Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera Torsby kommun ur ett inifrån- och utifrånperspektiv. Med inifrånperspektiv menas hur invånare i Torsby upplever kommunen medan utifrånperspektivet beskriver hur bilden av Torsby kommun speglas av media. Dessa två olika perspektiv jämförs för att identifiera eventuella likheter och skillnader för att se om dem representationella bilderna av en plats ”stämmer överrens” med den upplevda verkligheten det vill säga dem som lever på och brukar platsen. Utifrån studiens syfte utformades tre frågeställningar och dessa är följande:  Hur beskrivs landsbygden och Torsby kommun ur ett utifrånperspektiv (främst i media)?  Hur beskrivs Torsby kommun ur ett inifrånperspektiv?  Vad förenar dessa perspektiv? För att kunna besvara studiens frågeställningar genomfördes en enkätintervju och en gruppintervju med 12 personer från Lekvattnet i Torsby kommun och sex politiker från kommunstyrelsen i Torsby kommun. Utifrånperspektivet försöker vi fånga genom att titta på tidningsartiklar i både Aftonbladet och Nya Wermlandstidningen. Vid studiens analys används olika kulturgeografiska teorier så som Lefebvres rumstrialektik och platsidentitet. Det som studiens analys påvisar är hur både in- och utifrånperspektivet är av vikt för att förstå helheten i en plats. Utifrån Lefebvres rumstrialektik går det utläsa hur dessa två perspektiv och även platsens fysiska gestaltning tillsammans utgör en mer nyanserad och verklig bild av Torsby kommun som inte kan manifesteras genom enbart ett perspektiv.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka om det är möjligt att förverkliga drömmar i Torsby eller inte. Anledningen till valet av ämne är Torsby kommuns vision från 2012 som beskriver att det 2020 ska vara möjligt att förverkliga drömmar i Torsby. För att undersöka detta valdes kvalitativa intervjustudier av 14 individer som metod. De individer som intervjuades var antingen boende, utflyttade eller ofta besökande i Torsby centralort. Som komplement till denna studie genomfördes även en mindre analys av hur Torsby kommun valt att kommunicera sin drömvision. Denna kompletterande analys gjordes genom en litteraturstudie där flera webbaserade kommunsidor kontrollerades. Resultatet av denna studie visade att majoriteten av samtliga 14 individers drömmar var möjliga att förverkliga i Torsby. Den visade också att Torsby kommun inte har kommunicerat sin vision om drömmar till boende eller besökare på något distinkt vis. Slutligen slog studien även fast att det är möjligt att kunna leva ett liv med ett stort mervärde i Torsby, även om brister finns. För att öka antalet drömmar som kan förverkligas i Torsby måste kommunen möjliggöra att fler kan studera på en eftergymnasial nivå, utan att behöva flytta i lika stor grad som i nuvarande läge. Kommunen måste enligt majoriteten av respondenterna även öka urvalet av butiker och restauranger för att göra orten än mer attraktiv att vistas inom.

<p>The aim of this dissertation is to examine why smaller municipalities[1] in Sweden experience difficulties when implementing the 16 environmental objectives that are designed to solve Sweden's environmental problems.</p><p>The theoretical framework used for this dissertation is implementation theory which provides three conditions that need to be met in order to have a successful implementation.  These three conditions have shaped the research questions that examine if Torsby municipality has the "understanding," "ability" and "will" needed to implement the decision correctly.  </p><p>The dissertation employs a case study method to examine why Torsby municipality has experienced difficulties implementating the target: <em>programmes and strategies</em> <em>for planning,</em> which is an interim target to environmental objective number 15: A good built environment.  Qualitative text analysis and interviews with politicians and civil servants from Torsby municipality and the county administration board of Värmland have been conducted in order to answer the research questions.   </p><p>The material used for this dissertation is mostly from the government bills that are the foundation of the Swedish environmental policy and the documents and reports about the environmental objectives that the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket), the Swedish Environmental protection agency (Naturvårdsverket), and the Environmental objectives council (Miljörådet) have released.</p><p>The result of this dissertation supports previous research which has shown that smaller municipalities have problems implementating the environmental objectives due to a lack of financial resources. This dissertation also shows that the problems can be due to a lack of understanding the purpose of the objectives.  This leads to a lack of political will to implement the objectives.  Since the municipalities do not have the political will to implement the objectives the appropriate resources needed for a successful implementation are not appointed and therefore the municipalities are not able to fully implement the environmental objectives.</p><p> </p><p>[1] Municipalities with less than 20 000 inhabitants.</p>

This thesis is a case study conducted at the Torsby hospital, medicine department in Torsby, Sweden. The hospital has some financial, communication, and process standardizing problems and was aiming to solve them by implementing lean strategies. The data for this study were collected through structured interviews and observations in the hospital. A thorough discussion of the information gathered from the interviews and the observations made are presented related to the theoretical frame of the study. The findings of this study showed that the lean concept is actually applicable to the healthcare system except for some problems that may affect the success of the lean implementation process in the hospital. By removing or fixing these problems, the hospital can reap the benefits of the implementation process. This study presents and discusses problems in question and suggests some relevant solutions.

Dagens samhälle kräver att medborgarna kan hantera olika typer av ärenden digitalt. Därför måste alla människor ha rätt att inkluderas och utveckla sin kompetens gällande digitala verktyg. Tillgång till internet och service på glesbygden skulle kunna beskrivas som en demokratifråga då oavsett boende i glesbygd eller i stad finns behov av bland annat vård och livsmedel bland medborgarna. Äldre personer kan ha svårt att anamma digital teknik, samtidigt bor det fler äldre än yngre personer i glesbygd och därför måste glesbygdskommuner ständigt jobba med att erbjuda invånarna det bästa inom digitalisering. Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att beskriva möjligheter och utmaningar med digitalisering i glesbygd ur Torsby kommuns perspektiv. Arbetet inleddes med ett sonderande samtal med Torsby kommuns digitaliseringsstrateg för att få en hållbar grund till litteraturstudien som i sin tur mynnade ut i en modell över digitalisering i glesbygd. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod för insamling och analys av data, och genomförandet av undersökningen har bestått av att sex respondenter från olika verksamhetsområden i Torsby kommun har besvarat frågor från en öppen intervju. Intervjufrågorna är strukturerade i kategorier med utgångspunkt i den modell som gjorts för att sammanfatta den litteratur som samlats in. Dessa kategorier ligger till grund för både resultatet och analysen. Studien visar att avstånd är en faktor i glesbygdskommuner som både kan innebära möjligheter och utmaningar. En slutsats som kan dras är att smarta byar är ett klokt tillvägagångssätt att arbeta vidare med eftersom det är det bästa sättet att arbeta med glesbygdens utveckling och kunna möta nutiden och framtidens miljö- och klimatutmaningar. En utmaning med digitalisering är rädsla över att bli hackad eller bestulen på pengar. Därför är det viktigt att jobba med olika säkerhetsaspekter. En ytterligare slutsats är att olika hjälpmedel är möjliga lösningar för äldre att inkluderas i digital delaktighet, kommunen måste arbeta med detta för att alla människor ska omfattas i samhället. Problem för äldre personer inom digital delaktighet handlar bland annat om avsaknaden av kunskap och erfarenhet.

<p>The thesis explores the attitudes towards large carnivores as a resource for tourism in northern Värmland. The purpose is to study the carnivore issue and the problems of carnivore tourism from a geographical perspective in order to illustrate the differences and connections between different approaches to a controversial and a potential rural resource.</p><p>The empirical material is made up mainly of surveys and newspaper articles. Three actor groups were studied: the local community, tourism entrepreneurs, and visitors to carnivore information centers. The studies were underpinned by a two-pronged theoretical frame of reference, the first based on the concepts of place and landscape, the second on tourism as a concept and social phenomenon.</p><p>Carnivore tourism constituted only a small part of that published in the media about carnivores, which showed that the tourism-oriented perspective on carnivores has been accorded only minor status in the media.</p><p>The attitudes of the three actor groups towards carnivores and carnivore tourism differ. Attitudes among the local community were generally less favorable than among tourism entrepreneurs and visitors. The community perspective on carnivores and carnivore tourism may be regarded as a insider perspective strongly dominated by the “life place” perspective, one in which forest-oriented culture and practices enjoy strong status, particularly in the more peripheral parts of the geographical study area. Tourism entrepreneurs, who are an important link between the locals and visitors, generally had more positive attitudes, but the group as such was divided depending on the strength of local connections. Entrepreneurs with strong roots in the community had considerably more negative attitudes and usually saw no potential in carnivores as a resource for tourism. These entrepreneurs can be presumed to represent the life place perspective, while other entrepreneurs may be regarded as representing the “destination place” perspective. Visitors were the group with the most positive attitudes, even as they stood for a distinct outsider perspective. They had a keen interest in nature in general and carnivores in particular. Several factors had significant impact on the attitude towards carnivores and carnivore tourism, in particular the view on the naturalness of the wolf, that is, whether it had been reintroduced or had returned on its own, age, education, whether or not the person was a hunter, experience, and knowledge about large carnivores.</p>

The thesis explores the attitudes towards large carnivores as a resource for tourism in northern Värmland. The purpose is to study the carnivore issue and the problems of carnivore tourism from a geographical perspective in order to illustrate the differences and connections between different approaches to a controversial and a potential rural resource. The empirical material is made up mainly of surveys and newspaper articles. Three actor groups were studied: the local community, tourism entrepreneurs, and visitors to carnivore information centers. The studies were underpinned by a two-pronged theoretical frame of reference, the first based on the concepts of place and landscape, the second on tourism as a concept and social phenomenon. Carnivore tourism constituted only a small part of that published in the media about carnivores, which showed that the tourism-oriented perspective on carnivores has been accorded only minor status in the media. The attitudes of the three actor groups towards carnivores and carnivore tourism differ. Attitudes among the local community were generally less favorable than among tourism entrepreneurs and visitors. The community perspective on carnivores and carnivore tourism may be regarded as a insider perspective strongly dominated by the “life place” perspective, one in which forest-oriented culture and practices enjoy strong status, particularly in the more peripheral parts of the geographical study area. Tourism entrepreneurs, who are an important link between the locals and visitors, generally had more positive attitudes, but the group as such was divided depending on the strength of local connections. Entrepreneurs with strong roots in the community had considerably more negative attitudes and usually saw no potential in carnivores as a resource for tourism. These entrepreneurs can be presumed to represent the life place perspective, while other entrepreneurs may be regarded as representing the “destination place” perspective. Visitors were the group with the most positive attitudes, even as they stood for a distinct outsider perspective. They had a keen interest in nature in general and carnivores in particular. Several factors had significant impact on the attitude towards carnivores and carnivore tourism, in particular the view on the naturalness of the wolf, that is, whether it had been reintroduced or had returned on its own, age, education, whether or not the person was a hunter, experience, and knowledge about large carnivores.

The aim of this dissertation is to examine why smaller municipalities[1] in Sweden experience difficulties when implementing the 16 environmental objectives that are designed to solve Sweden's environmental problems. The theoretical framework used for this dissertation is implementation theory which provides three conditions that need to be met in order to have a successful implementation.  These three conditions have shaped the research questions that examine if Torsby municipality has the "understanding," "ability" and "will" needed to implement the decision correctly.   The dissertation employs a case study method to examine why Torsby municipality has experienced difficulties implementating the target: programmes and strategies for planning, which is an interim target to environmental objective number 15: A good built environment.  Qualitative text analysis and interviews with politicians and civil servants from Torsby municipality and the county administration board of Värmland have been conducted in order to answer the research questions.    The material used for this dissertation is mostly from the government bills that are the foundation of the Swedish environmental policy and the documents and reports about the environmental objectives that the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket), the Swedish Environmental protection agency (Naturvårdsverket), and the Environmental objectives council (Miljörådet) have released. The result of this dissertation supports previous research which has shown that smaller municipalities have problems implementating the environmental objectives due to a lack of financial resources. This dissertation also shows that the problems can be due to a lack of understanding the purpose of the objectives.  This leads to a lack of political will to implement the objectives.  Since the municipalities do not have the political will to implement the objectives the appropriate resources needed for a successful implementation are not appointed and therefore the municipalities are not able to fully implement the environmental objectives.   [1] Municipalities with less than 20 000 inhabitants.

This thesis departures from the urgency to reinterpret the role of the architect. Our job’s main mission can no longer be to supply ideas for cradle to grave type of production. The only way to harmonize our needs with the planetary limits is through a paradigm shift towards reshaping existing materials, infrastructure, and constructions. How could architects better inform and convey their expertise regarding construction, material qualities, and cultural values, in a constructive, forward-looking way? By working hands-on with preexisting contexts and buildings we want to learn the craft of adaptive reuse. This thesis has resulted in a case study of a former hardware store, called Järnbolaget, in the small urban outpost Torsby in the north of Värmland.

This thesis departures from the urgency to reinterpret the role of the architect. Our job’s main mission can no longer be to supply ideas for cradle to grave type of production. The only way to harmonize our needs with the planetary limits is through a paradigm shift towards reshaping existing materials, infrastructure, and constructions. How could architects better inform and convey their expertise regarding construction, material qualities, and cultural values, in a constructive, forward-looking way? By working hands-on with preexisting contexts and buildings we want to learn the craft of adaptive reuse. This thesis has resulted in a case study of a former hardware store, called Järnbolaget, in the small urban outpost Torsby in the north of Värmland.