Abstract: This thesis has looked at urban renewal initiatives and what potential consequences these could have on the way an area is experienced and the way people are connected to the area. To accomplish this the concept of authenticity has been used, combined with the concept of place attachment, to create a framework that would allow for a discussion concerning the impact of urban renewal initiatives on a renewed area. The areas of Gottsunda in Uppsala and Sofielund in Malmö were chosen as the focus of the study as they both are experiencing urban renewal initiatives currently and will be in the future as well. To analyze the areas the methods chosen were document analysis of documents relating to each area in combination with interviews with actors working with the initiatives in each area. Using the methods the results showed how Uppsala municipality in Gottsunda broadly favored different physical interventions meant to improve the area whilst in Sofielund the opposite was the case as social interventions were favored by BID Sofielund to improve the area. Overall, the findings showed how a change in both areas’ authenticity was likely to take place following the often-drastic interventions to the physical and social landscapes of each area. The discussion concerning the changing authenticity of the areas also came to include a broader look at what potential factors might have an impact on whether an area’s authenticity might change over how much time changes are implemented or the scale of the changes. Broadly the findings, whilst not definitively stating how an areas authenticity might change, managed to identify many relevant and interesting trends relating to the consequences of urban renewal initiatives, something that should be well worth keeping in mind when planning future changes into the urban space.

Recent research suggests that 60 % of quantified plate waste in school canteens was caused by only 20 % of students. This finding indicates a large potential for minimising plate waste through better-tailored interventions targeting individuals with a high-waste profile. This study uses the triangulation of three methods that combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches to answer the following two research questions: (1) “Which characteristics and behavioural patterns correlate with high plate waste generation?” and (2) “What derivations can be drawn from these findings to inform better-tailored conceptualisations of interventions to decrease plate waste?”. To investigate the relationship between plate waste generation and the parameters “age”, “sex”, “foreign background”, “educational background of parents”, “extroversion” and “group dynamics”, a correlation analysis has been conducted with food waste and school data on the national level and complemented with a correlation analysis on the local level based on observation data collected at five schools in the municipality of Uppsala. These findings were put in context with additional insights won through interviews with canteen staff at the same five schools. Each parameter was evaluated by combining the results of the applied methods as far as applicable. The strongest correlation was found for the parameter “age”, indicating that older students cause more plate waste. The findings for students’ sex on the local level are especially interesting because, in contrast to the national trend and results from previous research, male students were found to waste more than females. The parameter “foreign background” could be assigned with tendencies for a positive and “educational background of parents” with tendencies for a negative correlation with plate waste generation but both warrant further investigation due to limited assessability in the scope of this study. Students’ degrees of extroversion and the presence of group dynamics appear to be correlated and tend to result in higher amounts of plate waste. It was found that strong individuals with a “leader”-character, who tend to be located on the more extroverted side of the scale, can exert a strong influence on other students’ eating decisions. This peer pressure appears to be especially strong among female students and increase with age. Based on these findings, future interventions are recommended to focus on: students from 6th grade onwards (potentially with a special focus on upper secondary schools), female students (not because of the results for the parameter “sex” but due to peer pressure having the strongest effect among girls), facilitating a better understanding of ingredients (especially if students are not familiar with Swedish cuisine or come from a household with a smaller diversity in what is typically eaten), increasing the involvement of parents in shaping sustainable eating habits and pedagogical work to raise students’ awareness of how their words can impact others and to strengthen them to stand up against peer pressures.

Chemical herbicides have been widely used in agriculture since the middle of the 20th century since they limit the competition of resources between crops and weeds. Herbicides are known to cause environmental degradation and to risk organisms and human health. Herbicides are chemical compounds that target weeds in different ways due to their chemical structures and concentrations. There is a growing concern with the usage of herbicides and the opposition to herbicides is growing due to the many risks the substances. There is an increased demand for sustainable options to chemical herbicides. Mechanical weeding has been used traditionally for weed management but has been forgotten due to the high efficiency of chemical herbicides. Precision agricultural technologies (PATs) can limit weeds mechanically. In this thesis PATs refer to robots equipped with AI, sensors, and other autonomous functionalities. This thesis studies how farmers perceive PATs and their ability to limit herbicides. The focus is on which factors need to be considered for farmers to adopt PATs for weed limitation, as well as what outcomes farmers expect from weeding tools. This research is a qualitative study conducted with semi-structured interviews with farmers. The most prominent themes were the business of agriculture, weed management, environmental perspectives, and perception of tools. These themes were used to find the farmers’ perceptions of PATs, and what outcomes a tool is expected to deliver. The theory of mediated activity (MAT) is used to analyse what the farmers want from their tools and how they perceive the PATs. Diffusion of innovation theory (DIT) is used to analyse the adaptability and willingness to adopt innovation, such as PATs. The key factors affecting adaptability are profit, efficiency, flexibility, and environmentally sustainable outcomes. These factors affect the farmers the most when adopting new tools and these are what the farmers are looking for in tools. To increase farmers' adoption of novel innovations they need to be presented with proof that the tools will bring the key factors. If PATs can offer the farmers the key factors the PATs can help to limit herbicide usage and therefore become a tool of sustainable transition.

This thesis researches what the main ecocentric values and principles are from eco-artists and ecotherapy facilitators, and how they can promote ecocentric perspectives about the relation between humans, other beings and the planet. It starts with an overview of anthropocentrism, which is a human-centred perspective of humans and nature that sees them as separate, and believes humans to have more intrinsic value than nature and other beings. The more-than-human world is seen as resource capital for human use, enabling harmful practices like ecocide and over-extraction. Beliefs that form the roots of this rift are a perceived Western human superiority and power over human and non-human beings that are seen as inferior; and a worldly understanding based on simplification, separation and dualisms. Historically, this perceived superiority became symptomatic in harmful practices like colonisation and slavery. The thesis then moves on to explore six ecocentric perspectives and nature-centred values that stress equal intrinsic value of humans and other beings. Six main ecocentric themes are identified: humans are nature; the importance of pluriversality; presence and connection; cyclical change and dynamic transformation; co-creation and autonomy; and life as a subjective experience that values other ways of knowing. These ecocentric perspectives are illuminated and discussed through interviews with eco-artists and ecotherapy facilitators. Besides interviews and conversations with ecocentric practitioners, a complementary research method has been observatory participation, which both deepens and colours the findings of this research. Conclusively, an argument is made for the importance of personal and subjectively felt experiences that can steer humans towards shaping their own lived understanding of their relation to planet Earth. In moving away from a monistic worldview in a biodiverse world it is important to create space to honour and work with the many ways of learning, knowing, and living on planet Earth. There is no one right way to live well and be sustainable. Diverse ecotherapy and eco-art practices offer examples of how nature connection can be established in relatively simple ways, yet cause a profound shift in worldly perception, which is essential in acknowledging how human beings are dependent on a healthy, biodiverse natural environment.

I Mälardalens och Västra Götalands lerjordar har tidigare naturligt höga halter av kobolt och nickel respektive arsenik och koboly uppmätts. Med dagens nationella bakgrundshalter och generella riktvärden kan de naturliga lerjordarna i riskbedömningen felaktigt bedömas som förorenade och kan då behöva saneras i onödan. Projektet syftade till att bestämma bakgrundshalter för dessa ämnen i lerjord i Mälardalen och Västra Götaland med hjälp av data från Mark- och grödoinventeringen samt med data från denna studie. Vidare syftade studien till att undersöka lakbarheten av ämnena och den markekologiska risken för en mer hållbar riskbedömning. Bakgrundshalterna av kobolt och nickel i Mälardalen bestämdes till 16,2 mg/kg TS respektive 32 mg/kg TS vilket visade att bakgrundshalterna i Mälardalen är naturligt höga för kobolt och nickel. I Västra Götaland bestämdes bakgrundshalterna för arsenik och kobolt till 6,4 mg/kg TS respektive 12,8 mg/kg TS. Bakgrundshalten av Co är naturligt hög i lerjorden men bakgrundshalten av As är lägre än Naturvårdsverkets nationella bakgrundshalt, vilket visar att halten As inte är naturligt hög i lerjord i Västra Götaland.  Flera skakförsök utfördes som visade att lakbarheten av arsenik, kobolt och nickel var låg. Ett Kd-värde för att beskriva lakbarheten beräknades som visade att ämnena binds hårt i lerjord. När indata till Naturvårdsverkets riktvärdesmodell anpassades till lerjord ökade riktvärdena i jord för kobolt och nickel. För arsenik skedde ingen förändring. För kobolt och nickel innebär detta att högre halter kan tillåtas i jorden innan en oacceptabel risk uppstår vid jämförelse med dagens generella riktvärden. Se tabell 1 för  de föreslagna riktvärdena i lerjord tillsammans med Kd-värdena för arsenik, kobolt och nickel. Tabell 1. Rekommenderade riktvärden i lerjord och Kd-värden för arsenik, kobolt och nickel                                                                              Arsenik       Kobolt       Nickel Riktvärde i lerjord (KM) [mg/kg TS]           10              20              120 Riktvärde i lerjord (MKM) [mg/kg TS]         15             150             250 Kd-värde (p10) [l/kg TS]                           5 800         51 000        6 000 Lösligheten simulerades i Visual MINTEQ, en programvara som kan användas för att visualisera lakbarheten i en jord. För de undersökta lerjordarna överskattade modellerna lösligheten och dåliga anpassningar erhölls för kobolt och nickel. Det gick inte att förklara med den använda modellen varför metallerna binds så hårt till lerjorden.

This study aimed to investigate the influence of historical peat mining on current sedimentation and sediment quality in Håtjärnen, Håsjön and primarily Yttersjön. One sediment sample were collected from Håtjärnen and from Håsjön, along with 23 additional samples from Yttersjön. Sampling sites in Yttersjön were strategically located from upstream to downstream, near an inlet draining the nearest peat mining site, to assess its impact on sediment composition. This study analyzed subaqueous sediments, which consists of three constituents: minerogenic material, organic material (OM), and biogenic silica (Si). The sediment geochemistry was analyzed through loss on ignition, X-ray fluorescence, Near Infrared spectroscopy, Si/Al-ratio and lastly C/N ratio serving as a proxy for the origin of OM. No patterns in variation were observed in OM, Si/Al ratio, chlorophyll content, or C/N ratios between the upstream and downstream samples in Yttersjön, suggesting that the peat drainage inlet has a negligible impact on the sediment composition. In comparison, Håtjärnen and Håsjön displayed similar compositions of the sediment. An earlier study conducted in this area reported high sediment accumulation rates for the lakes investigated, as well as a substantial organic composition that included peat residues. These new findings, which contradict the earlier study, highlights the importance of analyzing all constituents of sediment to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the sediment composition.

The Swedish capital Stockholm is at the forefront of biogas gas use, especially when it comesto biogas used for vehicle gas. This technology has the potential of being a fuel with veryhigh environmental performance, but in order to realize the full potential publicenvironmental management must be optimized. Environmental objectives are anenvironmental management is one tool that is used to strive for the desired development. Theaim of this study is to explain the dynamics within the biogas system in Stockholm, with aparticular emphasis on which factors that affects the amount of biogas available for vehiclegas upgrading on the market in Stockholm. The study has been conducted using modelingsessions with key stakeholders involved in the biogas system. The study concludes that theformulation of environmental objectives has a profound impact on how the variousstakeholders act, and thus how the system behaves. The trade off of how much fossil naturalgas that can be mixed into the renewable biogas based vehicle gas is at the very pinnacle ofcomplex matter. A conclusion that is of vital importance for the local planning process andwhen the experiences of Stockholm’s environmental planning are communicated out to therest of the world.

Future water supplies will be affected by both climate change and altered land-water management. In the Mediterranean region, an expected warming and drying together with increased water withdrawal in key tourist destinations will put further pressure on already scarce water resources. In this study, a scenario analysis was conducted to explore the combined impacts of climate and land-water management changes in an 89 km2 watershed upstream of Navarino Environmental Observatory, southwestern Greece. A simple process-based hydrological model based on the Thornthwaite-Mather water balance procedure for the estimation of daily actual evapotranspiration and soil moisture was used to predict streamflow and storage fluxes. The model conceptualization includes two storage compartments, loosely representing a shallow and fast draining groundwater component (S1) and a deep and slowly draining component (S2) from where the irrigation water was assumed to be taken. These were calibrated assuming no change in the hydrologic system over the three years of available data (2009-2011). The scenario analysis included the IPCC’s A2 and B2 projections for 2071-2100 and two scenarios for land-water management change 1) the conversion of olive groves to golf courses and 2) an export of irrigation water to a hypothetical golf course located outside of the catchment boundaries. The model results indicated vulnerability to future climate change which could reduce streamflow and potentially lead to a draw-down of the water table. For example, even under the B2 scenario (the least dry of the climate change scenarios explored), model simulated storages will be reduced by 32-87% and the simulated streamflow by 28-86% of the current level through introduction of a golf course size representing only 1.5% of the catchment area (depending of course on season considered and golf course location). The hydrologic system would thus be altered from the current 2009-2011 state by future land-water management changes towards intensive irrigation (such as golf course development) coupled with climate change. / Framtida vattentillgångar kommer påverkas av både klimatförändringar och förändrad mark- och vattenförvaltning. I Medelhavsregionen väntas ett varmare och torrare klimat i kombination med ökad vattenanvändning i viktiga turistdestinationer att öka trycket ytterligare på de redan knappa vattenresurserna. I den här studien genomfördes en scenarioanalys över hur kombinationen av klimatförändringar och mark-och vattenförvaltningsförändringar kan påverka vattenresurserna i ett 89 km2 stort avrinningsområde uppströms om Navarino Environmental Observatory, sydvästra Grekland. En enkel process-baserad hydrologisk modell baserad på Thornthwaite-Mathers vattenbalansmetod för uppskattning av varje dags evapotranspiration och markfuktighet användes för att förutsäga förändringar i vattenföring och grundvattennivå. Konceptualiseringen av modellen inkluderar två vattenmagasin som approximativt kan sägas representera en grund och snabbt dränerande grundvattenkomponent (S1) och en djup och långsamt dränerande grundvattenkomponent (S2) varifrån bevattningsvattnet antogs tas. Dessa kalibrerades utefter antagandet att grundvattennivån var stabil under åren med tillgänglig data (2009-2011). Scenarioanalysen inkluderade the IPCC’s A2 och B2 projektioner för 2071-2100 samt två scenarior för mark-och vattenförvaltningsförändring 1) en konvertering av olivlundar till golfbanor och 2) en export av vatten för bevattningsändamål till en hypotetisk golfbana utanför avrinningsområdets gränser. Resultaten av modellen indikerade en sårbarhet för klimatförändringar vilka kan komma att minska vattenföringen i vattendragen och potentiellt leda till en sänkning av grundvattennivån. Exempelvis, kommer det simulerade grundvattenmagasinet att reduceras med 32-87% och den simulerade vattenföringen med 28-86% av dagens nivå av en golfbaneareal som representerar bara 1,5 % av avrinningsområdets area (beroende på årstid och golfbanans placering) till och med i IPCC’s B2 scenario (det klimatscenario som förutspår minst minskning av nederbörden och minst uppvärmning). Det hydrologiska systemet kommer således att ändras från dagens tillstånd genom framtida mark-och vattenförvaltningsförändringar mot intensiv bevattning (såsom golfbaneetablering) i kombination med klimatförändringarnas påverkan. / <p>Degree project in the master program: Hydrology, hydrogeology and water resources.</p><p>Examensarbete inom masterprogrammet: Hydrologi, hydrogeologi och vattenresurser.</p>

Our unsustainable way of living has created a precondition for the emergence of more and new illnesses, jeopardizing the overall health of society. The Swedish healthcare system faces complex challenges that threaten its ability to live up to its obligations as stated in the law. It is proven that leaders in public organisations can have a substantial function in leading towards sustainability. Leadership competencies have a big role to play in that journey.This thesis explores the complex challenges administration leaders in the healthcare sector of two Swedish public organisations – Region Blekinge and Västra Götalandsregionen face when it comes to sustainability. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development is used to analyse the complexity and the sustainability within the study’s context. The Framework of Sustainability Research and Problem-solving Competence is utilized to understand the application, the relevance of the key competencies in sustainability in leadership, as well as the barriers in applying them, to deal with challenges. The conclusions are based on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews. The results show the need for all key competencies, with biggest emphasis being put on systems thinking, interpersonal, intrapersonal and implementation. The findings reveal potential enablers and barriers for the organisations in moving society towards sustainability.

Industry is one of the major energy consumers resulting in negative environmental impacts in the world. In this context, industrial energy management becomes critically important when improving industrial energy savings. Emphasized is the careful energy treatment in the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The dominance of a technical approach in current research of industrial energy management suppresses significant potentials of human behavior for energy efficiency. Societal problems such as the energy efficiency gap and the rebound effect may be tackled by involving energysaving behavior in interventions. This thesis aims to explain characteristics of energy-saving behavior in the industrial settings of an automobile producer in Central Europe. The manufacturer utilizes an energy management program, named QUEST, which is facilitated by the external advisor HE Consulting s.r.o. Questions of particular interest are therefore related to perceived organizational readiness to engage in energy-saving behavior. Data gathering include a structured-questionnaire of perceptions on energy savings at the plants with managers of the automobile producer. Additionally, a semi-structured interview with the CEO of HE Consulting s.r.o. offers a more in-depth view on practical implications of energysaving behavior. As a base for data collection serves a psychological perspective of perceptional theories. Strongly related is that approach to the change management discipline. Results of the study show that, indeed, managers in the QUEST program tend to perceive organizational readiness on energy savings re latively more positive than managers outside the program. Resistance to change can be marginally observed in lower management levels. However, the managers emphasize a lack of time to engage in energy savings. Indicators of perceived organizational readiness on energy savings alone do not show the actual energy-saving behavior. This means that this thesis does not directly observe energy-saving behavior. Nevertheless, the impact of such indicators on the actual performed energy-saving behavior may be seen in combination with quantified energy savings. All findings can only be interpreted in the frame of this study.