, field notes and documents from various integration offices.The results show that different perspectives on knowledge and culture becomes relevant in local discourses on quality in integration work. What distinguishes the integration workers professional knowledge concern seeing and understanding the heterogeneity of immigrants' cultural backgrounds and bridging boundaries.Culture function as an organizing element in work that makes it possible to make distinctions and organize a contextually relevant content that can be elaborated together with the members in the groups. Such work imply transformation of procedures and it is shown that the integration workers develop their knowledge from specific situations to understand the significance of textually mediate dimeanings in other situations. Knowledge is developed as the integration workers move between different situations and activities. It is concluded that the meaning-making involved in bridging between different cultural contexts relies on extensive knowledge in and about the recognition of the other and of interactions based on equal grounds. Negotiating agreements with the members of the groups about how common possibilities and responsibilities can be understood is central for respecting heterogeneity in the process and is at the core of the integration workers professional knowledge. Considering the future development of integration work, cumulative structures are needed that recognize and support the development of the integration workers professional knowledge within as well as between organizations and other related fields of practice and in relation to higher education.

Det förändrade medielandskapet i Sverige innebär att myndigheter måste hitta nya vägar för att nå allmänheten. Samtidigt visar statliga utredningar att medborgarnas delaktighet i demokratin bör ökas. Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att undersöka på vilket sätt kommuner kan interagera med medborgare i åldern 18–45 på sociala medier, samt om interaktionen kan öka medborgarnas delaktighet i samhället. Uppsatsen utgörs av en fallstudie av Luleå kommuns kommunikation i sociala medier, och undersöker både kommunens och medborgarnas perspektiv. Den övergripande forskningsfrågan är: ”Kan en kommun öka medborgarnas delaktighet i det lokala samhället genom interaktion i sociala medier?”. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk utgörs av Ines Mergels (2013a) teori om myndigheters användning av sociala medier, samt Jesper Strömbecks (2004) resonemang om deltagardemokrati. Metoden består av två informantintervjuer med anställda på Luleå kommuns kommunikationskontor, samt en enkätundersökning riktad till kommunmedborgare i åldern 18–45, där 106 svar inkom. Uppsatsens huvudsakliga resultat är att kommunen främst använder sociala medier för att sprida information och öka sin tillgänglighet, snarare än att interagera med medborgare. Medborgarna är mycket positiva till att kommunen använder sociala medier för att sprida information. I dagsläget är det inte särskilt troligt att medborgarna skulle interagera med kommunen för att utöva inflytande över kommunala frågor på sociala medier, även om de i hög grad är positiva till idén om att Luleå kommun vill skapa dialog och be om deras åsikter via sociala medier. På grund av att kommunens sociala medier hålls politiskt neutrala, och eftersom medborgarna inte är särskilt intresserade av att utöva inflytande över kommunala frågor på sociala medier, kan medborgarnas delaktighet i det lokala samhället i mycket låg grad ökas genom interaktion med kommunen i sociala medier.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis explores the emergence and proliferation of public consultative bodies (PCBs) in contemporary Russia. Created by the government and regulated by law, PCBs are formal groups of NGO leaders, academics, journalists, entrepreneurs and public figures selected by the state, that perform advisory, monitory and support functions to government departments and individuals at federal, regional and municipal levels. The concept of obshchestvennyi kontrol’ (public scrutiny) is employed by Kremlin to refer to the dual activities of oversight and assistance, which PCBs are intended to enact. First appearing ten years ago with the foundation of the Federal Public Chamber in 2004, there are now tens of thousands of PCBs in operation across the country. This thesis constitutes the first systematic analysis of PCBs in English. It uses a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach in order to explore the extent to which the portrayal of PCBs in government discourse corresponds to the practices enacted through these institutions in three regional case studies of Moscow, St Petersburg and Samara. It finds that although PCBs are presented by federal and regional leaders as means for citizens merely to assist the authorities in the performance of tasks decided by the state, in practice PCBs can enable citizens modestly to influence policy outcomes and occasionally to shape public agendas. They therefore cannot be dismissed as mere ‘window dressing’ for the authorities. The thesis shows that PCBs were created as part of the market reform of the Soviet-era public sector, in which processes of privatisation, outsourcing and decentralisation reduced the state’s ability to make public policy without input from domestic non-state actors. It argues that the limited participation in governance afforded to citizens through PCBs exemplifies practices of ‘authoritarian neoliberal governance’, a concept that captures the attempts by the state to control policy outcomes produced through new public participatory mechanisms arising from the marketization of state bureaucracy. Although the thesis focuses on the case of Russia, the concept of ‘authoritarian neoliberal governance’ raises the question of the existence of commensurable mechanisms in other non-democratic polities.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Jason Brody / Many cities are beginning to embrace the 24-hour city concept, where people stay up later, businesses are open 24 hours a day, and nighttime economies are expanding (Bianchini, 1995). Cities can reap social, economic, and cultural benefits by extending business hours into the night, creating safe and attractive reasons for people to utilize urban public spaces during these times, and connecting these spaces both physically and culturally to surrounding districts (Roberts, 2009). Washington Square Park in Kansas City, Missouri is an underused civic space identified as a potential anchor park for the city that could become a downtown destination, both day and night (KCDC, 2012). This report focuses on the nighttime aspects of the park, making it a vibrant evening destination for downtown Kansas City that could help boost economic activity, create new social opportunities and strengthen physical, and cultural connections to surrounding districts. Through a process of project goal finding, questioning and analysis, a set of programming strategies was developed and applied to a design for Washington Square Park that reflects the needs of stakeholders, relevant theory, and lessons learned from built precedents. Key components of a successful nighttime programming strategy for Washington Square Park include: extending business hours into the night; increasing the amount of retail, restaurant and building uses; establishing a sense of place with lighting; enhancing views; creating strong connections to surrounding areas; creating attractive amenities that extend into the night; and creating a space that is welcoming and safe with appropriate levels of lighting, activity and security. Through this research I have found that nighttime programming for an urban civic park can be an effective way of helping to create an active downtown destination for cities, benefiting the area socially, economically and culturally. Utilizing evening programming strategies in Washington Square Park can, not only help to activate the space during more hours of the day, but also create a unique sense of place that defines the park as an urban destination both day and night. By including nighttime programming strategies into design considerations, new opportunities for economic growth and social interaction can be revealed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / In deliberative democracy, attempts to reconcile questions of gender and civil society are deadlocked over fundamental assumptions concerning the role of deliberation and the possibility that exclusion and inequality are inherent in democracy. Normative theories of deliberation - encouraging free, equal and impartial participation by citizens are fueled by the power of reason. Reason giving is associated with dominant groups – namely white, middle-class men; passionate, emotive and particularized speech is associated with politically disadvantaged groups such as women, minorities and poor. Limited empirical findings indicate rational models of deliberation do not affirm theorized inequalities. In this case, female participants neither experience unequal access or treatment within deliberation. This dissertation seeks to provide a framework for resolving the debate posed by difference democrats over whether deliberative democracy remedies the problem of inequality by examining fourteen National Issues Forums public deliberations. One set of deliberations feature an equal mix of male and female participants, another set with more male than female and a third with more female than male participants. I examine the types of talk women and men use in deliberations and whether affective claims negatively affect deliberation. Ultimately, I find that inequality based on gender exists in most of the deliberative forums I surveyed. I argue that the type of inequality plaguing deliberative democracy exists a priori – before participants enter the forums – and then manifests itself inside the forum as well. The normative structure of deliberation that is supposed to screen or bracket out inequality and the strong influences of the economic and political elites just does not happen to the degree deliberative democracy needs in order to continue the claim that it is net beneficial over the status quo.

This qualitative study examines the participation of post-Katrina residents in neighborhoods of New Orleans’ Upper 9 th Ward. I examine respondent self-concepts and attachment to the community to gain understanding of how individuals participate in voluntary helping behavior in their locality. Interview data, brief economic and cultural examination of the area, and my observations as a resident of the Upper 9 th Ward inform analysis. The experiences of respondents suggest that there is a tension between an individual’s need to seek selfverificationand their understanding of themselves and others within their own neighborhood. Respondents’ understanding of the impact of their own actions and those of their neighbors reinstates theories of displaced attachment to local context in regards to local community involvement. Findings incite further research as to the division of individuals from their locality within the modern urban context.

Anyone who has traveled through a large metropolitan area is aware of the myriad of transportation problems facing urban America today. Urban transportation problems are highly visible and touch the lives of nearly every resident. Advanced technology strives to meet the increasing demand for more and better transportation, but instead if often creates more complex urban transportation problems than those it intended to solve. Although technological answers have, at times, contributed to the problem, the true source of the problem is people – their attitudes and demands. During the fifties and early sixties it was believed that we could build enough highways to handle demand and reduce congestion. Despite extensive highway construction we still are faced with congestion and the noxious consequences of automotive travel. Today inflation, air pollution and the energy situation dictate that we reduce transportation demand, especially in regard to the automobile. Urban planners, transportation experts and civic organizations are searching for ways to alleviate the transportation problem and plan for future needs. As metropolitan areas continue to search for answers to transportation problems, transportation planners and urban theorists are busy developing technological and humanistic responses to this increasingly difficult situation. Their knowledge and experience has been difficult to communicate to students by conventional instructional strategies. Therefore a simulation game format has been developed for use as an instructional and training technique. METRAPLAN, an urban transportation planning simulation game, explores both the transportation dilemma we face today and the alternatives which may shape urban transportation in the future.

Final thesis is focused on the funding of non-governmental non-profit organizations. It consists of a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part contains two chapters. The first chapter will introduce us to the subject of non-profit organizations, their characteristics and differences in comparison to the profit-making sector. The second chapter contains information concerning the funding of such organizations, specifically the different options that can be used by organizations as a means of fundraising. In the practical part of the thesis I will demonstrate the issue of non-governmental non-profit organizations by analysis of the sources of funding for a specific organization. In this case this will be the Pohoda civic association. The thesis will also establish whether all available options of funding have been used.

The thesis is divided in two different parts. In the theoretical one we can find information about golf, its history, evolution and an opinion about it. This part also deals with the operating principles of a golf resort, an ownership structure and an existence of a golf club. At the end of theoretical part is described the structure of a business plan in detail. The business plan is based on a real project of a low-cost golf course. It respects the investor's requirements and is meant to be used as a manual for operating of this golf course. We can also find the procedure for establishing a golf club, the applied methods of segment analysis and the prediction of activities connected to the club in the future that respect the factor of risk.