This thesis has been an odyssey of sorts, into how the creative and playful use of digital tools, such as virtual reality technology, may prompt one's engagement with ‘the lost atmosphere of a Place’ and its history. My point of reference is the novel platform known as Uppsala VR, the property of the Gamla Uppsala museum in Sweden. What exactly has been its nature and purpose? How is it being embedded in the overall museum practice? How do visitors perceive and experience it? What started as a User Experience (UX) survey, yet, in time evolved into an exploration of the Uppsala VR in terms of ‘mediated spectacle’. Eventually, through continuous observations, negotiation, and reflection, an intricate understanding develops about what lies beyond for historical heritage and its representation, and about the role of the users’ imaginative creativity in this process.

Genom affektiva teorier, affektiva metoder och en generell teoretisering kring plats har undersökningen försökt att besvara frågan: Hur kan ett fiktivt verk påverka upplevelsen av en generell plats? Undersökningen har med denna fråga funnit ett samband mellan den generella platsens upplevelse, affektiv påverkan, och erfarenhet. Resultatet som framträder genom undersökningen tydliggör påverkan av generell plats genom fiktiva verk. Resultatet antyder dock att påverkan inte enbart är ett direkt resultat av det fiktiva verket. Utifrån en teori kring Aktiv och passiv affekt fann undersökningen att aktiv provocering av respondenterna främjade upplevelsen av platsen i relation till det fiktiva verket. Dessutom förs diskussioner kring en formulering av ”Parasitiska affekter”, en affekt som använder en nyckelaktör i ett affektivt nätverk för att påverka upplevelsen av plats. Avslutningsvis finner undersökningen att det går att främja upplevelsen av generell plats i relation till det fiktiva verket men att det skulle behöva undersökas över en längre period och med en större urvalsgrupp. / Through affective theory, affective methods and a general theorisation of place the study asks the question: How does a fictitious work affect the experience of general place? The study establishes an, albeit weak, connection between affective theory, experience, fictitious works and their affect unto general place. The result that becomes apparent is that even if a fictitious work has an affect on general place it does so in a barely noticeable manner to the participants themselves. Active provocation has been found to be a more affective force in participants experience of place in connection to a fictive work. Passive affect in turn has been less prevalent in the affect of experience. The fictive works ability to affect has as such been established to a certain degree, however further studies into the subject are recommended to strengthen these results. The study concludes by remarking on so-called ”Parasitic affects” a kind of affect theorised to affect a persons affective network through associative connections to key actors in this network.

Denna studie undersöker hur ’känsla av plats’, betraktat som menings- och anknytningsskapande till plats, påverkar individuellt och allmänt mentalt välbefinnande. Genom appliceringen av förkroppsligad autoetnografi syftar den till att skildra ett personligt narrativ om egna upplevelser från att gå på gatorna i Stockholms innerstad. Forskningsfrågan är: V ad kan ett autoetnografiskt och förkroppsligat tillvägagångssätt bidra till framväxande teorier och metoder som berör sambandet mellan känsla av plats och mentalt välbefinnande? Från det explorativa tillvägagångssättet presenteras några påståenden framåt slutet baserat på resultaten. För det första är det viktigt för utövare, teoretiker och medborgare att utforska platsbetydelser som en del av och i platsen, för att utveckla förståelse och ifrågasätta sociokulturella konstruktioner av att veta och leva. För det andra är det ett etiskt imperativ att vara uppmärksam på affekter och känslor i relation till plats, där ett ökat intresse från de som jobbar med offentliga miljöer behövs. För det tredje består meningsfulla platser av invecklade nätverk av jaget, andra och miljöer, vilket belyser hur miljön sällan har företräde i sig själv. Slutligen visar det autoetnografiska och förkroppsligade tillvägagångssättet på potential för förändring bortom fantasin, där känslighet kan öppna länge stängda dörrar och välkomna något nytt. Resultaten och reflektionerna antyder gemensamt att den inneboende komplexiteten i förhållandet måste bemötas med flexibilitet och öppenhet, snarare än att reduceras och separeras i fraktioner. / This study explores how sense of place, viewed as the attribution of meaning and emotional attachment to place, influences individual and public mental wellbeing. It is performed through a practice of embodied autoethnography, which seeks to portray a vulnerable narrative of the researcher herself in relation to walking the streets of inner-city Stockholm. The research question is: What can an autoethnographic and embodied approach contribute to emerging theories and practices concerned with the relationship between sense of place and mental wellbeing? From the explorative approach applied, some tentative prompts and claims are made towards the finishing chapters. First, it is vital for practitioners, theorists, and citizens to explore place meanings first-hand, to further understand and question socio-cultural constructions of knowing and living. Second, it is an ethical imperative to pay attention to affects, feelings, and emotions in place, in which heightened acknowledgement is needed for all concerned with ordering public spheres. Third, meanings of place consist of intricate networks of self, others, and environments, highlighting how the environment rarely takes precedence in or for itself. Finally, the autoethnographic and embodied approach to study recognizes the potential for change beyond imagination, in which vulnerability can open long-shut doors and welcome the becoming of something new. The findings and reflections jointly suggest the complexities must be met plurally rather than reduced and separated into fractions.

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The research field regarding healthier cities and how to promote and enable possibilities for physical activity is considered to be one of the most important research fields in current urban planning research. In academic research, there is a research gap when it comes to how urban characteristics that promote and enable possibilities for physical activity are treated in practice, as well as how municipalities are working with questions regarding creating healthier cities. This is related to the societal challenges of increasingly sedentary lifestyles that are currently considered a global health crisis. In this context, the concept of a healthy city only regards aspects connected to physical activity. The thesis aimed to investigate how the municipality of Flen works to enable and create possibilities for physical activity and how these processes assemble to make the vision of a healthy city. The study conducted semi-structured interviews with planners in the municipality of Flen from different departments and analyzed relevant strategic documents. The challenges identified were perspective congestion, limited spaces, budget, what attracts, and challenges connected to the citizens. The result shows that the municipality of Flen works with seven processes: strategic documents, maintenance, safety, attractive and social environments, available and accessible environments, knowledge and encouragement, and future developments. The studies conclude that the urban characteristics identified and acknowledged in previous research are considered from different perspectives when considered in practice.

This thesis aims to study the perception of local knowledge within Wale Wale Kenya, a small local organization operating in Kibera, Nairobi. The people who run the Kenyan organization have all grown up in Kibera and thus have strong local roots. An analysis of the Kenyan organization however extends beyond the “local” because of its collaboration with its partner organization Wale Wale Sweden. The partner organization contributes among other things with volunteers and interns from Sweden. The main research question guiding the thesis concern show local knowledge is perceived by two development NGOs, Wale Wale Kenya, and its Swedish partner organization Wale Wale Sweden, and how that relates to their sense of place of Kibera. The thesis is a result of qualitative field study at the organization Wale Wale Kenya where semi-structured interviews and observations were made. The findings show that the focus on the local aspect contributes to the creation of representation, understanding and passion within the organization. Furthermore, local knowledge is seen as unique and useful since it is linked to the particular place where it will be used. Local knowledge is also valued for its long-term perspective, a strong anchoring in the local community and that it empowers the members who run the organization. However, exposure to other places, beyond the locality of Kibera through influences by interns andvolunteers, is highly valued. Local knowledge is not seen as bounded to the local place but is also a result of the local interacting with global social processes.

The fast growth of the urban population affects city life by degrading natural and social resources. Urban developments modify resources such as forest, land, and water, but also modify the intimate relationship of people with the landscape. Many times, the damage of those resources is irreversible, and provokes dramatic changes in the natural landscape and the uniqueness of the place is missing. Despite the intense discussion that landscape architects and scientists worldwide hold about social and environmental aspects in urban environments, many questions about how to support natural and cultural landscapes, or why to keep them are not answered in the existing waterfronts and re-developments at the water's edge. For this reason, the recovering of urban waterfronts is an opportunity to promote ecologically healthy environments, address sense of place, support human gatherings, and encourage economic revitalization. This thesis and its research analyzes the components of the natural regional landscape in recovering waterfronts in order to avoid the loss of the uniqueness of a place. A section of beachfront in St. Augustine Beach, Florida that has suffered beach erosion and development pressures was chosen for the study. The result is an alternative proposal to costly dredging and beach reclamation that includes a series of tools, interventions, and landscape modifications of this threatened site. This proposal aims to return the site to a balanced and friendly landscape. Waterfronts in cities are an opportunity to reconnect communities with their cultural and geographic landscape. / Master of Landscape Architecture

This research is an exploration of the local, place-based knowledge surrounding a degraded urban river, the Lower Neponset River and Estuary in southern Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, and its environmental restoration. Through a mixed-methods approach to sociological inquiry that included 18-months of ethnographic interviews and participant observations, Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, archival document research, and critical environmental history, it explores the different ways local citizens interpret the river as a place of historical importance, personal nostalgia, social and family networks, neighborhood legacies, aesthetics, economic security, danger, psychological refuge, ecology, and political power. Using an interpretive analysis of the narrative, visual, and spatial data related to those meanings, it then explores how such different local, place-based interpretations can be used to inform the theory, practice and politics of urban river restoration. The research shows that recognition of the socio-cultural diversity in local citizen interpretations of the Lower Neponset River's restoration is important for environmental managers, planners, and local decision-makers to recognize alongside ecological and economic development "best-practices" (e.g., holistic watershed management, anadromous fish re-introduction, flow and function, ecosystem services, affordable housing quotas, "Smart" growth, etc.). The research recommends that environmental managers, planners, and local politicians and decision-makers give equal consideration to the socio-cultural, political, economic, and ecological factors surrounding urban rivers, and the diversity of meanings that their "restoration" conjures, in order to make strides towards ethical environmental restoration and management practices that are socially, as well as environmentally, sustainable.

The disconnection with nature as a consequence ofthe migration from rural areas to urban spaces in thelast decades, has supposed a physical and mentalchange in the population. Experiences in nature haveshown to be a restoration factor and an improvementin physical and mental health. In this research, therole of guided hikes in aspects such as natureconnectedness, place attachment and well-being willbe deepened.Hence, an experiment has been carried out in whichtwo conditions were studied, unguided and guidedwalks, with the aim of observing the impact of eachone on the experience. Well-being was studiedthrough a comparative survey, taking pre-hike andpost-hike surveys. Place attachment and NatureConnectedness were studied with a survey at the endof the walks.The results have not been able to confirm thehypotheses, but that is why the limitations that havearisen throughout the study, and the discussionaround them, are of great importance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of cultural heritage and the importance of preserving such places. In addition, the study also examines how the different actors involved are working to preserve cultural heritage while developing an urban neighborhood. These questions were answered through a case study of the area Slakthusområdet in Stockholm, Sweden. Three representatives from the City of Stockholm and two representatives from two different construction companies were interviewed. The interviewed actors found that preservation can often become an issue where economic sustainability and ecological sustainability are not compatible. Due to this, an assessment was made as to whether or not it was worth preserving the buildings. The study also shows that for a building to be worth preserving, it must be adaptable to future needs. While there is a strength in the historic site being able to attract certain businesses, the building must be able to be used for the desired purpose. Furthermore, there are also difficulties in combining a residential neighborhood with a vibrant community since problems such as noise can arise. Moreover, when industrial areas are transformed, it almost always results in some form of gentrification.