Tourism is a spatial phenomenon. Tourist behaviour on-site is not only dependent on the destination itself, but also on the situation in other places, tourists’ spatial mobility and access to information. On the basis of this argument, the whole tourism system is taken into account in this thesis. The aim is to analyse the interplay between mobility, tourist behaviour and guidebooks. The focus lies on German tourists in Sweden. Due to the importance of guidebooks to this visitor group, the thesis concentrates particularly on guidebooks as source of information. In the first article, power relations that steer the selection of Swedish tourist sites in German guidebooks are analysed. The results show that the selection of tourist sites is dependent on personal, editorial, geographical, economic and tourism-sociological factors. The production of information is dependent on a complex web of power relations, the core of which is constituted by authors, publishers and readers. In the second article, the content in German guidebooks on Sweden is analysed. Besides Stockholm and Northern Lapland, the regions presented most frequently are usually located in the south of the country. It is found that guidebooks influence German tourists’ choices of tourist sites in Sweden, and that this influence increases with the distance from Germany. The study also shows that guidebooks contribute to constructing tourism space and providing places with meaning. In the third article, it is shown that information and time availability influence tourist mobility. The existence of an individual travel rhythm is confirmed, which is defined as a travel pattern that is independent of the tourist sites that are visited. It includes, among other things, long travel distances the first and last days of the holiday, a short first stay-over, the longest stay in the region with the greatest distance from home, and a relation between the length of stay at one place and the distance covered when departing. In the last article, tourist behaviour is analysed. The results dispel the predominant impression in current tourism discourse that states that tourists are continually active during their holidays. It is found that the major difference between home and tourist behaviour is not constituted by the activities themselves, but by a difference in place, followed by a slower pace in which activities are performed and a limited time period. Spatial mobility, the characteristics of place and access to information all influence tourist behaviour on-site. In conclusion, it is found that tourist information, mobility and behaviour on the spot are closely connected. Tourists consume the tourism space created in guidebooks, and recreate this space when travelling, as they choose individually how to respond to the information provided. Actors, places and tourist structures all exist in relation to each other. For the resulting behaviour in place, this means that it is not only the supply at the destination that is important, but also the situation in tourists’ home regions and along their travel routes.

Energy use is a part of everyday life and the use of energy is a part of the global climate change. Policy makers urge individuals to change their daily behaviour in order to mitigate climate change and care for our common environment. The dissertation regards daily behaviour as activities performed by individuals. The theoretical base is the time-geographic approach wherein everyday life is regarded as a sequence of interlinked activities performed by indivisible individuals. The dissertation investigates individuals’ energy use as an outcome of the activities they perform in everyday life. The empirical base of the dissertation is time-diaries from the Swedish time use survey 2010/2011. The diary data is explored as sequences of daily activities by using sequence analysis and clustering. The results show that individuals’ energy use is closely interweaved with how they live their everyday lives in terms of activity sequences. The results imply that changing an activity affects both the intricate web of interaction in the household and the interdependence of activities in everyday life. Change does not only affect the singular activity that was the object for the change, but rather major parts of the sequence of activities. In order to address energy conservation in information campaigns considerations ought to be taken on how everyday life is shaped and formed by the individual, by negotiations between the individuals in households, and societal structures. Information can be targeted to groups of individuals  with similar activity sequences as they are revealed by cluster analysis. / Energianvändningen är en del av vardagen likaväl som användningen av energi är en del av den globala klimatförändringen. För att mildra effekterna på vår gemensamma miljö uppmanas människor av politiker och andra beslutsfattare att förändra sitt vardagsbeteende. I avhandlingen betraktas vardagsbeteendet som människors dagliga aktiviteter. Avhandlingens teoretiska grund är den tidsgeografiska ansatsen, där människors vardag betraktas som en sekvens av de aktiviteter som utförs av odelbara individer. Människors dagliga sekvens av aktiviteter undersöks för att ta reda på vilken energianvändning som genomförandet av aktiviteterna ger upphov till. Den empiriska grunden för avhandlingen är tidsdagboksdata från den svenska tidsanvändningsstudien från 2010/2011 och avhandlingen utforskar tidsdagböckerna som sekvenser av aktiviteter med hjälp av sekvens- och klusteranalys. Resultaten visar att individers energianvändning är nära sammanvävd med de aktivitetssekvenser som visar hur vardagslivet levs. Resultaten pekar vidare på att förändringar av enskilda aktiviteter också påverkar andra aktiviteter i det dagliga livet. Förändringar av en aktivitet påverkar således hela den dagliga sekvensen av aktiviteter. I utformningen av information som syftar till att minska hushållens energianvändning bör hänsyn tas till hur vardagslivets aktivitetssekvens formas av den enskilde i samspelet både med andra individer i hushållet och med samhällsstrukturerna. Målgruppsinriktad information kan utformas med utgångspunkt from människors likartade aktivitetsmönster så som de framgår genom klusteranalys.

Uppsatsen är en multi metodstudie där avsikten är att undersöka om filmdokumentation, tematisk analys och tidsgeografi kan användas som verktyg för att studera hantverk inom gastronomi och i detta fall specifikt en kocks hantverk. Syftet var att ta fram ett recept på görandet, hur steka kött. Aktiviteten genomfördes på forskningsrestaurang vid Umeå Universitet och dokumenterades med filmmetod. Filmmaterialet analyserades med tematisk analys och resultatet fördes in i ett tidsgeografiskt diagram. Kockens förkunskaper användes för att kunna säkerställa trovärdigheten vid analysen. Tidsgeografiska diagrammet gav en visuell bild av tids och rumsanvändningen hos kocken. Det tidsgeografiska diagrammet visar på ett antal aktiviteter som upprepas ett stort antal gånger och vi kan tydligt se likheter men också skillnader där hantverkaren måste använda sin kunskap för att justera sitt hantverk efter det förändrade förutsättningarna. Resultatet visar på tre typer av hantverk, sensoriskt, reflekterande och fysiskt hantverk som används i en komplex variation genom hela aktiviteten. Resultatet visar på att metoderna kan användas för att studera hantverk och att tidsgeografi som synsätt kan ge ett visuellt sätt att beskriva hantverket och som i sin tur kan användas som ett recept. / This thesis, is based on a multi-method study to test if film documentation, thematic analysis and time geography can be used to study crafts within gastronomy and in this case culinary arts. The aim was to develop a recipe on making and how to prepare meat. The activity was performed in the research restaurant at Umeå university School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts and was documented with film method. The film material was analyzed with thematic analysis and the results were also expressed in a time geography graph. The chef’s pre-understanding was used when data was analyzed. Time geography gave a visual picture of the usage of time in space by the chef and the graph shows the activities that repeat them self a large amount of times. We can see similarities but also differences were craftsmen have to use their knowledge in order to adjust their activities after the changing circumstances in the environment. The result show three types of crafts, sensory, reflective and physical craft which are used in a complex variation. In conclusion this study shows that the methods can be used to study crafts and time geography as an approach can give a visual picture of the complexity of craft. The study shows also that time geography is helpful to create a recipe.

Today’s sparse cities with for example workplaces located outside the city centre has led to increased travel levels for the inhabitants. The long distance between different attribute has resulted in a car dependency. To achieve the climate goals and a sustainable development it’s important to have a transition to more sustainable travel modes. This essay focus on socially and environmentally sustainable travels to workplaces outside the city centre. The aim of the study is the understand how the geographical location of the workplace affects the travel mode choice. The ambition is to examine the possibilities for environmentally sustainable travel at the same time as the travel also must be socially sustainable and feasible in the individual’s everyday life. This study is conducted in Umeå with a workplace located outside the city centre. The empirical material has been collected through interviews with employees in purpose the understand the individual conditions and travel patterns. The results are then discussed and analysed using, theories and previous research, time-geography, aspects of accessibility and travel mode choice to create an understanding of sustainable travel to workplaces with an external localisation. The results identified challenges linked to long distance, lack of accessibility to use other travel modes and individual constraints. The results shows that individuals have different constraints and opportunities to change their travel mode, but that it is also bound to how much an individual is willing, and able, to sacrifice.

<p>The aim of this study was to examine how some Swedish school counsellor’s describe their school social work and how they look at its content. Further more the aim is to look at what restraining and promoting factors the school counsellor’s experience in their working situation. The approach of the study is qualitative and interviews have been made with five school counsellors. The results show that school counsellors have a variety of different working-areas, which consist of supporting and consulting pupils, parents and teachers through dialogue. Another assignment is to work preventive with groups and classes. Other scientists have found similar results as the ones in this study. About restraining and promoting factors in their work, the school counsellors expressed, for example, time and resources as restraining factors and as promoting factors they mentioned closeness to the pupils and working preventive. Their offices were mentioned being both a restraining and promoting factor due to the central activity of dialogue. They expressed that they were all satisfied with their work, but that it would be enough to work full-time on just one school. To analyse the results the time-geographic perspective was used.</p>

<p>The purpose with this essay is to explore the social changes in relation to changes in mortality for the two largest ethnic groups in Estonia; ethnic Estonians and the Russian minority. Since this is a geographical essay, my purpose is also to explore these changes in relation to the country’s internal geography. As these changes appear over time in space, the content is partly rooted in a time geographical point of view. It is also rooted in a regional geographical point of view, since I have been comparing the mentioned changes between different areas in Estonia (with considerations on developments abroad).</p><p>Two different development lines can be seen as a consequence of the social changes taking place in the 1990s. While the ethnic Estonians situation has improved, the Russian minority’s situation has instead declined regarding to social existence and health. As a result the mortality has increased enormously for the Russian minority. The ethnic Estonians had also a mortality increase in practically all studied causes of death in all studied areas, but this increase wasn’t as high as for the Russian minority. Nevertheless, when comparing two different counties with each other as well as with the country as whole, the pattern seems to be more complicated. The Russians living in the western county of Läänemaa, have been affected more favourably by the social change than those living in the north-eastern county of Ida-Virumaa. Except for mortality by alcohol poisoning, the Russians living in Läänemaa had a much lower mortality increase than those living in Ida-Viruma and even compared with the country as whole.</p><p>It seems as those Russians living in the western parts of Estonia have been affected more favourably than those living in the north-eastern parts. These structures are very much depending on the history, since most of the Russians living in the north-eastern area immigrated during the Soviet era, while the western parts had a much earlier immigration of Russians. Considering the time and place of the Russian immigration, one can divide the Russian minority in two groups; those in the west, and those in the east.</p>

Consumption forms and is formed by the city. How, when and where commodities are transacted is essential in this urban drama of mutual relationships. This thesis explores how consumption and everyday life in cities are interrelated. The specific objective is to analyse how commodity transaction situations are configured and constrained in time and space, and, how consumer service spaces are formed in and are part of city formation. Transactions are conceptualised as economically and socially situated material projects constituted by consumers, commodities and producers. Commodities and values are transferred and created through transaction spaces. The theoretical perspective is framed around consumption and production of spaces, and particularly informed by Hägerstrand’s time-geographical thinking and Lefebvre’s work on urban space. Methodologically different examples of consumption projects and spaces are used to discuss configurations and formations for commodity transactions. The thesis stresses material and time-spatial constraints for commodity transaction and it discusses the blurring of boundaries between what conventionally has been separate social and economic activities and places. Changing transaction configurations and the formation of consumer service spaces in the city are explored through analysis of different consumption places and commodities such as books, coffee and clothes and property development projects in Stockholm city centre. Transaction configurations display geographical and historical continuities and changes as well as time-spatial flexibility and spatial fixity. Transactions spaces are continuously formed and reformed through processes embedded in the global cultural economy, urban development and politics, as well as through people’s everyday life. Producers’ strategic production and consumers’ tactical appropriation of transactions spaces are accentuated as crucial in the spatial practice of transactions, places and city formation.

The aim of this study was to examine how some Swedish school counsellor’s describe their school social work and how they look at its content. Further more the aim is to look at what restraining and promoting factors the school counsellor’s experience in their working situation. The approach of the study is qualitative and interviews have been made with five school counsellors. The results show that school counsellors have a variety of different working-areas, which consist of supporting and consulting pupils, parents and teachers through dialogue. Another assignment is to work preventive with groups and classes. Other scientists have found similar results as the ones in this study. About restraining and promoting factors in their work, the school counsellors expressed, for example, time and resources as restraining factors and as promoting factors they mentioned closeness to the pupils and working preventive. Their offices were mentioned being both a restraining and promoting factor due to the central activity of dialogue. They expressed that they were all satisfied with their work, but that it would be enough to work full-time on just one school. To analyse the results the time-geographic perspective was used.

The purpose with this essay is to explore the social changes in relation to changes in mortality for the two largest ethnic groups in Estonia; ethnic Estonians and the Russian minority. Since this is a geographical essay, my purpose is also to explore these changes in relation to the country’s internal geography. As these changes appear over time in space, the content is partly rooted in a time geographical point of view. It is also rooted in a regional geographical point of view, since I have been comparing the mentioned changes between different areas in Estonia (with considerations on developments abroad). Two different development lines can be seen as a consequence of the social changes taking place in the 1990s. While the ethnic Estonians situation has improved, the Russian minority’s situation has instead declined regarding to social existence and health. As a result the mortality has increased enormously for the Russian minority. The ethnic Estonians had also a mortality increase in practically all studied causes of death in all studied areas, but this increase wasn’t as high as for the Russian minority. Nevertheless, when comparing two different counties with each other as well as with the country as whole, the pattern seems to be more complicated. The Russians living in the western county of Läänemaa, have been affected more favourably by the social change than those living in the north-eastern county of Ida-Virumaa. Except for mortality by alcohol poisoning, the Russians living in Läänemaa had a much lower mortality increase than those living in Ida-Viruma and even compared with the country as whole. It seems as those Russians living in the western parts of Estonia have been affected more favourably than those living in the north-eastern parts. These structures are very much depending on the history, since most of the Russians living in the north-eastern area immigrated during the Soviet era, while the western parts had a much earlier immigration of Russians. Considering the time and place of the Russian immigration, one can divide the Russian minority in two groups; those in the west, and those in the east.

Au prisme de la diversité des pratiques spatio-temporelles, la mobilité constitue sans contestation l'élément majeur des relations sociales contemporaines. Si les pratiques spatio-temporelles et les formes des mobilités quotidiennes sont loin d'être homogènes, comment peut-on pour autant les décrire, les qualifier et les rendre plus compréhensibles ? L'échelle la plus adéquate pour analyser ces comportements peut être celle de l'aire métropolitaine car c'est en effet un espace qui résulte de ces mobilités et dans lequel s'inscrit la majorité des mobilités urbaines d'aujourd'hui. Cette thèse tend à établir une lecture de l'hétérogénéité de l'espace métropolitain grenoblois et de ses organisations, à travers l'analyse des pratiques des mobilités quotidiennes. Une meilleure connaissance et représentation des comportements de la mobilité quotidienne dans l'espace-temps constitue le coeur de sa problématique. La motivation essentielle de ce cadrage est la prise en compte de l'individu dans le contexte de mobilité qui lui est propre, avec toutes ses dimensions particulières. Une démarche originale vise à rendre possible une lecture et une analyse des mobilités et des activités ainsi que des disparités en cours, à travers une grande base de données quantitatives, l'enquête ménages déplacements (EMD 2002 sur la région grenobloise). Il s'agit d'une analyse secondaire des données d'un outil majeur des politiques publiques locales et qui n'a pas été utilisé jusqu'à présent pour analyser les formes des mobilités quotidiennes.