Rural accessibility is a pressing issue in many parts of the world. Improved geographical accessibility to basic social service facilities for rural populations is a goal of most governments in developing countries. Development of a trail-based transport system is a key way to improve rural accessibility in mountainous and rugged terrain where trails criss-cross with numerous rivers. The present study focuses on Nepal, a developing country with rural accessibility challenges and a very challenging physical environment. This thesis reviews the existing accessibility patterns in rural areas of Nepal and proposes various approaches for identifying poorly served geographical areas and optimizing of location of additional new trail bridges to provide “best” links to social services. The methodology in this study is based on the concept of the gravity-based spatial interaction and accessibility models. GIS applications are used in different ways, such as in creating, acquiring, integrating spatial and attribute datasets, and spatial analysis and visualization of the output results. Amongst the different types of social services, health care and education centers are considered the most pressing services and hence are the objects of analysis. The main difference between health care service centers and educational facilities is that schools are usually very widespread across the district and serve for the school age population. Health service centers are sparsely and inequitably distributed, however, they serve the whole population at large. The results of the analysis show a fairly clear indication of problems relating to rural transport and access to social service centers in rural Nepal. This is attributed, in part, due to insufficient provision of social service centers and the lack of trail bridges over river crossing locations. The estimated numbers of trips over potential new bridges based on spatial integration modeling provides a basis for prioritization of river crossing locations for allocation of new trail bridges. The poorly served areas across the study district are identified on the basis of the results of the potential accessibility modeling. The trail network nodes with relatively low accessibility values are of prime concern and the subject of contemplation in the trail bridge planning decision-making process.

Rural accessibility is a pressing issue in many parts of the world. Improved geographical accessibility to basic social service facilities for rural populations is a goal of most governments in developing countries. Development of a trail-based transport system is a key way to improve rural accessibility in mountainous and rugged terrain where trails criss-cross with numerous rivers. The present study focuses on Nepal, a developing country with rural accessibility challenges and a very challenging physical environment. This thesis reviews the existing accessibility patterns in rural areas of Nepal and proposes various approaches for identifying poorly served geographical areas and optimizing of location of additional new trail bridges to provide “best” links to social services. The methodology in this study is based on the concept of the gravity-based spatial interaction and accessibility models. GIS applications are used in different ways, such as in creating, acquiring, integrating spatial and attribute datasets, and spatial analysis and visualization of the output results. Amongst the different types of social services, health care and education centers are considered the most pressing services and hence are the objects of analysis. The main difference between health care service centers and educational facilities is that schools are usually very widespread across the district and serve for the school age population. Health service centers are sparsely and inequitably distributed, however, they serve the whole population at large. The results of the analysis show a fairly clear indication of problems relating to rural transport and access to social service centers in rural Nepal. This is attributed, in part, due to insufficient provision of social service centers and the lack of trail bridges over river crossing locations. The estimated numbers of trips over potential new bridges based on spatial integration modeling provides a basis for prioritization of river crossing locations for allocation of new trail bridges. The poorly served areas across the study district are identified on the basis of the results of the potential accessibility modeling. The trail network nodes with relatively low accessibility values are of prime concern and the subject of contemplation in the trail bridge planning decision-making process.

Tillgänglighet på offentliga aktörers webbplatser är väsentligt för att säkerställa att alla individer i ett samhälle har tillgång till samhällsviktig information. Trots detta är det många webbplatser som saknar tillgänglighetsanpassningar. Tillgänglighet på webbplatser innebär att de bör vara lättnavigerade och lättlästa samt att det finns tillgänglighetsanpassningar för personer med synnedsättningar, funktionsvariationer eller rörelsehinder. År 2019 trädde lagen om tillgänglighet till digital offentlig service (DOS-lagen) i kraft, lagen stadgar krav på tillgänglighet till digital service som tillhandahålls av offentliga aktörer. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om DOS-lagen har haft en effekt på svenska myndigheters tillgänglighetsarbete och hur väl de följer och tillämpar lagen. Genom att utvärdera tillgängligheten på sex myndigheters webbplatser och intervjuer med personer som arbetar på svenska myndigheter har ett resultat sammanställts. Utvärderingarna visade att myndigheternas webbplatser erhöll de tillgänglighetsanpassningar som DOS-lagen ställer som krav. Förbättringsmöjligheter har identifierats, de största bristerna från utvärderingen var tillgänglighetsanpassade pdf:er och en mer konsekvent navigation och utformning. Intervjuerna gav en inblick i hur arbetet kring tillgänglighetsanpassningar gick till på svenska myndigheter och att DOS-lagen varit ett uppvaknande för att skapa mer förståelse och standardiserade arbetssätt kring digital tillgänglighet. Det är viktigt att belysa att denna studien är av en mindre skala vilket gör det svårt att generalisera till majoriteten av svenska myndigheter. Det betonar att framtida studier kan genomföras med fler myndigheter för att få ett bredare perspektiv. / Accessibility on public entities websites is crucial to ensure that all individuals in a society have access to vital societal information. Despite this, many websites lack accessibility adaptations. Web accessibility means that websites should be easy to navigate and read, and should include accommodations for individuals with visual impairments, disabilities, or mobility challenges. In 2019, the Digital Public Service Accessibility Act (DOS-act) came into effect, imposing accessibility requirements on digital services provided by public entities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the DOS-act on the accessibility efforts of Swedish authorities and how well they adhere to and implement the law. By evaluating the accessibility of six agency websites and conducting interviews with individuals working in Swedish authorities, a set of findings has been compiled. The evaluations revealed that the agencies' websites met the accessibility adaptations required by the DOS-act. Areas for improvement were identified, with the main shortcomings from the evaluation being accessible PDFs and more consistent navigation and design. The interviews provided insight into the process of implementing accessibility adaptations in Swedish authorities and highlighted that the DOS-act has served as an awakening to foster greater understanding and standardized approaches to digital accessibility. It is important to note that this study is of limited scope, which makes it challenging to generalize to the majority of Swedish authorities. This emphasizes that future studies could be conducted with more agencies togain a broader perspective.

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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities outlines the right of persons with disabilities to equal access to information. This paper builds on previous research on the international and national level and examines whether persons with disabilities have equal access to information online on the municipal level of government in Sweden. Also assessing the perception of municipality official’s view on the concept of accessibility, this thesis uses both qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings indicate that clear differences are present among municipalities and that article nine of the CRPD is not fully implemented on the municipal level in this aspect, but that no clear relationship between party control and web accessibility can be found. This paper concludes that further efforts needs to be put towards education and information towards the issue of online accessibility.

This thesis studies peri-urban landscapes (the landscape between the rural and urban setting), which has until recently gained little attention in academia and even less in planning practice and policy. This is largely due to a general view of these landscapes as something transient that will be developed in the future. However, some research has recognised these landscapes as important for the leisure and recreation of urban and suburban dwellers. Thus, this thesis is concerned with the current state of the peri-urban landscape, its characteristics and drivers of change with a focus on accessibility. Accordingly, the interest of the study lies in exploring people’s landscape perceptions and uses in relation to the accessibility of periurban areas and how they change over time. The focus of this thesis is Ljubljana and Edinburgh; these two cities have been selected as the case studies in order to elucidate the spatial and social patterns of the space on the edge of the city. The thesis centres on the perspective of inner-city dwellers’ perceptions, use of, and accessibility to peri-urban green spaces. Guided by the sense of place theory and the landscape planning approach, empirical work is at the heart of this research. A mixed-method approach, comprising questionnaire and focus groups with inner-city dwellers, interviews with authorities and planners and GIS-based analysis, is applied to gain new knowledge of inner-city dwellers’ relationship with periurban green spaces. The research found that people greatly value the established peri-urban green spaces, which have a variety of meanings for them, varying according to people’s socio-demographic and cultural characteristics. Furthermore, the appreciation of extensive semi-natural green spaces and green corridors has been shown to be universal and may imply some clues for further spatial planning of these areas. Conversely, people in general did not use the areas with low intrinsic value that are perceived as messy, ambiguous, etc. It appears that these spaces have lost their sense of place and therefore they are under threat of further development. Their future should thus be considered within long-term planning goals, in order to ensure environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive development.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to develop an technical aid (software) to help people with colourblindness. Colour blind people have difficulties to differentiate between certain colours,so the implemented software will name a selected colour. The software is implementedas a Mozilla Firefox extension and also uses a XPCOM component. Furthermore canthe user select different colour databases and change the displaying properties.The aim of this thesis is to develop an technical aid (software) to help people with colourblindness. Colour blind people have difficulties to differentiate between certain colours,so the implemented software will name a selected colour. The software is implementedas a Mozilla Firefox extension and also uses a XPCOM component. Furthermore canthe user select different colour databases and change the displaying properties.</p>

Detta arbete grundar sig på en befintlig ritning projekterad av Arkinova Arkitekter och uppfyller normal tillgänglighetsnivå. Ritningen består av ett lägenhetsplan med fem lägenheter vilka har en boarea mellan 36-64 m2. I detta arbete omprojekterades dessa lägenheter till höjd tillgänglighetsnivå enligt SS med avsikt att förbättra tillgängligheten för funktionshindrade grupper. Omprojekteringen utfördes med hjälp av BIM-programmet Revit Architecture 2013 med utgångspunkt från standarderna,           SS 91 42 21:2006 samt SS 91 42 22:2006, vilka utgör underlag för projektering av bostäder.       Syftet med denna studie var att utreda de merkostnader som är förknippade med en tillgänglighetsökning, dessa merkostnader beräknades i kalkylprogrammet BidCon. Resultatet visade att för att uppfylla SS rekommendationer kring ökad tillgänglighet, var en ökning av bruttoarean med 84 m2 i den ursprungliga ritningen oundviklig. Detta innebar en total ökning av bruttoarean med 25 %, vilket resulterade i merkostnader som uppgick till  126 014 SEK för lägenhetsplanet i höjd nivå. Dessa merkostnader inkluderar materialet i väggar, dörrar samt golvbjälklaget. Den procentuella kostnadsökningen för materialet blev således 22 %. / This work is based on an existing drawing designed by Arkinova Arkitekter, and is adapted to normal level of accessibility. The drawing consists of five apartments, with each apartment covering a total floor area between 36-64 m2. To improve accessibility for disabled groups, the apartments have been re-designed to a higher level of accessibility using BIM software Revit Architecture based on SS (Swedish Standard) 91 42 21:2006 and 91 42 22:2006. The purpose of this study was to investigate the additional costs associated with an increased accessibility; these additional costs were calculated in the spreadsheet program BidCon. The result showed that in order to comply with SS’ recommendation around increased accessibility, the floor area in the original drawing had to be increased by 84 m2 to allow increased mobility. This corresponds to a total increase of 25 %, which resulted in an additional costs of 126 014 SEK (22 % increase) including material for walls, doors and floor slab.

Analyzing public transit accessibility to marginalized communities is critical to exploring the link between transportation inclusion and wellbeing in automobile-centered cultures. This study is an attempt to examine public transit accessibility to Indigenous residents in Winnipeg's North End. Apart from analyzing the current level of transit accessibility, the study explores barriers that hinder the use of public transit in the North End and examines strategies to improving transit accessibility to its residents. This study adopts a holistic approach to understanding 'accessibility' and recognizes the importance of socio-economic, perceptional, and demographic factors in shaping the demand for transit facilities in an area. Findings of the study illustrate the need to include transportation inclusion as an essential component of the urban Indigenous welfare policies in the country. The lessons learned will also provide an initial framework to understand the link between community wellbeing and transportation inclusion of other socio-economically vulnerable communities. / February 2017

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur lärarna på handelsprogrammet arbetar med ett inkluderande arbetssätt, samt deras uppfattningar om arbetet med ett inkluderande arbetssätt, tillgänglighet och individanpassning i undervisningen. Syftet kompletteras med att introducera ett annat begrepp - digitalisering och dess påverkan över omtalade områdena. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ art och bedrivs i form av en fallstudie med holistisk infallsvinkel där analysenheten är handelsprogrammet, ett yrkesprogram på en gymnasieskola. För att kunna betrakta praktiken ur olika infallsvinklar samlades empirin genom klassrumsobservationer kompletterade med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien bekräftar tidigare forskning och visar en spänning mellan lärarnas handling och uppfattning när det gäller begreppen inkluderande arbetssätt och tillgänglighet, samt påpekar ett behov av utvidgning i lärarnas förståelse över koncepternas innebörd genom kollegialt lärande eller under lärarutbildningen. Studien utmynnar även i en diskussion om begreppsanvändning och yrkesspråk som pelare av lärarprofessionaliteten. Digitalisering ses i generella drag ha en positiv påverkan över lärarnas arbete med ovannämnda områdena men ses komma hand i hand med självdisciplin och som källa till förändringar på olika plan: i undervisningen, lärares planeringsarbete, och lärarens roll i klassrummet.