This dissertation concerns everyday life and sustainability in sparsely populated parts of Northern Sweden. The aim is to study how sustainability is constructed, experienced, practised and perceived in a field of tension between local everyday life and political discourses. Apart from written material, the study is based on interviews and observations performed in the municipalities Strömsund and Örnsköldsvik. Empirical themes include everyday life movements and means of transport, work and spare time practices, and experiences of time. The central theoretical concepts used are everyday life, provinces of meanings, typifications, community, place and policy. These concepts shape the analysis of processes pertaining to space and movement, work and leisure, time and tempo. The study shows gaps between sustainability policies and local experiences of sustainability. In order to highlight complications like the ones between the center and the periphery, polices and lived experiences, I have stressed the importance of the social dimension of sustainability. It is nevertheless important to nuance the concept of social sustainability since it carries an ambiguity, for example in terms of collisions with other dimensions of sustainability. Socially good life styles have a tendency to collide with the ecological definitions of sustainability. The emphasis on the social dimensions has been done in order to draw attention to unfair effects from a time-space perspective, and to point at the problem with urban norms in policies on sustainability.

This thesis interrogates sense of place and place attachment in the Big Empty on the north central Texas plains. The region stretches from the Red River on the north to the Colorado River basin on the south and from the Cross Timbers on the east to the Caprock escarpment on the west. Since 1930, the Big Empty has seen sustained and severe population decline such that some counties there now register less than a quarter the population they did at their peaks during the interwar years. Through in-depth field interviews, I examine sense of place and place attachment amidst apparently irreversible decline. I also describe conditions of postindustrial rurality arising from rolling reconfigurations of economic and social relations, particularly changes in scale in farming and the diminished centrality of productivist agriculture in local economies and culture, and how these conditions become legible through the study of place.

This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies, which purpose is to find out what ideas there are about school libraries and to get an idea of how informants interpret the new Education Act, which requires all students to have access to school libraries. Another intention of this paper is to highlight the potential rural-related attitudes of the responents. The study includes the sparsely populated municipality of Krokom and is based on interviews with librarians, the school director, principals and politicians who work there. The theoretical basis for this paper is Loertscher’s model för school libraries and a centerperiphery perspective. Study results show that there are different conceptions of what a school library is and that there are some tendences related to the informant’s professions. All in all the school library is the hub of the school, a knowledge base or a room with a wide range of books, many different kinds of texts and access to online resources. The school librarian is important for the school library, as well as collaboration and integration with other school activities. Access to the school library is about longer opening hours, opportunity to visit a physical room with literature and access to use qualified librarians. The new Education Act is interpreted as indistinct and needs to be clarified. It is considered to be directed to schools in larger cities. There is an awareness of the specific rural conditions prevailing and the informants take their arguments into account and some of them give suggestions on rural alternatives such as a mobile library, a digital library or school libraries in each school district instead of at each school.

För att främja landsbygdens utveckling och till följd av förändringar i markpolitiken tilläts genom lag bildandet av stora bostadsfastigheter på landsbygden 1990. Detta skulle ske genom att öka den enskildes möjlighet att utforma sin fastighet efter egna önskemål. Glesbygd, som är landsbygd karaktäriserad av gles befolkning, är mer utsatt för de problem som landsbygden står inför. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det finns eller borde finnas en skillnad mellan lands- och glesbygden vid fastighetsbildning av stora bostadsfastigheter. Studien utförs genom en genomgång av rättskällor, tolkning av rättsfall och analys av Lantmäteriets praxis. Resultaten visar att flera rättsliga faktorer, nämligen skyddszon, extensivt nyttjande, skogsmark, jordbruksmark och fastighetens belägenhet i glesbygd påverkar tillåtligheten av att bilda stora bostadsfastigheter. Vidare visas att inga avsevärda skillnader mellan lands- och glesbygd i Lantmäteriets praxis finns. Därutöver så tyder tolkningen av rättsfall på att domstolarna inte alltid beaktar markpolitikens främjande av glesbygden. Det starkaste motstående intresset för bildandet av stora bostadsfastigheter ligger i skyddet av skogsnäringen, som även till stor del sammanfaller geografiskt med glesbygden. Resultaten tyder på att nuvarande rättsläge och markpolitik inte tillräckligt beaktar glesbygdens regionalpolitiska intressen, i form av främjande av boende och sysselsättning. / In order to promote rural development and due to land use policy changes, the formation of large residential properties in rural areas was permitted by law in 1990. This was to be made possible by increasing the opportunities for the individual to shape their real property according to their own requests. Sparsely populated areas, which are rural areas characterized by sparse population, are more prone to problems considered in rural development policies. The purpose of the study is to research if there is or should be a difference between rural and sparsely populated areas in formation of large residential properties. The study is performed through a review of legal sources, interpretation of judicial proceedings, and analysis of the property formation practice of Lantmäteriet. Presented results show that there are several judicial factors that affect the allowance to form large properties for residential purpose. The factors are protective zone, extensive use, forest land, agricultural land and real property location in sparsely populated areas. Further on, no substantial differences exist between rural and sparsely populated areas in the practices of Lantmäteriet. Moreover, the interpretation of judicial proceedings suggests that the courts do not always take into account the land use policies promotion of sparsely populated areas. The most inflexible opposing interest towards the creation of large residential properties resides in the protection of forestry land use, which also largely geographically coincides with sparsely populated areas. The findings suggest that current legal position and land policies do not sufficiently address the regional policy interests of sparsely populated areas.

<p>Följande studie syftar till att undersöka hur industriföretag på den värmländska glesbygden uppfattar pedagogikämnet vid Karlstads universitet. Studien har en tydlig inriktning mot arbetslivspedagogik, och det är framförallt arbetspedagogiska teorier som utgör studiens teoretiska grund.</p><p>Studien bygger på intervjuer med representanter från fem värmländska industriföretag.</p><p>Dessa intervjuer har sedan analyserats med avseende på respondenternas berättelser och de uttalande som kan kopplas till ämnet pedagogik, vilket är brukligt vid användandet av narrativ metod och analys.</p><p>Resultatet visar att de värmländska industriföretagen har behov av pedagogisk kunskap, men att de föredrar att anlita konsulter framför att ha någon anställd som arbetar med dessa frågor.</p> / <p>This study aims to investigate how industrial companies, situated in the sparsely populated areas of Värmland, understand the subject pedagogy at Karlstad University. The study focuses on educational science in working life.</p><p>The study is based on interviews with representatives from five industrial companies in Värmland. The interviews were analysed according to the respondents’ stories and statements which were referable to the subject pedagogy. This approach is customary when using narrative method and analysis.</p><p>The result shows that the industrial companies in Värmland have a need of educational knowledge, but that they prefer to engage consultants prior to employing someone to work continuously with these issues.</p>

Följande studie syftar till att undersöka hur industriföretag på den värmländska glesbygden uppfattar pedagogikämnet vid Karlstads universitet. Studien har en tydlig inriktning mot arbetslivspedagogik, och det är framförallt arbetspedagogiska teorier som utgör studiens teoretiska grund. Studien bygger på intervjuer med representanter från fem värmländska industriföretag. Dessa intervjuer har sedan analyserats med avseende på respondenternas berättelser och de uttalande som kan kopplas till ämnet pedagogik, vilket är brukligt vid användandet av narrativ metod och analys. Resultatet visar att de värmländska industriföretagen har behov av pedagogisk kunskap, men att de föredrar att anlita konsulter framför att ha någon anställd som arbetar med dessa frågor. / This study aims to investigate how industrial companies, situated in the sparsely populated areas of Värmland, understand the subject pedagogy at Karlstad University. The study focuses on educational science in working life. The study is based on interviews with representatives from five industrial companies in Värmland. The interviews were analysed according to the respondents’ stories and statements which were referable to the subject pedagogy. This approach is customary when using narrative method and analysis. The result shows that the industrial companies in Värmland have a need of educational knowledge, but that they prefer to engage consultants prior to employing someone to work continuously with these issues.

The aim of the thesis is to describe and analyse socio-economic changes in northern Sweden. Focus is on the period 1985-2000. Population development, restructuring of economic activities, political and cultural changes are related to a theoretical discussion on the transformation of sparsely populated areas as an outcome of multi-dimensional and interrelated processes. Besides an introductory and concluding section, the thesis contains four papers. The first paper deals with forestry's changed role in the local economy of four municipalities located in the inland areas of upper Norrland. The changes within forestry have been driven by adaptation to global competition and rapid technical development. Even though timber production has increased in some of the municipalities, job losses have greatly reduced the importance of forestry in the local economies. Many employees have left forestry for work in other branches, unemployment or retirement However, relatively few have moved from the area. A multiplier model was employed in order to analyse the impact on the local economy. The second paper deals with population changes in the six northernmost counties. During the 1990s, most municipalities and rural areas in northern Sweden have experienced renewed depopulation. At the same time, some rural areas have shown significant population growth. Three types of rural areas with population growth have been identified. Firstly, there are rural areas within daily commuting distance from regional centres. Secondly, there is a group of rural areas, mainly a number of mountain villages close to the border with Norway, which has benefited from the tourist industry. Finally, there are a few rural areas characterised by attractive residential environments and leisure housing. The third paper is based on a classification of 500 residential areas and villages in the county of Västerbotten into seven types of housing environments. In this way, the county is broken down into a mosaic of housing environments characterised by very different prerequisites for consumption and economic development A complex and dispersed pattern of disadvantaged residential areas all over the county indicates the difficulty in treating counties and municipalities as homogeneous regions. In the fourth paper, focus is on young peoples' attitudes towards staying in or moving to small communities within a local labour market region in northern Sweden. The study is based on telephone interviews with 400 young men and women in the Umeå region. Half the interviewees lived in the university city of Umeå while the others were residents in five rural municipalities surrounding Umeå. In general, the males and females aged 19-25 had a much more positive attitude towards living in rural communities than did those aged 15-18. Nevertheless, only half of the young people already living in the rural municipalities wanted to stay there. Among the young people living in the city, slightly less than 50% showed an interest in moving to the surrounding rural areas, mainly the countryside within commuting distance from the city. The connection between higher education and out-migration of young people from rural areas is also highlighted. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2002</p> / digitalisering@umu

With its point of departure of increasing numbers of people being engaged in commuting, the aim of this thesis is to reveal prerequisites for and consequences of long-distance commuting in Sweden for the individual and his or her partner. Special attention has been given to prerequisites for long-distance commuting in sparsely populated areas, and to social consequences related to long-distance commuting in terms of gender differences in commuting patterns, earnings and separation. The thesis is based on four empirical studies, presented in different papers. Two studies draw on individual longitudinal register data on all Swedish long-distance commuters living with a partner. The other two focus on commuting behaviour in sparsely populated areas, one based on individual register data and the other on a survey. Long-distance commuting (&gt;30 kilometres) has become an increasingly common mobility strategy among Swedish workers and their households. Results from the thesis show that 11 percent of Swedish workers are long-distance commuters and about half of them live in a relationship. Among these couples many are families with children, indicating the importance of social ties in households’ decisions on where to work and live. Most long-distance commuters are men, and it is also likely that long-distance commuters have a high education level and are employed in the private sector. For the majority, long-distance commuting gives higher earnings; however, men benefit economically more than women do. As long-distance commuting reduces available family time, the non-commuting spouse often takes on a larger share of household commitments. The thesis shows that men’s long-distance commuting may therefore serve to reproduce and reinforce traditional gender roles on the labour market and within households. On the other hand, women’s long-distance commuting can lead to more equalitarian relationships on the labour market and within households. For the majority of couples it seems as if long-distance commuting becomes more than a temporary mobility strategy, while for some couples it does not work out very well. Separation rates are found to be higher among long-distance commuters compared to other couples; especially the first years of commuting seem to be the most challenging. It is suggested that coping strategies are important to make the consequences of long-distance commuting easier to handle and adjust to in the daily life puzzle. For those unable to handle these consequences, long-distance commuting is not a sustainable mobility strategy and can even end a relationship. The extent of long-distance commuting is low in sparsely populated areas, and those who do long-distance commute are mainly men. Most people work and live within the same locality and do not accept longer commuting times than do those in densely populated areas. In this thesis it is argued that facilitating car commuting in the more sparsely populated areas of Sweden can be more economically and socially sustainable, for the individual commuters as well as for society, than encouraging commuting by public transportation.

Bakgrund: I Sverige avlider cirka 90 000 personer per år, där 80 procent beräknas varit i palliativt skede. Utifrån tidigare forskning visade det sig att majoriteten vill dö i hemmet. Detta kräver stor kunskap av distriktssköterskan för att kunna ge bästa möjliga lindrande behandling för den enskilde patienten. Motiv: Det finns relativt få studier som beskriver distriktssköterskors erfarenheter av vård i livets slutskede i hemmet, och än färre inom glesbygden. Det är av vikt att få ökad kunskap om utmaningar och möjligheter vid vård i livets slutskede i glesbygden. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att belysa distriktssköterskors erfarenheter av att vårda patienter i livets slutskede inom kommunal hemsjukvård i glesbygd. Metod: En kvalitativ studie där åtta distriktssköterskor inom kommunal hemsjukvård i glesbygd i Sveriges norra inland deltog. Data samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyserades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Resultatet presenteras under tre teman med tillhörande subteman. Dessa teman är; strävar efter att ge patienten en god död i hemmet, behov av stöd från organisationen, specialister och arbetsgruppen samt stöder och involverar anhöriga. Konklusion: En slutsats är att det skapar svårigheter att bedriva en jämlik vård för patienter som bor på glesbygden jämfört med patienter som bor nära eller i en tätort. Distriktssköterskorna gör allt de kan för att ge patienten en god död i hemmet, trots att det finns svårigheter. Det visar också att anhöriga samt andra professioner har en betydande roll för att kunna utföra en så bra vård som möjligt. Denna studie kan förhoppningsvis ge ökad kunskap om svårigheter och möjligheter att möjliggöra en god död i hemmet i glesbygden. / Background: In Sweden about 90,000 people die each year, where 80 percent is estimated to be palliative. Previous research shows that the majority want to die at home. This requires a great deal of knowledge from the district nurse to be able to provide the best possible palliative care for the individual patient. Motive: There are relatively few studies that describe district nurses' experiences of palliative care at home, and even fewer in sparsely populated areas. It is important to survey the challenges and opportunities in caring for people in the final stages of life in sparsely populated areas. Aim: The purpose of this study was to highlight district nurses' experience of caring for end of life patients in community home health care in rural areas. Methods: A qualitative study in which eight district nurses in municipal home care for sparsely populated areas in northern Sweden inland participated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using content analysis. Result: The results are presented under three themes with associated subthemes. These themes are; striving to give the patient a good death in the home, the need for support from the organization, specialists and the working group and supporting and involving relatives. Conclusion: One conclusion is that it creates difficulties in providing equal care forpatients living in sparsely populated areas compared with patients living near or in anurban area. The district nurses do everything they can to give the patient a good death at home, even though there are difficulties. It also shows that relatives and other professionals have a role to play in providing the best possible care. This study can hopefully provide increased knowledge about difficulties and opportunities to put a good death in the home in sparsely populated areas.

Bakgrund: Prostatacancer är idag den vanligaste cancerformen i Sverige ochvanligaste cancerrelaterade dödsorsaken. Personer med prostatacancer påverkas i sinsexuella hälsa på ett multifaktoriellt sätt av cancerbehandlingen och dess biverkningar.Motiv: Boende i glesbygden kan ha olika förutsättningar till jämlik vård.Glesbygdsperspektivet är inte väl utforskat när det gäller sexuell hälsa vidprostatacancer utan fokus ligger på behandlingsutfallet och dess biverkningar.Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur personer med prostatacancerboende på Gotland respektive i Norrbotten skattar sin sexuella hälsa med hjälp av ettfrågeformulär som är specifikt för prostatacancer.Metod: En deskriptiv, komparativ enkätstudie med kvantitativ ansats genomfördesdär totalt 30 konsekutivt inkluderade patienter från Norrbotten och Gotland besvaradeprostatacancerspecifika enkäten EORTC QLQ-PR25.Resultat: Områdena urinvägssymtom, hormonbehandlingsrelaterade symtom ochsexuell aktivitet visade högre andel förekomst av besvär. Respondenterna skattade lågtintresse för sex och stor påverkan på manlighet. Gotland hade sämre utfall i de flestaanalyserade delområden och frågor; särskilt stor skillnad finns i användning avinkontinensskydd, sexuell aktivitet och sexuell funktion.Konklusion: Sexuell hälsa är för prostatacancerpatienter en problematik som är mernyanserad än erektil funktion, exempelvis i respondentgruppen spelade variabler somintresse för sex och upplevelse av manlighet stor roll. Tillgång till vård är viktig förpatienterna och gruppens skattningsresultat hade kunnat vara annorlunda omboenderegionerna hade gett bättre förutsättningar. Studien antyder också att det finnsen skillnad mellan Norrbotten och Gotland, vilket kan bero på bakomliggande variablerkopplade till regionerna, exempelvis att Gotland har en betydligt högre incidens avprostatacancer och en högre andel äldre än Norrbotten. Gotland har en lägretätortsgrad och nästan lika lång körsträcka per bil och år som Norrbotten som är 31gånger större till yta, men fynden är ändå överraskande.Svaret till fynden kan inte förklaras i denna studie men framtida forskning som belyserglesbygdperspektivet rekommenderas. / Background: Prostate cancer is currently the most common form of cancer inSweden and the most common cancer-related cause of death. Individuals withprostate cancer are affected in their sexual health in a multifactorial way by thecancer treatment and its side effects.Motive: Residents in sparsely populated areas may have different conditions forequal care. The sparsely populates area perspective is not well explored when itcomes to sexual health in prostate cancer, with the focus being on the treatmentoutcome and its side effects.Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate how people with prostate cancerliving on Gotland and Norrbotten rate their sexual health using a questionnairespecific to prostate cancer.Methods: A descriptive, comparative questionnaire study with a quantitativeapproach was conducted where a total of 30 consecutively included patients fromNorrbotten and Gotland answered the prostate cancer-specific questionnaire EORTCQLQ-PR25.Results: The areas urinary tract symptoms, hormone treatment-related symptomsand sexual activity showed a higher prevalence of complaints. The respondentsestimated a low interest in sex and a high impact on masculinity. Gotland had worseoutcomes in most analyzed sub-areas and questions; a particularly large difference isfound in the use of incontinence aid, sexual activity and sexual function.Conclusion: Sexual health is for prostate cancer patients a problem that is morenuanced than erectile function, for example in the respondent group variables such asinterest in sex and experience of masculinity played a significant role. Access to careis important for patients, and the group's estimation results could have been differentif the residential regions had provided better conditions. The study also suggests thatthere is a difference between Norrbotten and Gotland, which may be due tounderlying variables related to the regions, for example that Gotland has asignificantly higher incidence of prostate cancer and a higher proportion of elderlypeople than Norrbotten. Gotland has a lower density of urban areas and almost thesame mileage per car per year as Norrbotten, which is 31 times larger in surface area,but the findings are still surprising.Those findings cannot be explained in this study, but future research that highlightsthe sparsely populated perspective is recommended.