The purpose of this paper is to analyze the project Knitting House using art and architectural theories to question the forms of the project as well as the town planning in the area of Husby, a suburb to Stockholm. In order to stress the architectural issues in the area of Husby, the thesis examines the aim and intention of the project Knitting House. The project explores the standardized architectural form that was used and built under the Miljonprogrammet, through the years of 1960-1970 in the neighborhoods of Järvafältet. The thesis will also investigate some of the problems that arise when attempting to discuss knitting as a method used to perform Knitting House.  This paper explores the relationships between public and private spaces, the areas in between them and how they interact. The claim made throughout the thesis is that Knitting House can function as a political catalyst by presenting a combined perspective of art, architecture and politics to address the social and ethnic segregation in suburbs like Husby.

The workplace has a direct impact on the physical, psychological, economic and social well-being of the workers. A healthy workplace leads to increased health among the employees which also makes the employees more productive (Källestål, 2004). A poor working environment can have negative consequences for individuals, companies and society (SOU, 2009:47).This is a qualitative study that investigates companies’ view of health promotion and how they practice health promotion in working life. Five private and five public companies, with representatives from the management were interviewed. The result showed that the companies looked at health promotion as means to support and create opportunities for the health of the employees. Ergonomics and work environment were the main drivers linked to health promotion. All companies had efforts for health promotion and the foremost was health care contributions which were offered annually. However, it appeared that few workers took advantage of it. Leadership proved to be very important for a healthy workplace. The companies´ visions for health promotion were that they would be an attractive workplace and that they wanted the employees to feel good at work. This was important because the companies wanted to benefit the business as well as the workers. The result agrees well with the literature, but it was unexpected that the companies would have such a broad view of health and health promotion.

The focus of this essay is to investigate if there lies a difference between graffiti art that is placed in the public spaces and graffiti art that is sited in an institutional art setting; in this essay exemplified in a gallery space. My thesis is that graffiti art derives a great deal of its meaning and substance from its situation consequently making a change of cultural context also a change of connotation and understanding of the graffiti art itself.  Meaning that graffiti art situated in a communal space is different from graffiti art situated in the gallery space. They share aesthetic expression but their connotations differ; i.e. one being illegal and the other permissible making their meanings dissimilar. I have used a comparison between site-specific art and graffiti art to further strengthen my thesis concerning the importance of understanding how a change of context critically changes the substance of graffiti art.

Diss. Umeå : Umeå universitetet, 2005. / Recension: RIG, 2006:3, s. 161-163.

Studien analyserar hur tillämpning av genomtänkt samhällsplanering kan minimera brottslighet och öka trygghet i särskilt utsatta områden. Vikten av medborgarnas delaktighet för en socialt hållbar samhällsutveckling poängteras. Arbetets syfte är att med hjälp av åsikter från ungdomar bosatta i området ta fram ett förslag på hur området skulle kunna utvecklas positivt vid nybyggnation. Målet är att ta fram ett hållbart förslag som ska bidra till att minska kriminalitet i ett utsatt område. Ungdomarnas åsikter kombineras med polisens förslag på hur området bör utformas. För att få fram resultatet genomfördes en djupintervju med polis, och två workshops med ungdomar. Utformningsförslaget tillgodoser behovet av belysning, siktlinjer och samlingsplatser som efterfrågas. Arbetet kan användas som underlag vid förbättring av den offentliga miljön i utsatta områden. / This study is analyzing how well executed community planning might minimize crime and increase safety in segregated city areas. The importance of actively involving citizens in decision making is vital to achieve social sustainability in a community. The purpose of the study is to create an exemplifying idea of how the district area could develop and excel in a positive way. The study is based on opinions from adolescents living in the area in question and will be compared and used in relation to police officers needs to be able to do their job in the area. To reach the results, workshops with the adolescents and an interview with a police officer took place. The goal is to develop an example of how to minimize crime in a segregated city district. The proposal of how to design the area is focused on the need for lighting, openness and sightlines as is asked for. It also includes places to gather, which also is needed in the area. The study can be used to form ideas of ways to form public spaces in socially problematic areas.

In this thesis I have studied the conflicts that arose in Vara when the municipality ordered a sculpture by the artist Katharina Grosse in collaboration with The National Swedish Public Art Council and the Swedish Transport Administration in 2012. The aim of the study is to analyze the meaning-making of the sculpture as a process determined by social negotiations concerning variables such as identity, societal hierarchies and education. The material is foremost consisting of interviews with employees from The National Swedish Public Art Council and Vara municipality, a local objector whom organized a protesting Facebook group and a local newspaper journalist. The material is analyzed with discourse theory in order to examine how the discourses about public art are characterized in a local context today and how its meaning continually is being constructed and reconstructed through this. By studying the resistance and critique against The Blue Orange in Vara as local fragments of a more global context the analysis also targets how the practices and meaning-making of art in the public domain are conditioned by political ideologies and societal structures such as the neoliberal market, economic growth and competition. The protesters and protagonists of the art work places the sculpture in different narratives about the municipality where the municipality is either described as something progressing; moving from a state where something is lacking, or as something with a fixed identity and already defined. The latter narrative is used by those who criticize the art work because it does not reflect their perceived shared identity while the former motivates the advocates who want to create a more distinct municipal identity, a branding of sorts, to attract tourists and stimulate economic growth. These narratives demonstrates how debates revolving art works and the public domain can bring up articulations and everyday experiences of power structures, citizenship and societal norms.

The civil society is considered an important component of a democratic system and is supported by political advocates. During the 2015 migrant crisis the voluntary sector, as part of the civil society, played an important role shouldering a lot of responsibility for the arrival of refugees. This led to criticisms aimed towards the public sector and it’s absence in regard to the same situation. The purpose of this essay is to investigate and explain the political paradox created in connection with the migrant crisis of 2015. Using the ”perspective of responsibility” as a starting-point this essay will look at the public sector’s- and respectively the civil society’s actions during the crisis as a benchmark. This essay will use the method known as case study, through a qualitative text analysis as a base. The different sectors and their respective relationships to the perspective of responsibility will be discussed through three separate ways in which Robert Putnams theory on social capital & citizenship, and Henrik Berggren & Lars Trägårdhs theory on the Swedish state individualism will be discussed. Using these two separate theories together with the perspective of responsibility as a foundation, the study will illustrate the problematic aspects of civil society partly bearing the responsibilities of the public sector’s areas of responsibility during the fall of 2015. This essay found that some of the negative criticism pointed at the public sector was misguided during the fall 2015.

My project takes place in Korsten four kilometers north of central Port Elizabeth. Korsten is today known as the industrial center of the city and provides job opportunities throughout the whole region. Central Korsten contains the biggest informal market within Port Elizabeth; it is also functioning as a nodal interchange where buses and minibus taxis provide transport within the city as well as nationwide. In 2010 major changes in the transport system will take place as a part of the 2010 world cup program. The city introduces the new Bus rapid transit system, a transportation system based on trunk buses complimented with minibus taxis. Introducing a new bus-system to Korsten will be a great challenge especially concerning Korstens informal identity and tradition. The informal economy is today an integral part of the South African economy and something that most South Africans come in contact with on daily bases. But it is an economy and movement not measurable or regulated by the government. The informal economy got its own rules and traditions and it flourishes in Korsten. It creates job opportunities as well as a possibility to buy everyday goods to a reasonable price, but it also contributes to a hectic and unstructured environment which gives a chaotic impression. This dissertation highlights the informal tradition and its possibility to be an integral part of the modern Korsten. It investigates the meaning of the public space and what role it plays in our cities and how it can be implemented in Korsten. / Available at: erik_tellden(at)hotmail.com +46702267034

This essay examines tweets published during a measles outbreak in January 2018 with the purpose of highlighting the division among tweets positive and negative toward vaccine, the use of sources and arguments as well as what risks are expressed and how the tweets relate to research and media. The study conducted is based on a combination of a quantitative content analysis followed by a qualitative content analysis. In total 260 Swedish tweets are being analyzed during the study, 18 of them make up the material for the qualitative study, all published 2-5 January 2018. Theories about media and health, post-truth, risk and participation make up the theoretical framework for the conducted study. The results from the study are analyzed through these theories. Results from the quantitative content analysis show that more than half of the tweets mentioning vaccine are positive toward vaccine. Tweets arguing in favor of vaccine use more sentiment in their arguments and those opposing vaccine more often use rational arguments. The quantitative analysis also show that half of the tweets used a source and primarily with the purpose of spreading information. Additionally a majority of those tweets using a source support the source mentioned, sources mostly used are media or authorities/institutions. Almost two-thirds of all tweets express some kind of risk. The risks most frequently expressed are risk of disease, lack of people vaccinated and immigration. Four themes emerge from the qualitative content analysis, two themes among tweets negative toward vaccine and two themes from tweets positive toward vaccine. The negative tweets speak of measles as a harmless disease and the danger of taking vaccine. On the contrary, the positive tweets speak of the dangers of measles and of the lack of people vaccinated as dangerous. / I denna studie undersöks twitterinlägg som publicerats under utbrott av mässling i januari 2018 för att belysa fördelningen mellan inlägg för och mot vaccin, användning av källor och argument samt hur inläggen ger uttryck för risk och även deras förhållande till forskning och media. Studien bygger på en kombinerad metod med en kvantitativ innehållsanalys följt av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Totalt har 260 svenska twitterinlägg ingått i studiens empiriska material, varav 18 ingått i den kvalitativa delen av studien, och samtliga är hämtade 2-5 januari 2018. Teorier om hälsa och medier, post-truth, risk samt deltagande utgör den genomförda studiens teoretiska ramverk. Dessa teorier används för att analysera studiens resultat. Resultatet av den kvantitativa analysen visade att mer än hälften av de inlägg som berörde vaccin var positiva till vaccin. I sin argumentation användes främst emotionella argument hos inlägg positiva till vaccin och logiska argument hos inlägg negativa till vaccin. Den kvantitativa studien visade även att hälften av alla inlägg använt sig av en källa och då främst i syfte att informera, dessutom ställde majoriteten av twitterinläggen sig positiva till den källa de hänvisat till vilket oftast var media eller myndigheter/institutioner. Nästan två tredjedelar av inläggen gav uttryck för risk och då var sjukdom, brist på vaccinerade och invandring de risker som lyftes fram mest. I den kvalitativa delen av studien framkom fyra teman, två för inlägg negativa till vaccin och två för inlägg positiva till vaccin. Inlägg negativa till vaccin talade om hur mässling inte var farligt och att vaccin var farligt. I motsats till detta talade inlägg positiva till vaccin om att mässling var farligt och att brist på vaccinerade var farligt.

Krav på ansvarstagande för offentliga chefer har ökat under de senaste åren, och detta har i sin tur lett till ökat krav på offentliga chefer som dessutom får ta allt mer ansvar. De behöver också lägga ner allt mer av sin arbetstid på att arbeta med just ansvar. Dessa ökade krav är dock inte jämnt fördelade över organisationens chefer. Därför har ansvaret blivit stort för de chefer som ansvarstagandet faller på. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till en ökad förståelse för ansvarstagande i offentlig sektor. Genom att i praktiken undersöka hur offentliga chefer utkrävs på ansvarstagande samt hur en offentliga organisation internt hanterar krav på ansvarstagande hoppas vi kunna bidra till en ökad förståelse kring begreppet ansvarstagande. Utifrån vårt syfte är två forskningsfrågor formulerade för att med hjälp av dessa kunna besvara syftet med studien.Studien som genomförts är kvalitativ med en abduktiv ansats. Till studien har det tillämpats ett hermeneutiskt synsätt för att kunna förstå och tolka det insamlade empiriska materialet. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer som genomfördes med nio respondenter vid en enhet vid Jönköpings kommun. Vi har intervjuat en högre chef, fyra enhetschefer och fyra mellanchefer som arbetar vid samma enhet. Detta för att med hjälp av respondenternas svar kunna fastställa hur en offentlig organisation och dess chefer utkrävs på ansvarstagande och internt hanterar krav på ansvarstagande.Den insamlade empirin har sedan satts i relation till den vetenskapliga litteratur som vi använt oss av i den teoretiska referensramen. Den teoretiska referensramen har utvecklats med hjälp av tidigare litteratur och behandlar tre huvudområden vilka är styrning i offentlig sektor, att förstå ansvarstagande och mellanchefer. Denna teori har sedan använts för att problematisera och analysera det empiriska materialet. Detta har i sin tur mynnat ut i slutsatserna för studien.I studien framkommer det att de undersökta cheferna kopplar begreppet ansvarstagande till ansvar och därigenom även till deras arbetsbeskrivningar. Cheferna utkrävs på så sätt på ansvarstagande genom de olika ansvarsförhållandena som kräver att de utför vissa arbetsuppgifter och sköter vissa ansvarsområden och därmed genomsyrar ansvarstagandet deras arbete. Trots de hinder som kan uppkomma för mellanchefer fungerar mellancheferna i denna organisation som en avlastning för enhetscheferna och underlättar därmed kravet på ansvarstagande som ligger på enhetscheferna. / Demands of accountability for public managers have increased in recent years which have resulted in increased demands on public managers, who must take more responsibility. Therefore, they must devote more of their working hours to work with responsibility. However, these increasing demands are not evenly distributed among the organization’s managers. Thereby the responsibility has become heavy for the mangers who deal with accountability. The purpose with this thesis is to generate knowledge about accountability in public sector. By examining how public managers are pressed for accountability and how an organization internally manage demands of accountability, we hope to contribute to an increased understanding around the concept of accountability. Two research questions are formulated to help us answer the purpose with the thesis.The study is conducted by means of qualitative method where we apply an abductive approach. It has applied a hermeneutical perspective to interpret and understand the collected empirical material. The empirical material has been collected through semi-structured interviews with nine respondents at a unit at Jönköpings kommun. We have been interviewing a senior manager, four unit mangers, and four middle managers who work within the same unit. With help from the respondents answers we would like to determine how public managers are pressed for accountability and how an organization internally handle demands of accountability.The collected data has been related to the academic literature which we used in the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework has been developed by using former literature and discusses three major topics, which are public sector governance, understanding accountability and middle managers. This theory has then been used to problematize and analyze the empirical material. All the above have led to the conclusions of this study.In this study, it appears that the examined mangers connect the concept accountability to responsibility and therefore to their job descriptions. The managers are pressed for accountability through their accountability relationships which demand that they perform their working tasks and manage their responsibilities, and thereby accountability permeates their work. Despite the obstacles that can appear for middle managers the middle managers in this organization work as a relief for the unit managers and thereby they ease the demand of accountability, which are lying on the unit managers.This thesis is written in Swedish.