In Sweden according to the planning and building Act municipalities have planning monopoly. The question about shopping centres in the outskirts of cities is a regional issue, because they attract customers from a large area. Municipalities often find it hard to assert themselves against large commercial companies when it comes to their establishing new retail outlets on the outskirts of cities. Without a regional co-operation there is a risk that municipalities can be played up against one another, so that more and more companies are given permits without the municipalities having taken the strategic consideration necessary for a long term sustainable development. The focus in this work is on four municipalities in the Södertörn region (Södertälje, Botkyrka, Huddinge and Nynäshamn). Today there are some out-of-town retail outlets in the first three municipalities. The main aim of this thesis is to explain why there is no co-operation between municipalities in Södertörn concerning out-of-town retailing. The aim is also to connect sustainable city development with the problems of out-of-town retails as well as the municipalities commercial policy. The study uses a hermeneutic approach and a qualitative method with one case-study. The interviews are partly based on standard procedures. Out-of-town retail outlets entail private car use and this is a problem from a city development perspective. To reach a sustainable city development it is important to expand transport options such as walking, biking and public transport. The project Sustainable Travel (Hållbart resande) at Södertörn supports this development. Some of the municipalities in Södertörn are trying to revitalise their local centres and this is positive from a social and ecological perspective. The four municipalities however do not co-operate concerning out-of-town retailing, and this reverts the issue back to a lack of regional planning, and their competing for purchasing power.

This study focuses on the politics around ecological sustainable development in Sweden today, with emphasis on urban development, building and living. The starting-point for this study is the environmental adapted city district of Stockholm, Hammarby Sjöstad. The primary focus of the study is to investigate what means of control the environmental investment in Hammarby Sjöstad is expressing, and to elucidate their ideological, political and social implications. The empirical material is primarily based up on the local Hammarby Sjöstad environmental program along with qualitative in-depth interviews with citizens of this district. The study is based on critical discourse analysis The result of this study is that the ecological investment in Hammarby Sjöstad partly constitutes a hidden exercise of power, taking shape as built-in physical measures in the dwellings and the neighbouring surroundings. Hidden means of control transform political and ideological environmental targets in to practical factual matters. Hidden means of control makes ideological and political environmental issues non-political and reduces them in to technical issues.

This study examines two urban renewal projects in Saskatoon (Canada) and Uppsala (Sweden). The central subject of inquiry is urban planning process and complex dilemmas of sustainable development. What is seen as “a sustainable city”? What are the concerns and conflicts, which planners have to face with? Which arguments are used to justify the planning decisions and how are these arguments constructed? The study proposes a three-step framework to compare sustainability interpretation processes in urban planning of the two cities: through identification of the ideas, which are associated with the concept of sustainability; through analysis of local objectives of sustainable development;  and, finally, through examination of actions, which are perceived as appropriate to achieve stated goals. Furthermore, the research examines conflicts of interests, values and scale occurring throughout planning process; and analyses arguments, which are used to justify need “to be sustainable” and choices of solutions for urban renewal projects. The arguments are categorised as rational or normative depending on the type of reference planners use to construct them. The study reveals obvious differences in the interpretation of the sustainability concept in Uppsala and Saskatoon: with reliance on normative considerations in one case and rational ones in another. It also shows, that arguments working well for one type of conflict, do not help in resolving conflict of another type; and that Swedish and Canadian planners, facing pretty close challenges, choose different strategies to respond to them.

Nombreuses sont les villes françaises à abriter des éléments d’architecture militaire (citadelles, casernes, bastions,murailles, etc.). Bien que les fonctions défensives à l’origine de ces ouvrages soient peu à peu tombées en désuétude,ceux-ci sont ancrés dans les tissus urbains des cités qui les abritent aujourd’hui encore. Ils participent des morphologiesurbaines, des schémas fonctionnels et, plus globalement, de la manière dont la notion de ville est appréhendée.Les villes font dorénavant face à de nouveaux enjeux qui poussent à renouveler les cadres au travers desquelles ellessont traditionnellement approchées. L’étalement urbain, ses conséquences, la nécessité de tendre vers un urbanismerenouvelé et plus durable amènent à porter un nouveau regard sur les fortifications urbaines. Au-delà de son aspectsymbolique, ce type d’architecture est marqué par des caractéristiques spatiales hors-normes (localisation, volumétrie,géométrie) qui engagent à l’analyser au travers des prismes méthodologiques et conceptuels que fournit la géographie.Comment l’héritage des fortifications urbaines peut-il aujourd’hui être mobilisé afin de créer un espace urbain cohérent,tant sur le plan spatial que social ou symbolique et ainsi répondre aux aspiration des villes actuelles ?La première partie de la thèse porte sur les enjeux auxquels les “villes fortes” sont aujourd’hui confrontées (modernisation,croissance étalement urbain, etc.) et la manière dont leurs “ouvrages lourds” sont affectés. La deuxième partiedu travail s’attache à caractériser le phénomène des “villes fortes” en France aujourd’hui par le biais d’approchesdescriptives, empiriques et statistiques qui permettent de formaliser et d’analyser les logiques et les règles qui régissentle devenir des anciens ouvrages défensifs. La dernière partie de la thèse étudie le potentiel d’urbanisation des zones etouvrages militaires et propose de mesurer l’impact de leur transformation en logements dans le cadre d’un scénariode renouvellement urbain compact pour la ville de Besançon. Il s’agit d’évaluer les conséquences de telles mesuressur le schéma fonctionnel des villes et les formes urbaines. L’ensemble de ces travaux montre l’intérêt du recours auxouvrages défensifs dans le cadre d’un urbanisme à la fois renouvelé, mais aussi plus “durable”, en conformité avec lesformes urbaines, les demandes contemporaines et les projets des villes. / A large number of french cities host military historical edifices (citadels, barracks, bastions, defensive walls, etc.). Although their initial defensive functions have been lost over time, these edifices remain deeply rooted in the urban fabric of their host cities. They continue exerting an impact on these cities’ urban morphology and modern-time functions as well as the way in which the concept of city is understood. Cities nowadays face some new challenges,the increasing awareness of urban sprawl and its consequences, coupled with an urge to promote a renewed and sustainable urbanism, invites us to adopt new approaches to study urban fortifications. In addition to their symbolic aspect, fortifications are characterized by their out-of-the-common spatial measure (location, volume and geometry),requiring researchers to use methodologies and geographical concepts for their academic endeavour. Against this background : how can urban fortifications be used to create urban space that is spatially, socially and symbolically coherent with their historical heritage and that also satisfies the functional need of modern cities ?The first part of this doctoral dissertation present modern-day challenges that fortified cities face (modernisation,urban expansion and sprawl, etc.), and the ways in which their “heavy buildings” are affected. The second part sheds light on the relationships between cities and their fortifications, thanks to descriptive, empirical and statistical analyses. The statistical study noticeably builds on a database to examine the rationale and rules underpinning there habilitation of ancient military edifices. The last part of the dissertation proposes an evaluation of the potential of rehabilitating ancient military edifices and spaces for modern urban usage. For this purpose the impact of transforming these fortifications into residential blocks is assessed in a fortified French city (Besançon). This assessment aims at evaluating the consequences of such urban planning measures on urban morphology and functions. Overall, the analysis provided in that doctoral dissertation demonstrates that ancient military buildings have their place in contemporary urban planning. They help to achieve a renewed and sustainable urban design in line with the urban morphology,modern social and functional requirements and the development perspectives in their host cities.

The city was from the past the place where people were meeting together, living and creating together. Therefore the role of individuals – city inhabitants should growth in today´s anonymus times. The role of pedestrian as individual enabling direct contact face to face, individual communicating with surroundings, is becoming essential part of „vivid“ city. In order the city to be functional, it is necessary to concentrate human beings and events, only then the city is becoming city of people, city of place, city of moment. The difinition of city sustainability and viability should be measured by city capability to provide quality life conditions to its inhabitants. It includes mainly high quality of natural and artificial environments, good life and working conditions, people rights for housing, working, social service and infrastructure. It should also protect cultural identity of the city and allow the possibility to participace in the city decision-making. Line traffic influences in a large scale accruing Urban Sprawl, forms large transport distances and increases the transport necessity mostly by private cars. It is important to make efficient planning with the politics of innovating traffic systems, which will be able to reduce the transport needs. For the city sustainability we can claim that the pedestrian transport has the contribution in restricting the suburbanization, in recuding the portion of motor vehicles and in restricting the risks of spatial segregation. It is necessary to create cities where people can get around and meet, where different forms and functions are mixed together in that way, that there will be no abandon city centres and no monofunctional zones. It is importnat to rely on principle that the streets are a social space. No only a traffic space, but also a social space. To design quality system of connected, function and safe pedestrian roads between residential buildings and local destinations, so the buildings can offer views to the streets which increases not only the safety, but especially connects course of events of these two worlds. To forms vivid, vibrant city, where the pedestrian movement is the interlinking element in between constantly developing town and preserving the life inside the town, is an immense challenge to all of us.

Med en växande stadspopulation världen över har förtätning av urbana områden ökat markant de senaste åren och Malmö är inget undantag. I takt med denna utveckling blir även frågan om den gröna infrastrukturens funktion och plats i den täta staden mer och mer aktuell. Detta examensarbetet syftar till att öka medvetenheten kring grön infrastruktur och ekosystemtjänster i den förtätade staden samt visa på vikten av att inkludera dessa i stadsplaneringen.Uppsatsen grundar sig i litteraturstudier och intervjuer med en en grupp av varierande kompetens inom forskningsområdet. Genom att sammanställa vilka kvaliteter och förutsättningar som finns i staden tar vi fram olika lösningar på hur man kan implementera grönska i en tät miljö. Detta resulterar i olika gestaltningsförslag med lösningar som riktar sig dels till kommunen och erbjuder en möjlighet till uppskalning som då ger en applicerbarhet på både lokal och regional nivå. Förslagen vänder sig även mot Malmös medborgare med exempel om hur man kan bidra till att skapa egna social-ekologiska system och bidra till gröna korridorer genom staden.Resultatet visar problematiken i att kombinera en tät stad med ett grönt nätverk. Det finns en vilja och ett intresse hos aktörer, ett relativt välfungerande samarbete mellan instanser samt ett fåtal handfasta verktyg som finns att tillgå för att mäta effekterna av ekosystemtjänster. I Malmö har kommunen kontroll över en liten del av stadsytan då mycket av den är privatägd, utvecklingen av den gröna infrastrukturen lämnas därför ofta till aktörer som tenderar att ha vinstdrivande intressen. Ytterligare faktorer som försvårar arbetet är att kunskapen om den gröna infrastrukturen är bristfällig, kommunikationen mellan olika parter undermålig och att förvaltningen blir lidande därefter. Det framkommer att konkurrensen om yta blir avgörande i planeringen och att det ställs höga krav på den grönska som finns i staden. Det är därför av yttersta vikt att starka samarbeten upprätthålls och att aktörer på området kontinuerligt utbildas i ämnet om grön infrastruktur och ekosystemtjänster. / The densification of urban areas have increased significantly in the last years due to the growing population in cities worldwide and Malmö is no exception. Along with this development, the question of function and place of the green infrastructure in the city is also becoming more and more relevant.This thesis aims to increase awareness of green infrastructure and ecosystem services in a dense city and show the importance of including these in urban planning.The thesis is based on a literature review and interviews with a group of varying expertise within the research area. By compiling the qualities and conditions of the city, we develop different solutions on how to implement greenery in a dense environment. This results in various design proposals where two of them entail solutions aimed at the municipality that offer an opportunity for upscaling, making them applicable at both a local and a regional level. The proposals are also aimed at the citizens of Malmö providing them with examples on how to create their own social-ecological systems and thereby contribute to green corridors throughout the city.The results display the issues of combining a dense city with a green network. There is a will and an interest among actors, a relatively well-functioning collaboration between agencies and a few tangible tools that are available to measure the effects of ecosystem services. In Malmö, the municipality has control over a small portion of the city space as much is privately owned. The development of the green infrastructure is therefore often left to actors who tend to have interests related to profit. Additional factors that further complicate the work is that there is a lack of knowledge of green infrastructure, communication between different actors is substandard and that maintenance suffers thereafter. It is made clear that the competition for space is one of the deciding factors in planning and that it puts high demands on the quality of greenery that exist in the city. It is therefore of utmost importance that strong collaborations are upheld and that stakeholders within the field are continuously educated on the subject of green infrastructure and ecosystem services.