This thesis is an examination of the history of Salter Bros Ltd and the firms connected with it. Founded in 1858, it became not only one of the most important businesses associated with the recent history of the Upper Thames, but also a significant employer in Oxford. The study takes a thematic approach, which involves examining the five main areas of the firm’s commercial activities, which were: providing services for the sport of rowing (chapter 1), boat-building (chapter 2), boat-letting (chapter 3), passenger boat operating (chapter 4) and property development (chapter 5). This thesis draws on the firm’s archive, which has previously been unavailable to scholars. The mainly quantitative data from the archive is contextualised by reference to wider qualitative sources, although there is not always much comparative information to draw on. Finally, it focuses on the evolution of the workforce, which shows how the business managed to survive both the impact of the industrialisation of Oxford in the twentieth century and some of the challenges associated with family firms (chapter 6). By examining the areas shown above, the work sheds light on our understanding of (1) the socio-economic context of Oxford and the Thames, (2) the development of different forms of water-based leisure, and (3) how a family firm overcame some of the classic weaknesses of such businesses. Chapter 1 analyses the contribution that the firm made to the sport of rowing. The family moved to a riverside tavern in the mid-1830s and this resulted in heavy involvement with the rowing scene. They made a successful transition from professional oarsmen to successful racing boat-builders, which led to John and Stephen Salter moving to Oxford to start their own business in 1858. By exploiting the strong local rowing scene they built their firm up to be the market leader in the 1860s. Supplying craft for the Oxford and Cambridge (university) boat race was important for helping the business gain worldwide fame and, although Salters’ lost the ascendency in the 1870s, it provided a wide range of services for the sport until the second half of the twentieth century. It then slowly became divorced from the rowing scene and, despite a brief renaissance in the 1970s, the company finally bowed out of racing boat construction at the end of the 1980s. Chapter 2 explores the development of the boat-building side of the business. The firm was a major producer of craft and it was especially busy in the late 1920s and late 1970s, when new products helped to stimulate demand. By examining four areas of expertise (steel manufacturing, motorised boats, corporation craft and fibreglass construction) it becomes clear that the business was relatively slow to embrace new technology. Yet although it was not particularly innovative, Salters’ successfully exploited a number of emerging markets, like supplying craft for council-run boating lakes from the 1920s onwards. After a period of decline in the 1960s, the firm’s boat-building department was briefly revived by the introduction of fibreglass construction in the following decade, although this brought to an end skilled craftsmanship in the industry. Salters’ had to be flexible in order to survive, as is shown by the contract work it took on during the two World Wars, but in the second half of the twentieth century the firm’s focus moved away from boat-building towards providing leisure services. Chapter 3 examines the nature and timing of the rise of pleasure boating on the Thames and Salters’ role in promoting it. The railway destroyed much of the carrying trade on the river, but the waterway gained a new lease of life by the rise of leisure activities on it. Different types of boating were popular at different times and certain waterside locations were busier than others, but it is possible to discern short-term peaks in pleasure boating on the Upper Thames, as a whole, in the early 1890s and either side of the First World War (although the river became busier still after the Second World War). There were many factors contributing to the rise of leisure on the waterway, but Salters’ helped to popularise ‘the Thames trip’ between London and Oxford, which was linked to the growth of camping. The firm’s fortunes were also closely tied to the local market and by the late 1880s it had one of the largest fleets of rental craft in the country. Salters’ had to diversify according to changing fashions in pleasure boating, but after the 1920s there was a slow reduction in the number of craft it operated, until it stopped boat-letting altogether in the early 1990s – although this side of the business was revived a decade later, albeit on a smaller scale. Chapter 4 explores the firm’s involvement with passenger services on the waterway. The long-distance steamboat trips took much longer to become established on the Upper Thames, because of the logistical problems caused by having to pass through locks. Salters’ was the first business to make a success of running between Oxford and Kingston and it did this by forging a close association with the railway, which opened up the river to the day-trip market, and by building up its fleet to establish a monopoly over the long-distance journey. The service had to overcome many challenges, but one of the most serious problems it faced was the growth in pleasure boating after the Second World War. Although passenger numbers on the steamers peaked in the 1970s, general traffic on the river also reached record levels, which caused significant delays and forced the firm to end the through-service between Oxford and Kingston. Furthermore, by catering for the growing demand for shorter round trips Salters’ was drawn into direct competition with other companies that were already focused on this market. By the end of the twentieth century, the firm was no longer dominating the waterway and it was heavily reliant on income from both its home city of Oxford and private parties. Chapter 5 examines the extent and significance of the property the firm came to occupy. Salters’ acquired many new properties in order to expand the business and the firm’s success also enabled it to accumulate residential accommodation, which was part of the employment package offered to its staff, as well as being a source of rental income. The commercial sites were useful for preventing competitors from encroaching on the firm’s territory, whilst they were also subsequently used for further development. Most importantly, the property was a reservoir of capital that Salters’ relied upon in times of financial hardship. Chapter 6 focuses on how the workforce evolved in the twentieth century, which sheds light on how the business survived both the industrialisation of Oxford and some of the challenges associated with family firms. Salters’ went from being an employer with a highly skilled and local workforce to one that had fewer specialised craftsmen and which recruited mainly from outside the city. This was symptomatic of the city’s employment market that had been transformed by the motor industry in the interwar period, as well as the firm’s greater focus on its passenger boats, which was connected with it. Salters’ had to be flexible to accommodate the changes, but it was unable to compete with the high wages offered in the car factories and a shortage of local labour meant that it not only struggled to retain employees, particularly its skilled craftsmen, but standards of discipline also deteriorated. Nevertheless, the impact of wage competition was mitigated by the firm’s paternalism and the considerable appeal of working on the passenger boats. The latter offered an enjoyable lifestyle that was very different from the working environment of other waterway communities. The Salter family also played an important part in the survival of their company.

This thesis explores some aspects of the cultural history of the railway during the latter half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. It argues that the railway was of central importance in creating and shaping Victorian attitudes to the machine and to mechanized civilization in a world increasingly dominated by large scale-technologies. In particular, it explores the significance of negative responses to the railway - fear, anxiety, nervousness, alarm, revulsion - in influencing a range of social, cultural and medical responses to the perceived degenerative threat of technological civilization. The four chapters of the thesis are organized so as to provide a progressive tightening of focus on particular aspects of the railway's significance in this context. The first, most wide-ranging, chapter explores the ways in which the Victorian railway was perceived as both an icon of progress and civilization and as a disruptive, threatening, destructive force. In particular, it seeks to establish the deep-rooted, enduring and influential nature of the fear and anxiety which the railway provoked. The second chapter is concerned with the railway journey as an experience, relating the ambivalence with which the railway was viewed to the journey as a sensory, physical and mental experience. The third chapter focuses on the accident as the most dramatic instance of the dangers of the railway, and relates its significance in contemporary culture to the wider context of the fears provoked by increasingly powerful and potentially destructive technologies. The fourth and final chapter explores the phenomenon of 'railway spine', the obscure nervous condition supposedly suffered by railway accident victims who had seemingly received no actual organic injury, but nonetheless displayed nervous, mental and physical symptoms of serious bodily disorder.

In this thesis, I argue that twenty-first century American war films are constructed in dialogue with the past, repurposing earlier forms of war representation by evoking the visual and narrative memory of the past that is embedded in genre form—what Mikhail Bakhtin calls 'genre memory.' Comparing post-9/11 war films with Vietnam War films, my project examines how contemporary war films envision war's impact on culture and social space, explore how war refashions ideas about race and national identity, and re-imagine war's rewriting of the human psyche. My research expands on earlier research and departs from traditional approaches to the war film genre by locating the American Civil War at the origin of this genre memory, and, in doing so, argues that nineteenth century documentation of the Civil War serves as a rehearsal for the twentieth and twenty-first century war film. Constructed in explicit relation to the Vietnam film, I argue that post-9/11 war films rehearse the history of war representation in American culture while also emphasizing the radically different culture of the present day. Rather than representing a departure from past forms of war representation, as has been argued by many theorists, I show that contemporary American war films can be seen as the latest chapter in a long history of reimagining American military and cultural history in pictorial and narrative form.

Contemporary environmental problems represent complex societal challenges, and as these problems become increasingly global, the international diffusion of environmental technologies is essential. One way to diffuse technologies internationally is through export. Despite the potential benefits from the adoption of environmental technologies, their export is stifled by externalities and free-rider problems. From this background, the aim of this thesis is to analyse how to stimulate the diffusion of environmental technologies through export. This aim is operationalised using four research questions, which focus on governmental initiatives to promote environmental technology export and their perceived effectiveness among targeted firms, obstacles to and drivers for export among municipally owned companies, the use of international city networks to facilitate environmental technology export and components of business concepts for environmental technology export. These questions are explored in the Swedish context using document analyses, interviews and internet surveys in a compilation thesis which consists of a cover essay and an appendix of five scientifically peer-reviewed and published journal articles. The conclusions are that governmental export promotion initiatives are often generic for all kinds of exporters, including environmental technologies, and comprise financial support, information provision, education and training, and trade and mobility-related programs, often with little incorporation of the specific characteristics of environmental technologies which many exporters perceive as ineffective. Municipally owned companies experience different barriers to and drivers for engaging in international activities compared to privately owned companies, and are often involved in international projects which are not always commercial export. International city networks serve as important arenas for bi-directional information sharing and learning regarding market characteristics, environmental challenges and potential solutions, building legitimacy for technologies and their suppliers. Regarding components of business concepts for the export of environmental technologies, regulation, legitimacy and private-public partnership are identified as particularly important based on the complexity and systemic nature of environmental technologies. Altogether, this thesis makes a contribution by conceptualising the export of environmental technologies with emphasis on technology characteristics, the technology supplier including their business concepts, obstacles to and drivers for export, technology adopters and their characterisation, communication channels and the diffusion context. For policy makers, a dynamic approach to environmental technology export promotion, in which specific attributes of environmental technologies and their suppliers are considered along their international business development, is suggested as a complement to existing generic initiatives. The possibility to provide such support should be reconciled with resource effectiveness, heterogeneity among companies and the complementary role of governmental interventions to market initiatives. Finally, partnerships between publicly and privately owned companies are suggested as particularly relevant since they build on the long-term experience, functioning proof-of-concept and legitimacy of publicly owned companies together with the competitiveness and flexibility of privately owned companies. These attributes could help overcome the liabilities of foreignness and newness, as well as resource constraints which challenge environmental technology export. / De stora miljöproblemen innebär komplexa samhällsutmaningar och allt eftersom miljöproblemglobaliseras ökar behovet av en internationell spridning av miljöteknik. Export är ett sätt attsprida teknologier internationellt, men trots de potentiella fördelarna med miljöteknikexportstöter det ofta på hinder. Exempel på sådana hinder är externa effekter som att miljönytta intetillfaller det exporterande företaget, och att konkurrenter åker snålskjuts på de företag som tar deinitiala stegen. Utifrån denna bakgrund syftar den här avhandlingen till att analysera hur miljöteknikexport kanstimuleras ytterligare. För att besvara syftet har fyra frågeställningar utformats som fokuserar påstatliga initiativ för att främja export av miljöteknik och hur deras effekter uppfattas bland företagi målgruppen; hinder och drivkrafter för export hos kommunala bolag; internationella nätverkmellan storstäder som arenor för att underlätta export av miljöteknik; samt affärsmodeller för attexportera miljöteknik. Frågeställningarna utforskas i ett svenskt sammanhang genomdokumentanalys, intervjuer och enkäter. Avhandling bestående av en sammanfattande ”kappa”och fem publicerade vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultaten från avhandlingen visar att statliga initiativ för att främja export oftast är generiska förolika typer av exportörer inklusive miljöteknikföretag. Initiativen inkluderar vanligtvis finansielltstöd, information, utbildning samt stöd för marknadsbesök och mobilitet. Dock tas ingen störrehänsyn till de särskilda egenskaperna hos miljöteknik vid utformandet av stödet. Stödet uppfattasdessutom av många miljöteknikexportörer som ineffektivt. Kommunala bolag har andra hinderoch drivkrafter än privata företag för att engagera sig internationellt och är oftast involverade iprojekt som inte är direkta exportaktiviteter. Internationella nätverk mellan städer kan fungerasom arenor för informationsutbyte och lärande mellan olika aktörers marknadsegenskaper,miljöproblem och potentiella lösningar samt bidra till legitimitet för tekniken och dessleverantörer. När det gäller utveckling av affärsmodeller för att exportera miljöteknik framstårlagstiftning, legitimitet, och samarbete mellan privata och offentliga aktörer som särskilt viktigt attbeakta på grund av miljöteknikens komplexitet och systemiska natur. Sammanfattningsvis bidrar avhandlingen till en konceptualisering av miljöteknikexport genom attfokusera på teknikens egenskaper, dess leverantörers affärsmodeller, hinder och drivkrafter förexport, de som köper tekniken och deras egenskaper, kommunikationskanaler samt sammanhangdär spridningen sker. En rekommendation är att politiska beslutsfattare borde stödja export avmiljöteknik på ett dynamiskt sätt där specifika egenskaper hos miljöteknik och dess leverantörerbeaktas i takt med deras internationella affärsutveckling. En dynamisk ansats kan vara ett brakomplement till många befintliga generiska statliga initiativ för att främja export av miljöteknik.En sådan ansats bör ta hänsyn till resurseffektivitet, olikheter mellan företag, samt varakomplementär till de icke-statliga initiativ som redan finns på marknaden. Slutligen föreslåssamarbeten mellan offentliga och privatägda företag, vilket anses högst relevant eftersomoffentliga företag kan bidra till att kombinera den mångåriga erfarenheten av miljötekniskalösningar samt den legitimitet som sådana företag kan ha med privata företags styrkor så somkonkurrenskraft och flexibilitet. Dessa förslag kan bidra till att minska de exporthinder som haratt göra med att miljöteknik ofta är ny och främmande, samt miljöteknikföretagens oftabegränsade resurser.

Le projet consacré à la statique graphique étudie un aspect jusqu'ici peu exploré de l'histoire technique tchèque de la seconde moitié du XIXème au début du XXe siècle, lorsque les pays tchèques ont joué un rôle de premier plan en matière de technologie dans l'ancienne monarchie autrichienne. Une part du projet a permis de révéler le transfert de cette méthode de calcul en pratique d'ingénierie depuis son lieu d'origine, France et Suisse, vers les pays tchèques, et la contribution originale du milieu tchèque dans ce domaine. Le transfert de la statique graphique vers les pays tchèques fut effectué après sa formation dans la seconde moitié des années 1860. Le transfert culturel a prospéré grâce à la diffusion de la presse et des livres publiés principalement en allemand et, bien sûr, grâce aux contacts personnels étroits entre les conférenciers des écoles polytechniques européennes, en particulier des langues allemandes. La thèse contient également des exemples d'importants bâtiments historiques tchèques, pour lesquels la statique graphique a été utilisée pour calculer la structure. Ces calculs sont illustrés par la documentation archivistique, qui n'a pas encore été publiée. Une part de la thèse est également consacrée à la comparaison de deux méthodes de calcul de déformation des treillis (système triangulés). La première est la méthode du français V.-J. Williot, qui a été publiée en août 1878. La seconde est la méthode du professeur tchèque V. Bukovsky de janvier 1879. Comme il n'existe à l'heure actuelle aucune étude détaillée portant sur Victor-Joseph Williott ( 1843-1907), certains documents d'archives jamais publiés ont été recherchés pour illustrer sa vie. / The project of graphic statics is studying a heretofore little explored part of the Czech technical history of the second half of the 19th, and beginning of the 20th centuries, when the Czech lands held a leading role in technology in the former Austrian Monarchy. A part of the project is to reveal the transfer of this computational method in engineering practice from the place of its origin, France and Switzerland, to the Czech lands, as well as original contribution of the Czech millieu to this field. The transfer of graphic statics to the Czech lands came very soon after its formation in the second half of the 1860' s. Cultural transfer prospered thanks to the distribution of press and books published mainly in German, and, of course, thanks to the close persona) contacts among lecturers at European, especially German-speaking, polytechnic high school! The thesis also contains examples of significant Czech historical buildings, for which graphic statics was used to calculate the structure. These calculations are illustrated by archival documentation, which has not yet been published. A special part of the thesis is a comparison of two calculation methods of deformation of trusses. The first one is the method of French V.-J. Williot, which was published in August 1878. The second one is the Czech professor V. Bukovsky's method of January 1879. As no more detailed information was known about Victor-Joseph Williott ( 1843- 1907), some never published archival documents were searched to illustrate his life.

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This thesis paper is a historical study that examines the labor political issues which the movement of Swedish trade unions faced between the years 1966–1985. How did they understand and formulate these problems and what solutions did they present? “The good work” (“Det goda arbetet”) was one such solution which was introduced in 1985 by The Union of Industrial Metalworkers (Metallindustriarbetareförbundet). This thesis explores the underlying ideas and the history behind this visionary program and how it took inspiration from the ideological developments of the previous decades. This is done by analysing four conference reports published in association with yearly union conferences between 1966 and 1985. These reports center around themes of technological development, working conditions, worker power and self determination to name a few.  The analysis focuses on the labor political issues that arose after the establishment of the “Swedish model” and the post-war era economic boom. One of the major ideological developments during the 1960s was the backlash against the fordist model of production and the critique of rationalisation of work in general. This is shown to be one the major shifts in thinking about work which leads towards the development of solutions such as “The good work” during the 1970s and 80s. Furthermore, it is shown how “The good work” was linked historically to alienation theory and sociological research during the period. The key conclusions from the analysis focus on how worker discontent during the late 1960s led to massive labor political reforms during the 1970s along with the larger project of democratising the workplace gaining new life. This development, however, took a turn in 1976 when the social democratic party lost their first election in nearly 40 years. The analysis of the report by The Union of Industrial Metalworkers from 1985 shows the vision of “The good work” as they formulated it to be stuck between two separate eras. On the one hand it was still in conversation with the left-wing project of advancing labor power and democracy from the 1970s. On the other it had to confront the new political landscape of the 1980s and the right-wing turn towards neoliberalism.

Innovation is a necessary element to transition towards a more sustainable transport paradigm. Advancements made in electrification and digitalisation are creating new forms of urban mobility which have the potential to reduce the impact of transport and shift modal splits. However, these developments have also been accompanied by new actors, influences, and challenges related to the urban governance process. In order to realise the sustainability benefits which urban settings desire, and innovative forms of technology promise, there is a need for purposive steering – for which policy and regulation are key tools. These themes are explored through a case study of the policy process for e-scooters in Stockholm, Sweden from 2018 to 2022. Guided by theory on sustainability transitions and the role of urban mobility governance, this thesis investigates how new influences are affecting progress towards sustainable mobility objectives. Results are derived from a combination of qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, as well as document and media analysis. Analysis suggests that disconnect within formal governmental hierarchies is complicating the agency of the municipality. Despite having similar long-term sustainability goals, communication and cooperation to deal with current challenges are limiting the municipality. Informal networks have also become channels for new forms of influence, with international organisations and city-to city interaction shaping policy discourse. In addition, knowledge is warranting authority for technology advocates of new technologies in the urban mobility sphere. This study ultimately demonstrates how new influences are complicating the municipality’s ability to work towards its own sustainability objectives for urban mobility. There is a need for improved collaboration and transparency with new actors, as well as a revolution in how the municipal level responds to, and sets the guidelines for a future in which urban mobility is truly sustainable. / Innovation är en viktig process i omställningen mot ett mer hållbart transportsystem. Elektrifiering och digitalisering skapar nya former av urban mobilitet som besitter stor potential att minska negativa effekterna av transporter och förändra våra transportmönster. Men denna utveckling innebär även utmaningar för policy. Nya aktörer, inflytanden och utmaningar formar politiken, policy och reglering. För att förverkliga de aspekter av hållbarhet som urbana miljöer eftersträvar, och innovativ teknik utlovar, behövs tydlig och målorienterad styrning. Policy och reglering är nyckelverktyg för denna styrning. Dessa teman utforskas genom en fallstudie av policyprocessen för elsparkcyklar i Stockholm mellan 2018 och 2022. Med hjälp av teorier om “sustainability transitions” och “urban mobility governance” undersöker denna uppsats hur nya faktorer i transportsystemet påverkar utveckling mot mål om hållbar mobilitet. Resultaten härleds från en kombination av kvalitativa metoder, bestående av semistrukturerade intervjuer, samt dokument- och medieanalys. Analysen tyder på att friktioner och konflikterande visioner inom formella hierarkier inom offentlig verksamhet komplicerar kommunens auktoritet och autonomi. Trots att många offentliga aktörer delar liknande långsiktiga hållbarhetsmål gör brister i kommunikation och samarbete det svårt för kommunen att hantera aktuella utmaningar. Informella nätverk har också blivit kanaler för nya former av inflytande, med internationella organisationer och samarbeten städer emellan som formar politisk diskurs. Utöver detta, skapar även privata aktörers kommersiella intressen och teknologiska expertis en viss auktoritet i bestämmandet över nya produkter och tjänster i det urbana transportsystemet. Denna studie visar slutligen hur nya influenser försvårar kommunens förmåga att arbeta mot sina egna hållbarhetsmål inom mobilitet. Förbättrad samverkan och transparens med nya aktörer, samt en revolution i hur kommunen sätter ramarna för framtida teknik är nödvändiga delar för att uppnå verklig hållbar mobilitet.

This paper sheds light on a West African technological landscape of the early twentieth century that transcended the boundaries of various West African population groups and natural environments. The conceptual framework of technological landscape employed in this study serves to explore the everyday spaces and details of trade and transport activities of merchants from Northern Nigeria, as well as the engagement of forest dwellers in Côte d’Ivoire in the trade of gold and other natural resources they cultivated, harvested and produced in the forest. Building on archival materials from Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, the paper considers various historical actors who have often been neglected in history of technology narratives but who are certainly relevant in West African (transport) history.

Alla miljöer och rum har sin speciella akustik. Hur ljudvågorna reflekteras, förstärker eller släcker ut varandra skapar en unik accent hos varje plats och är en viktig del i hur vi som människor upplever omgivningen. Detta är också grunden till varför akustiska förhållanden bör ses som en del av kulturvärdena hos en plats eller en byggnad, på samma sätt som rent visuella arkitektoniska och estetiska aspekter. På så vis skulle man också kunna se akustik som en dimension i att uppleva en historisk miljö och komma närmare den tid och de människor som levt och verkat där. Inom de flesta världsreligioner används akustik med lång efterklang för att förstärka upplevelsen av en andlig dimension, oavsett om det handlar om en moské, katedral eller ett hinduiskt tempel. Olika akustiska förhållanden lämpar sig naturligtvis olika väl beroende på användningsområde. Således kan en och samma akustik ses som en tillgång eller ett problem beroende på användning. Hur akustiska förutsättningar kan bidra till att hitta ett nytt användningsområde åt en befintlig byggnad är något som undersöks närmare i denna uppsats. Likaså hur man försökt återskapa en akustik som delvis förvanskats genom ombyggnad. Fyra olika undersökningsobjekt har valts ut. Frågeställningarna är: I vilken grad skulle man kunna se de undersökta akustiska miljöerna som en del av byggnadernas kulturhistoriska värden eller tillför akustiken andra värden? Ser ägare och användare av de undersökta byggnaderna akustiken som en tillgång eller ett problem? För att sätta akustik i en kulturvårdskontext behövs viss bakgrund till ämnet som sådant. En avsiktlig akustik skulle kunna beskrivas som arkitektur utformad för en eftersträvad akustik. Den äldsta kända litteraturen inom detta område härstammar från den romerske arkitekten och ingenjören Vitruvius som efter ett långt yrkesliv skrev ner sina erfarenheter. Verket Om arkitektur skrevs omkring år 10 fKr och är i sin helhet en lärobok eller handledning inom arkitektur men beskriver också akustik på ett ingående vis. Dessutom kan den sägas beskriva grundvalarna förarkitektur som intellektuell konstart. Undersökningsobjekt för kategorin avsiktlig akustik är Göteborgs Konserthus. Här har akustiken i Stora salen en självklar roll och Stora salen representerar funktionalismens och det tidiga 1900-talets vetenskapliga ideal och förhållningssätt. Akustiken kan också ses som ett av byggnadens kulturhistoriska värden och bland annat lyfts den specifikt fram i Göteborgs bevarandeprogram för kulturhistoriskt värdefull bebyggelse. Till viss del motsatsen, oavsiktlig akustik, kan istället beskrivas som akustik som ”bara blivit som den är”. Människans fascination för ”mäktig” akustik eller lång efterklang är sannolikt lika gammal som människan själv. Detta kan illustreras genom den franske forskaren Iegor Reznikoffs forskning, där han i södra Frankrike funnit ett samband mellan placeringen av grottmålningar från äldre stenåldern och de akustiska förhållandena på platserna. För kategorin oavsiktlig akustik är undersökningsobjekten vattenreservoaren Kulturtemplet i Göteborg, Mimerlaven i Norberg och en pappersmassasilo i Fengersfors Bruk. För dessa objekt har de två förstnämnda gemensamt att de akustiska förutsättningarna uppmärksammats och tagits tillvara som kulturscener. I massasilon i Fengersfors Bruk finns liknande akustiska förutsättningar men här handlar det istället om en akustik med potential för att eventuellt kunna bidra med ny användning åt en del av en befintlig byggnad. Gällande akustikens roll som eventuellt kulturhistoriskt värde för de tre objekten inom kategorin oavsiktlig akustik dras slutsatsen att akustiken i dessa fall inte är kulturhistoriska värden i sig. Däremot har avsaknaden av byggnadernas ursprungliga användningsområde skapat nya egenskaper eller värden, där akustik har blivit en del av upplevelsevärdet. / Investigations of acoustical environments as contributing to culture-historical value has not been widely studied within the field of built heritage. Lack of knowledge of the acoustical aspects of cultural heritage might result in the undervaluing of potentially significant culture-historical elements, which risk making acoustic environments more difficult to protect and preserve. The thesis aims to analyse to what degree the acoustics can be seen as a part of a buildings' culture-historical value and whether the acoustics add other significant values. The method used was based on literature studies, interviews with key persons and field studies. The theoretical perspective is twofold, considering acoustics as intentional or unintentional, i.e. architecture designed for acoustical purposes and acoustics as a result of the architecture or natural formations. Four buildings have been selected for analysis: The Gothenburg Concert Hall, the water reservoir Kulturtemplet in Gothenburg, Mimerlaven in Norberg and a silo at Fengersfors Bruk. In summary, it is concluded that the acoustics in The Great Hall in The Gothenburg Concert Hall can be seen as part of the building's culture-historical value. The acoustics symbolizes the scientific perspectives of the early 20th century, functionalist ideals, as well as the 1930s musical ideals, just before the breakthrough of amplified music. The other objects are examples where the acoustics contribute to the experiential value, which in turn has created, or has the potential to create, possibilities for new ways to use the buildings.