The purpose of this study is to investigate how a larger Swedish municipality administer public art and to what extent the practical work relates to the objectives adopted in the municipal comprehensive plan. A qualitative method conducted by semi structured interviews in three tiers with a politician, an official, a representative of an artist organization and a local artist constitutes the base of the study. The interviews are also complemented with subject relevant literature and analysis of municipal documents to support the findings. Results show that the politician and the official have contrasting views on how to concretize the objectives. The discrepancy may cause a misconception of what to expect from public art investments. Further results indicate that municipal practice on the selection of artists, together with the strict bureaucratic framework, may have negative effect on the diversity of artistic expressions that is viewed as important for an attractive city. After years of poor public art management in the surveyed municipality, a foundation is at the time of writing being established to enable more strategic management. Overall the study presents challenges and opportunities about the future of public art management in a mid-sized Swedish municipality.

Cities work to create attractive environments to increase population growth. Attracting people to a place is only the beginning, however, the hard part is getting the people to see the city as an attractive place, to live throughout their lives. This study has investigated how the concept of attractiveness is applied to different age groups in urban planning, and how young adults, families with children and pensioners, interpret the concept of attractiveness. The focus of this study is on the city of Härnösand. To investigate this, interviews were conducted with a planning coordinator and a business developer at Härnösand municipality, as well as with two people from each age group from Härnösand's population. A total of eight interviews have been conducted. The results showed that there are differences and similarities between how people in different life stages interpret what is attractive in a city. The pensioners considered culture to be one of the most attractive things in Härnösand, while the other respondents did not place much value on it. All age groups found it attractive that Härnösand is a small town, which means that it is close to everything. All respondents also agreed that the sea and nature in Härnösand create attractiveness, and that areas with very hard surfaces, such as industrial areas, are not seen as attractive. The young adults found indoor activities attractive, while families with children placed more importance on outdoor activities. The retirees did not emphasize the range of activities as an attractive attribute. Safety was something that all age groups believed created attractiveness in a place, but the pensioners were the group that valued safety the most and the young adults valued safety the least. The result showed that the municipality of Härnösand thinks it is important to get the opinions of the citizens in order to create environments that suit everyone, which in the long run can have a positive effect on population development. The study indicates that Härnösand municipality has ambitions to create attractive environments for different age groups. It shows an example of work with a planning program for an area called Skeppsbron in Härnösand where the municipality used the 8 80 method in the citizen dialogue to try to create an equally attractive place for all ages. The method assumes that if a city is as attractive to an 8-year-old as to an 80-year-old, then it is equally attractive to everyone in a city. However, it emerged that there may be challenges in gathering opinions from a wide range of citizens. The results of this survey showed that all respondents actively chose not to participate in citizen dialogues due to lack of time and lack of interest, which creates difficulties for the municipality of Härnösand to create attractiveness for everyone. This study therefore concludes that Härnösand may have to change its citizen dialogues in some way in order to gather more people's opinions. By doing this, the quality of community planning can be improved and Härnösand can be developed into an even more attractive place for more people in different life stages, which in turn could perhaps have a positive effect on population development.

Att en plats har förmågan att attrahera är viktigt av många anledningar, men vad anses vara attraktivt på en plats? Hur definieras “attraktivitet” och vad innebär uttrycket “attraktiv stad”? Dessa är huvudfrågeställningarna som besvaras i denna studie. Med frågeställningarna i åtanke har datainsamling genomförts för att besvara frågorna och detta genom en litteraturstudie. Då denna grund har lagts har en analys genomförts genom undersökning av Södertälje kommun som är en kommun där arbete med attraktivitet utförs, bland annat genom en intervju. Undersökningens syfte var att utreda vilka faktorer som gör just Södertälje till en attraktiv kommun och det huvudresultat, som också kan ses som en av slutsatserna, är att kommunen har jobbat utifrån dess egna förutsättningar genom att främst utveckla skolan och på så sätt bidra till kommunens attraktionsförmåga. / A place’s ability to attract is important for many reasons, but what is considered to be attractive in a location? How is “attractivity” defined and what does the expression “attractive city” mean? These are the main questions at issue that are answered in this study. The main aim is to shine light on the factors that make a specific place attractive. With the questions in mind, a literature study was made. When the ground was laid, an analysis was made by surveying the municipality of Södertälje, which is a township where work with attractivity is executed. The purpose of the investigation was to investigate the factors that make Södertälje an attractive municipality and the main result, which can also be seen as one of the conclusions, is that the municipality has been working based on its own conditions by developing the schools and by that contribute to the place ́s ability to attract.

Studentantalet på Luleå Tekniska Universitet I Piteå har gått från hela 900 till 300 de senaste ca 12 åren. En trend som både Piteå kommun och LTU vill motarbeta, samtidigt som Piteå kommun vill öka antalet inflyttande till platsen. På uppdrag av det kommunala företaget Piteå Science Park så var därför målet med detta examensarbeteatt ta fram en lösning som både ökar intresset för de musikutbildningar som erbjuds på LTU i Piteå och Framnäs Folkhögskola samt uppmuntrar de studerande till att vilja bo kvar i staden efter avklarade studier. Examensarbetet ingår i utbildningen Teknisk design högskoleingenjör vid Luleå Tekniska Universitet. I projektet användes IDEOs Human-Centered design-process bestående av de tre faser inspiration, ideation och implementation. I varje fas användes ett antal metoder för att, på ett metodiskt och produktivt vis, utveckla ett koncept som uppfyllde de krav och önskemål som satts av uppdragsgivaren och målgruppen. Här genomfördes bland annat, en mängd intervjuer med både användare och experter, olika workshops för att ta fram och vidareutveckla idéer, insamling av inspiration med hjälp av metoden benchmarking och slutligen prototypande av konceptet. Under intervjuerna med användarna kom en hel del intressanta behov och önskemål fram, till exempel att de tyckte att det måste finnas fler och prisvärda aktiviteter i Piteå och att de inte besöker centrum oftare än 1 gång per vecka i snitt. Arbetet resulterade i slutkonceptet Pitepuls som är en eventhemsida där alla Piteås evenemang är samlade under ett och samma tak. Sidan innehåller event kopplade till kultur, sport, religion, och friluftsaktiviteter och skall vara tillgänglig för både studerande, fastboende och turister. Projektet genererade ett koncept som har potential att lyfta fram Piteå som eventstad och därmed öka dess attraktivitet, både bland unga vuxna men också bland fastboende och turister, samt att det därmed hjälper Framnäs och LTU Piteå att sticka ut bland mängden folkhögskolor och musikhögskolor.