Antropogen inverkan på växthuseffekten är en bidragande faktor i den globala uppvärmningen, som i sin tur kommer att förstärka värmeböljor och den urbana värmeöeffekten. Kombinationen av dessa fenomen kan ha förödande konsekvenser. Höga temperaturer medför en minskad komfort för städers invånare och risken för värmerelaterad sjukdom och dödlighet ökar. Geoengineering som höjer det urbana albedot är en möjlig metod för att motverka allt mer intensiva värmeböljor, vilket i denna studie appliceras på Uppsala stad i form av vita tak. Den totala arean av mörka tak i Uppsala uppgår till 2,8 · 106 m2, vilket utgör mer än en tredjedel av Uppsalas totala takyta. Denna studie visar att implementeringen av vit plåt på mörka tak kan öka takets albedo med 0,42 vilket innebär att det finns en stor potential att öka det urbana albedot i Uppsala. Tidigare forskning tyder på ett samband mellan en ökning av det urbana albedot och en minskad medeltemperatur i städer. Det är därför rimligt att anta att en storskalig implementering av denna typ av geoengineering i Uppsala skulle kunna lindra effekterna av framtida värmeböljor.

Spridning av invasiva arter medför stora konsekvenser för den biologiska mångfalden, människors hälsa och ekonomi. Jättelokan är en av de vanligt förekommande invasiva arterna som finns i Sverige. Det finns omfattande kunskaper om jättelokans biologiska egenskaper, spridning och påverkan på biologiska mångfalden och människor. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att identifiera de potentiella riskområdena i Kristianstads kommun som bör prioriteras för bekämpning av jättelokan. Variablerna som har undersökts för att besvara uppsatsens syfte är följande: befolkningstäthet, markanvändning, jordarter och närhet till väg och vatten. Dataprogrammet ArcGIS har använts för att behandla och presentera geografisk data. Undersökningen har visat att det är främst kommunens västra och centrala delar som är mest utsatta för spridning. Dessa områden bör lyftas fram för bekämpning med tanke på hälsorisker som jättelokan kan orsaka. Studien indikerar på en positiv trend mellan förekomsten av jättelokan och befolkningstäthet. Mark som används för fruktodling och öppen mark framhävs som de mest invaderade områdena med hög spridning. Högre spridning uppmärksammas i jordarterna svämsediment sand och grusig morän. Studien spårar en positiv trend mellan förekomsten av jättelokan och närheten till trafikleder och vattendrag. Resultaten av undersökningen kan användas för att prioritera områdena för riktade bekämpningsåtgärder.

Northern Iceland is a place of great interest for climatic studies. The land was fairly untouched by human activity until the Landnám period (870-930 AD), when humans first started to colonize the island. The study site is situated in the valley of Hjaltadalur close to the village Hólar, which after the settlement of humans became the religious and culture center of northern Iceland. Peat sediment cores were drilled to gain knowledge of the climatic fluctuations and environmental development in the area. Peat is a perfect archive of climatic and environmental changes due to its ability to preserve material like pollen, tephra and insect fossils which can be identified and analyzed to gain a better understanding of the past climate. Out of four possible drilling sites in the valley of Hjaltadalur, northern Iceland, Viðvik peat land was chosen for climatic analyses. Pollen, loss on ignition, tephra and radiocarbon dating analyses were performed on the peat material and samples for future macrofossil analyses were collected. The analyses provided useful information and insights into temperature fluctuations during the late Holocene, which could be correlated with other palaeoclimate research made in the past decades in the northern regions of Iceland. The pollen diagrams presented in this thesis show a transition from a warm and dry forestlike landscape to a cooler, more humid, open landscape during the last 5000 years. This visible transition, which contributed to a reduction of the birch population, started before the european settlement and thus implies that humans were not solely responsible for the birch decline in Iceland after the Landnám period (870-930 AD).

Understanding the formation mechanics of glacial crevasses is crucial in a variety of glacial applications. Besides being a serious safety hazard during field campaigns, crevasses influence calving rates, mass balance, and the hydrological network of glaciers. Therefore, knowledge about their spatial distribution and potential development zones is highly beneficial. In this project, spatial distribution of surface crevasses on the Svalbard archipelago is investigated using a simple crevasse depth model, so called Nye’s zero-stress model, and a set of surface ice velocity data. The model is run for various ice temperatures as it is one of the parameters affecting crevasse development. The crevasse occurrences are also mapped and digitised manually using high resolution remote-sensed images. A special emphasis is put on the Lomonosovfonna ice cap, central Spitsbergen, where the crevasse distribution is studied in detail. The results indicate the greatest density of crevasses in regions of high ice surface velocity and concurrently high strain rates. These areas encompass mainly fast-flowing outlet valley glaciers, while the more stagnant ice caps and ice fields are characterised by little to no crevassing except for their margins. The modelled spatial distribution is concurrent with the observations, particularly for certain ice temperatures, highlighting the importance of accurate ice temperature measurements in modelling and a need of separation of the accumulation and ablation zones. Overall, the Nye’s zero-stress model yields accurate results and proves to be a suitable tool for the task. With room for fine-tuning, it is a promising tool that is easy to incorporate in other models.

Den svenska allemansrätten syftar bland annat till att stränder ska finnas tillgängliga för alla genom att ge goda förutsättningar för biologisk mångfald. För detta behövs ett strandskydd som skyddar mot exploatering men som kan tillåta ny bebyggelse, bland annat bebyggelse som leder till landsbygdsutveckling.Studien behandlar strandskyddet och landsbygdsutveckling i strandnära lägen (LIS) utmed norrlandskusten utifrån problematiken att utse nya LIS-områden. Landsbygdsutveckling i strandnära lägen är ett tillägg i den svenska strandskyddslagstiftningen och tillkom 2009 med syftet att utveckla landsbygden genom att lätta på strandskyddet och tillåta ny bebyggelse i attraktiva strandområden. LIS infördes som särskilt skäl i Miljöbalken och yrkar på att kommuner ska peka ut LIS-områden i sina översiktsplaner. LIS kan tillämpas i hela Sverige, med vissa undantag, och i LIS-områden är det sedan lättare att få beviljad dispens om åtgärden som dispensen avser bidrar till en utveckling av landsbygdenSyftet med den här studien är att underlätta utpekandet av LIS-områden rent geografiskt, men också på ett långsiktigt hållbart sätt så att landsbygdsutveckling skapas. Tidigare studier visar att det saknas tydliga kriterier som visar hur LIS-områden ska se ut för att nå LIS-tilläggets syfte med landsbygdsutveckling. Målet med studien är därför att ge förslag på kriterier som kan användas när nya LIS-områden ska utses.Studien utfördes som en fallstudie där fyra olika metoder tillämpades. I urvalet utsågs 17 kommuner efter norrlandskusten som var lämpliga kandidater för studien. Därefter genomfördes lagtolkning, enkätundersökning, intervjuer och områdesanalys.Resultatet visar ett flertal kriterier som används för att utse nya LIS-områden. En mall för LIS kriterier har tagits fram för att underlätta arbetet med LIS och för att få en samsyn om hur LIS ska pekas ut i landet. Mallen kan tillämpas i ett geografiskt informationssystem (GIS) som en multikriterieanalys (MCA).Kommuner misstolkar ofta lagstiftningen om LIS som leder till att felaktiga beslut tas om strandskydd och LIS-områden. Kommuner använder sig av kriterier för att utse LIS-områden men kriterierna ser olika ut och tillämpas på olika vis. LIS kan utvecklas så att landsbygdsutveckling nås i större utsträckning i framtiden med gemensamma mål och strategier. / Swedish public law aims to make shores accessible to everybody and provide good conditions for biodiversity. For this, a shore protection is needed that protects against exploitation, but which can allow new development, including buildings that lead to rural development.This essay is about shore protection, rural development in shore sites based on the problems in pointing out new areas for rural development in shore sites. These areas are called LIS-areas, a shortening for Landsbygdsutveckling i Strandnära lägen. Rural development in shore sites is a law from 2009 that made it possible to develop certain areas in the countryside with new buildings. LIS was added to the Environmental code with the purpose to repeal shore protection in rural areas so that municipalities could designate LIS-areas in their comprehensive plans. LIS is applicable throughout Sweden, with few exceptions, and in these certain areas it will be easier to get a dispensation approved if the dispensation will develop the rural area.The aim of this study is to facilitate the designation of LIS areas geographically, but also in a long-term sustainable way so that rural development is created. Previous studies show lack of criteria that show what LIS areas should look like and how large the areas should be in order to achieve rural development. The objective of the study is to provide suggestions on criteria that can be used when selecting new LIS areas.The study was conducted as a case study in which different methods were applied. The selection identified 17 municipalities along the coastline of northern Sweden that were suitable candidates for the study. Subsequently, reviews on LIS-areas, surveys, interviews and interpretation of the LIS-law were done.The result shows a number of criteria used to designate new LIS areas. A template for LIS criteria has been developed to facilitate the work with LIS and to obtain a consensus on how LIS should be identified in the country. The template can be applied in a geographical information system (GIS) as a multi-criteria analysis.Municipalities often misinterpret the legislation on LIS, which leads to incorrect decisions about shore protection and LIS areas. Municipalities use criteria to designate LIS areas, but the criteria look different and are applied in different ways. LIS can be developed so that rural development can be achieved to a greater extent in the future by common goals and strategies.

The aim of this study has been to investigate teachers´ teaching of name geography and based on this contribute with discussion that can develop the didactics of geography. The subject of geography has been debated in the discourse of the school for a long time. To examine the aim of the study interviews have been conducted with six teachers from different schools who are competent in the subject of geography. The material from the interviews has been transcribed, analyzed and then a result has been written. The result provides that the teachers use different methods current to the students' learning. The teachers have a common denominator for the purpose of their teaching, namely, to provide a basis for the students for further development in the subject of geography. Our conclusion is that teachers express their didactic choices and dedicate name geography in different ways and there is a need for further research to develop teachers' awareness about their didactic choices of name geography.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate immigrant youths’ experiences of accessibility of urban greenspaces (UGS) and how these spaces meet the needs and preferences of this user group. The case study takes on an explorative approach based on interviews and participant observations. Environmental justice and sense of place theory constitute the research framework and permeate the study from research design throughout to the conslusions. Environmental justice theory has been applied earlier in studies of accessibility of UGS among different social groups, mostly on issues of environmental bads. However, no previous research has treated these issues in combination with a sense of place framework. This study contributes to the UGS accessibility research by illuminating the subjective experiences of the urban nature in familiar environments. The results from this study depict how factors other than the physical presence of UGS - such as social networks for local knowledge, previous nature images and feelings of familiarity with the surroundings - affect the perception of how well UGS meet one’s need and desiers.

Skred är en av de naturliga processer som formar landskapet omkring oss. De kan dock, om de sker ibebyggda områden, orsaka stor skada på byggnader, infrastruktur och utgöra en fara för människors liv.Det är därför viktigt att kunna identifiera områden där skred potentiellt kan ske så att lämpliga åtgärderkan vidtas i tid. En modell har tagits fram av Statens geotekniska institut (SGI) och Sveriges geologiskaundersökning (SGU) för att ge en första indikation på var skred kan ske. Modellen baseras på en algoritmav Tryggvason et al. (2015) där områden som består av finkorniga jordarter och där lutningsförhållandetär minst 1:10 betraktas som skredkänsliga. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka till vilken gradmodellens aktsamhetsområden sammanfaller med tidigare skred från SGI och SGUs databaser. 90 - 94% av de tidigare skreden överlappade med modellerade aktsamhetsområden. Möjliga anledningar till attskred hamnat utanför dessa områden undersöktes även. Att de befinner sig i en jordart som inte betraktassom skredkänslig och att lutningen numera är lägre än tröskelvärdet för modellen var de huvudsakligaanledningarna till detta. / A landslide is a type of mass movement down a slope. It is a natural part of the evolution of the landscapearound us but can cause extensive damages on buildings, infrastructure and pose a threat to human livesif they occur in populated areas. It is therefore important to know which areas that are prone to landslidesso that appropriate measures can be taken in time. It is possible to calculate how stable a certain soil isby taking samples of it and testing it in the lab. In these tests it is determined how sensitive the soil is tovibrations, a higher water content and/or if it is remolded. However, this takes time and require a lot ofwork. Since not all soil types are equally sensitive these tests do not have to be performed on everyslope, but it is important that the most sensitive areas are not overlooked. For this reason, a model hasbeen developed that displays areas where the slope stability might need to be examined prior, forexample, larger infrastructure projects are started. From previous studies it has been found thatlandslides mostly occur in fine grained soils, like silt and clay, and where the slope is steeper than 5.7degrees. Areas that consist of any of these soil types and has a slope over this threshold are consideredpotentially sensitive to landslides in the model. The purpose of this study was to assess how well themodel is at identifying areas that might be prone to landslides. This was done by determining how manyof previous landslides, that are registered in two databases, that fall within the areas marked aspotentially sensitive. Why some landslides were located outside of these areas was also examined. Themain reasons were that the soil type the landslide occurred in is not considered sensitive by the modelor the inclination of the slope have changed since the landslide occurred. 90 - 94 % of the previouslandslides were found to be located within areas that the model point out as potentially sensitive.

The main focus of this thesis has been to study how formal territorialization can be expressed in the study area and to study the consequences of what those territorializing processes may have in the urban green commons in the study area. The overall focus for this thesis has been the issue of territorialization and its consequences in terms of formal land claims in urban green commons when it is planned and proposed for by large-scale land use planning. Based on a case study together with field studies, literature studies, interviews and map data, the results of this thesis have highlighted the potential consequences of the city of Stockholm’s proposed land use plans in the thesis study area with formal land claims on land that today is classified, according to this thesis’s assessment, as widely appreciated the area’s residents and important urban green commons. The city of Stockholm, with it’s plans and proposals in the ”Program proposal for Spångadalen”, formally makes a territorializing claim on land that is found to be within the city's ownership, but which are also important urban green commons for the people who live in connection with them and also important for the area's flora and fauna. Three of the four sub-areas, (within the main study area), are considered sensitive to changes in the use of the land. The city's land within the study area is urban green commons with parts of it that have high nature values, are appreciated green areas among the areas residents and house habitats for endangered flora and fauna. This means that further work with regular and well-planned monitoring of the city’s urban green commons is needed in order to follow potential changes in the state of these urban green commons over time and to insert the right measures, at appropriate times and in the right places, in order for the city to successfully reach it’s sustainability goals set in the city’s Municipal Comprehensive Plan, (”översiktsplan” in Swedish).

Mercury (Hg) in rivers and streams of the Mackenzie River Basin (MRB) presents a risk to fish, aquatic mammals, and humans. This thesis makes use of newly-released water quality data, including total mercury (THg) and dissolved mercury (DHg), gathered through the NWT-Wide Community-based Water Quality Monitoring (CBM) program. Landscape metrics extracted from geospatial datasets (e.g. vegetation type cover and ground ice presence), along with the water quality parameters were transformed, as needed, and then assessed for relationships with Hg concentration in rivers using principle component analysis, correlation and linear regression. Transformed turbidity, total phosphate, total sulfate, and the 1st principle component representing total metals were positively correlated with log10 THg and log10 particulate Hg (PHg) (p < 0.05) in major tributaries on the MRB. Major tributaries had a greater proportion of THg as PHg. Dissolved organic carbon and total organic carbon were positivity correlated to log10 DHg in minor tributaries (p < 0.05) of the MRB. Logit-transformed ground ice presence was positively correlated with median log10 PHg and log10 THg (PHg; p < 0.05, THg; p < 0.05). Median log10 DHg was positively correlated with logit-transformed landcover metric mixed forest (R2 = 0.67), and negativity correlated with logit-transformed landcover metric sub-polar taiga needleleaf forest (R2 = 0.64) (p < 0.05). This suggests suspended particles, derived potentially from suspended mineral matter, kerogens, and/ or weathering of sulfides could be a control on PHg in major tributaries of the MRB, while thicker, organic soils, potentially in forested areas, releasing TOC and DOC, could control export of DHg to minor tributaries in the MRB.