Leisure time is an important part of young people’s lives. Despite this, leisure-time settings have hitherto had only a minor role in setting-based health-promotion initiatives. Improving adolescents’ quality of leisuretime activities can reduce social differences in health, thus youth-centers can be appropriate settings for promoting health. However, young people with immigrant backgrounds participate less in organized leisure-time activities. The overall aim of this study is to explore young people’s leisure time as their health-promotion setting in two NGO-run youth-centers in multicultural, socially deprived suburbs in Sweden. This study took a practice-based approach using a mixture of methods in close collaboration with the youth-centers. Data collection was done through surveys with young people (n = 207) and interviews with young people and leaders (n = 16). Study I, about who participates in youthcenter activities, used an explanatory mixed method. Study II, about the youth-centers’ strategies, used an explorative qualitative method with an inductive content analysis. This study shows that youth-centers have great potential to be a healthpromotion setting if their strategies include some important factors, both in theory and in daily practice. To be a health-promotion setting, a youthcenter needs to be open and inclusive for its target group, foster supportive relationships, emphasize youth empowerment, and integrate family, school, and community in its strategies. Local knowledge about young people's backgrounds, needs, interests, and motivations to attend youth-center activities – as well as good contact with young people's families – is important because it can increase participation in leisure-time activities for young people in multicultural and socio- economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and can thus help to reduce social inequalities in health.

This thesis explores how four community gardens (Forest Gardens and Allotment Gardens) in Stockholm's multicultural suburbs enhance social connections among members and build community within the surrounding areas, through the lenses of social capital and third place, respectively. This case study aims to investigate participants’ perspectives on their relationships with other gardeners and visitors from the local neighborhood, utilizing semi-structured interviews and field/participant observations to collect qualitative data. The findings suggest that the shared ideologies among members in Forest Gardens, especially around the principles of permaculture, differentiate this typology from Allotment Gardens, in which the shared space aspect is more prevalent. Forest Gardens raise bonding social capital, stimulating deeper friendships and offering third places for the local communities, while Allotment Gardens promote bridging social capital, encouraging social learning through casual interactions with a diverse group of members, yet not so likely to include outsiders, functioning more as clubs. As a main contribution, this study highlights the importance of investigating the influence of members’ shared ideologies in the way social relationships are shaped in gardening communities, and not only examining gardening practices and spaces. On this basis, further research on the Pallet Collar Garden typology in Stockholm is recommended.