The master's thesis "Strategic multilevel governance in cultural policy" deals with the often omitted topic of cultural policy. This field is observed from the strategic governance point of view and its position is analysed according to the levels of governance - supra-national, national, and sub-national. To explore the current state of the culture, it had to be placed into a framework forming context, where cultural policy takes place. Therefore, the analysis of this work dealt with the activities of political institutions according to the evaluation framework and with the evaluation of two specific cases of public policy documents of national and sub-national levels, including their application. From the perspective of major institutions at various levels of governance, especially organizations specialized on the field of culture, certain effort of conceptual solution of partial and overall issues of this field was found. The specific implementation and responsibility are often delegated to the lower levels of governance. Mainly, the continuity in the strategic documents topic and time at the multi-level governance is very problematic, as well as the funding necessary for their implementation. At the end of this work, specific recommendations, which should result in the improvement of strategic...

The work looks at EU's development policy through the lens of one of integration theories, namely multi-level governance. The relationship between the EU and three countries from ACP group, Rwanda, Haiti and East Timor is being analysed. From current trends of multi-level governance the research is focusing on the process of strengthening of supranational level and on advancing regionalization, understood in terms of regional integration on one side and the transfer of powers to lower administrative units or local emancipation. The work is inspired by the idea of the author Martin Holland that integration theories are better observable on EU's development policy than on EU's integration itself. Using the comparison of official EU's declarations over development cooperation with ACP group and real agenda implemented in those countries, the work investigates EU's involvement during penetration of surveyed countries into transnational structures, into regional coalitions and the promotion of emancipation of lower administrative units in the country. The research aims to analyze bonds formed between the European Union and Rwanda, Haiti and East Timor, which, according to Martin Holland, the concept of multi-level governance should best describe.

This is a thesis in Information design with focus on Spatial Design. This study examines how information can be shaped and placed in a multipurpose building to make it easier for the visitor to understand the place and find their way. The examined place is Kulturhuset in Hallstahammar, where the target audience is visitor who has no experience or very little experience of the place. The purpose of the thesis is to explore how information design in a spatial context can be designed to facilitate the understanding and simplify the orientability of a multi-story building, in a house with multipurpose.    Through literature studies, place analysis, survey with expert users and an analysis of similar projects, a design proposal has been produced that has been presented through rendered images. The results of the study show that a map of the building provides a clear overview of the premises and the activities Kulturhuset offers. Together with color coding and pictograms, visitors can easily see where their destination is and how to get there. / Detta är ett examensarbete inom informationsdesign med inriktning på rumslig gestaltning. Denna studien undersöker hur information kan utformas och placeras i en komplex yta för att underlätta för människor att förstå en plats och hitta rätt. Platsen som undersöks är Kulturhuset i Hallstahammar där målgruppen är nya besökare som inte har någon eller endast lite vetskap om platsen. Syftet med examensarbetet är att utforska hur informationsdesign i en rumslig kontext kan utformas för att underlätta förståelsen samt förenkla orienterbarheten i en flervåningsbyggnad, som inrymmer flera olika verksamheter.   Genom litteraturstudier, platsanalys, frågeformulär med expertanvändare samt en omvärldsanalys har ett gestaltningsförslag kunnat tagits fram som presenterats genom renderade bilder. Resultatet av studien påvisar att en karta över byggnaden ger en tydlig överblick över lokalerna samt verksamheterna som huserar i byggnaden. Tillsammans med färgkodning och piktogram kan besökare enkelt se vart deras slutmål för att sedan kunna ta sig dit.

De storskaliga globala livsmedelssystemen står inför ett antal utmaningar inom hållbar utveckling. Livsmedelssystemens nuvarande utformning resulterar i hållbarhetsproblem som förlust av biologisk mångfald och utarmning av jordar, långa livsmedelskedjor och stora avstånd mellan konsument och producent. Klimatförändringarnas effekter och den ökande urbaniseringen bidrar ytterligare till problematiken. Behovet av en omställning till hållbara livsmedelssystem är därför stort och kräver innovativa lösningar såväl som en omfördelning av naturresurser. Ett exempel på en systeminnovation är stadsodling, som uppvisat potential till högre resurseffektivitet såväl som till ökad social hållbarhet i urbana och stadsnära områden. Trots det ökande intresset för stadsodling tycks det finnas en brist på empiriska studier som undersöker stadsodlingens nuvarande status, sammansättning och olika faktorer för utveckling. Syftet med detta examensarbete är således att identifiera faktorer och förutsättningar som påverkar utvecklingen av stadsodling som en del av omställningen mot en hållbarare livsmedelsproduktion, i den specifika kontexten i Stockholm. Studien tillämpade en flexibel, kvalitativ forskningsdesign och inbegriper en systematisk kartläggning och en kvalitativ fallstudie av kommersiell stadsodling i Stockholm. Det empiriska datamaterialet baseras på en litteraturstudie, semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer och insamling av sekundärdata. En innehållsanalys av det empiriska datamaterialet utfördes med vägledning av ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på omställningsteori ur ett flernivåperspektiv. Studiens resultat visar att kommersiell stadsodling är ett mångfacetterat såväl som växande fenomen, men att många verksamheter befinner sig i en tidig fas. Den form av kommersiell stadsodling som växt fram mest i Stockholm är klimatkontrollerade inomhusodlingar. Nio av 14 identifierade verksamheter är inomhusodlingar, två är etablerade växthus och tre är utomhusodlingar. Kartläggningen indikerar att kommersiell stadsodling i dagsläget bidrar med omkring 0.5-4% av direktkonsumtionen av örter och sallat i Storstockholm. Det finns dock potential för produktion av större volymer och en större mångfald av grödor i de olika stadsodlingssystemen. Studien identifierade ett flertal faktorer och förutsättningar som påverkar möjligheterna till en utveckling av lokal livsmedelsproduktion genom stadsodling. Byråkratiska, regulatoriska, ekonomiska och kulturella faktorer visade sig utgöra hinder för utvecklingen av stadsodling. Detta indikerar att det krävs politiskt stöd i form av främjande ramverk och policy för markanvändning, som möjliggör och underlättar upplåtelse av mark för kommersiell odling. Andra möjliggörande åtgärder kan vara policyverktyg för att i framtiden kunna underlätta offentlig upphandling av lokal mat. Vidare efterfrågas ett större engagemang och ansvar från näringslivet, i form av ökande investeringar i lokal och hållbar mat samt externa samarbeten mellan aktörer. De indikationer som framkom om att konsumenter i högre utsträckning går runt de dominerande alternativen i livsmedelssystemen och efterfrågar kortare värdekedjor identifierades också som en möjliggörande faktor för den fortsatta utvecklingen av stadsodling. / The globalised food systems are facing extensive challenges concerning sustainable development and are furthermore characterized by long supply chains with numerous food miles, industrial production and large-scale retailers. Dominant agricultural practices result in deforestation, loss of biodiversity and depletion of soil and natural resources. In addition, external factors such as climate change and urbanisation trends increases the complexity of these sustainability issues. Thus, transitions from the dominant food systems to more sustainable alternatives has been suggested in scientific literature. Transitions towards sustainability requires social and technical innovations as well as fundamental changes in the governance of food and agriculture. In light of this, a range of different urban farming practices have increasingly been considered to tackle some of these issues. Despite the growing interest in urban agriculture, there is a lack of extensive empirical studies exploring the current state of various urban farming practices and their role in the existing food systems. This study aims to explore the role of enabling factors that influence the development of commercial urban farming as part of a food sustainability transition, in the Stockholm area. The methodological approach of the project includes a qualitative case study and a mapping of productive urban food systems in Stockholm. The research design is flexible and the empirical data material builds on literature review, semi-structured interviews and secondary data collection. Content analysis is conducted and guided by the conceptual framework consisting of transition theory and the multi-level perspective framework.   The results show that commercial urban farming is a diverse phenomenon gaining momentum in Stockholm. Commercial urban farming in Stockholm mainly consists of controlled environment farming; nine out of 14 establishments are indoor farms, two are well established greenhouses and three are outdoor cultivations. However, commercial urban farming seems to be more characterized by the local aspect and closeness to a dense population, rather than a certain applied technology. The mapping indicates that commercial urban farming in Stockholm is currently meeting 0.5-4 % of the direct consumption of herbs and lettuce in Stockholm, but that the potential production capacity is higher. Furthermore, the study found several enabling factors and barriers that affect the development of local food production through urban farming in Stockholm. Through the lens of the multi-level perspective, the main barriers identified are regulations and politics, economic funding and organizational and cultural structures in the food regime. This indicates that further development of urban farming in Stockholm requires support through frameworks and policy, for example regulations regarding land use, to enable disposal of land and estate for urban agriculture use. Measures to facilitate public procurement of locally produced food could also enable the development of urban farming initiatives. Moreover, interaction and co-operation between various stakeholders is crucial for niche development. Large businesses in the food sector could enable the development of urban farming through investments and partnerships. Finally, consumers could enable the development of urban farming by increasingly choosing the alternative pathways offered by some of the urban farming initiatives.

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This paper is a single-case study on the European Commission’s (the Commission) proposal for a directive on improving gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchange. I aim to study the decision-making process of the Directive and, by applying the theories of multi-level governance and social policy, examine to what extent the proposal was negotiated and watered down during the negotiation process. I will do this by adopting a discourse analysis approach and using qualitative data such as EU documents, country statements and articles related to the proposal, to gather an in-depth understanding of the issue.  My findings are straightforward. First, the EU social policy domain is a complex area and difficult to legislate on, within a multi-level governance system. Second, Euroscepticism is growing throughout Europe and several forces opposed the idea of more power being transferred to the EU. Lastly, Northern Member States as well as countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), held a negative position throughout the process and argued against EU interference in the domestic social policies. The above-mentioned tensions were the cause of the controversial and lengthy negotiations on the Directive and the reasons why the decision-making process of this case lasted over 10 years. However despite the clear-cut assumptions, I found that the proposal was not watered down, but in fact the opposite.

The urgent action needed to achieve the goals within the Paris Agreement and restrict the increase of global warming to 1,5 degrees calls for adaptation across the whole of society. One way to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions is to enable a transition towards a sustainable food system, from meat products to more plant-based products including the consumption of more legumes. Legumes have many positive effects, both for arable land in terms of nitrogen fixation, as well as for people’s health in terms of high bioavailability. However, many plant-based alternatives currently on the market are multi-processed, resulting in low bioavailability and a high use of non-natural additives. The aim of this study is to shed light on what enables and hinders the transition towards a sustainable food system based on a more plant-based diet of Swedish-grown crops, including legumes. Furthermore, the purpose is to explore opportunities and challenges within strategy documents that affect the transition toward more sustainable food production. Two Swedish companies, both selling products labeled From Sweden, were interviewed to increase the understanding of opportunities and challenges for them to thrive in the existing meat-dominated market. The Swedish Board of Agriculture was interviewed to increase the understanding of the policy environment. This was complemented by a content analysis of two policy documents, the Swedish Food Strategy and the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. The analysis of collected data showed that the development of legume-based, From Sweden products depends on both collaboration between actors in the value chain, and educating Swedish consumers. The findings also reveal that retailers play an important role when it comes to affecting the opportunities and challenges for a transition towards more plant-based diets. In light of this, the study concludes that education, retailers and collaboration are the most important factors at play when it comes to opportunities and challenges that enable or hinder the transition towards a more sustainable food system including more high-legume plant-based diets. Often, these factors can be seen as both opportunities and challenges. However, further research is needed to better understand how these factors fit into the wider policy environment, where more key authorities beyond the scope of this study are included.

The construction industry is vital in meeting humanity's infrastructure and essential building needs. However, its current practices contribute significantly to environmental challenges such as global warming, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. The current study points out the need for a more sustainable approach in the construction sector. The reason this study focuses on RFID-tags is both because of the academic gap regarding implementation of new standardizations and the project Lumi that this study has as its case study of the thesis.    The goal of this thesis is to analyze the Swedish construction industry’s attitude toward the implementation of RFID-tags as a standardization and fill the academic gap that has been identified in the literature review. The goal is to determine the attitude of each stakeholder type within the industry through the lens of socio-technical transition theory, to determine specific barriers and drivers for the concept. Furthermore, the aim is to determine if RFID-tags can be implemented to promote circularity and enhance sustainable development.   The research methods incorporate a literature review and a case study with semi-structured interviews conducted with eight participants. The sample consisted of actors within the construction industry, such as customers, distribution companies, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, service companies, and workers.  The thesis identified the conservative nature of the industry as an obstacle, along with the fear of failure within the construction industry. The attitude towards the standardization of RFID-tags is positive, where beneficial factors were identified, such as saving time, reducing environmental impact, and improving the structure for recycling.

Sustainable and equitable fisheries are central for addressing the challenges of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. International trade, once presented by Walrasian economists as a panacea for fisheries development, has not markedly decreased poverty and has been related to the overexploitation of marine species. In this light the consequences of a continued expansion of seafood trade are highly uncertain and problematic. Two competing theoretical hypotheses predict either overexploitation or recovery of marine species when connected to international trade, respectively. The empirical literature finds trade relationships and connections of local fisheries to a large-volume market critical factors for social-ecological outcomes. Here, I combine these insights to show that multi-level links, between fishers & different markets (market manuscript) and marine species & trade relationships (squid manuscript), are critical to explain diverging social-ecological outcomes. In the market manuscript we model the transition from local, to multi-level (both local and global), to global markets in a two species fishery. We find this transition is non-linear, leading to fluctuations in species abundance as a result of abrupt switches between target species. Critical fluctuations of species abundance driven by new market connections are a result of large shifts in prices for one species and high asymmetries in expected income between the two species. The squid manuscript provides empirical and modeling evidence that cyclical changes in the ocean can drive social-ecological systems outcomes through changing interactions at multiple levels. The interactions between squid population and fishers and squid distribution and trading structures determines benefit distributions in the fishery. The lack of consideration of multi-level interactions related to trade in models for fisheries management is likely associated with a lack of processes for integrating the empirical and theoretical insights of two disciplines at the core of fisheries science. Social-ecological system scholars study more often empirical and fishery economics the theoretical aspects of interactions between trade and fisheries. One process suggested in this thesis to bridge insights from both disciplines in fishery models is the careful study of the important interactions in the empirical case. Comparison of these interactions with observed empirical interactions in other systems informs the model conceptualization that is then embedded in a theoretical framework. This leads to the development of models of intermediate complexity  that integrate insights on regular structures and patterns observed in real social-ecological systems. The squid manuscript exemplifies this integration. We integrate observed multi-level links in a standard fishery model between the squid population fishers and traders, and thus better represent the empirical system.  A continuous dialogue between empirics and theorycan help build models of intermediate complexity. To capture the complex elements of these social-ecological systems, in this young field of study, next to a continuous dialogue priority observed empirical dynamics can help question theoretical assumptions. This study seeks to contribute to the development of fisheries management models more suitable to face contemporary challenges of fisheries management by focusing on how multi-level interactions between fisheries and trade shape sustainable and equitable outcomes.

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