Minimalism in contemporary memorial design has been criticised for being meaningless and inappropriate in creating powerful monuments (Long, 2007). However, abstraction in modern art and landscape design can appeal to the human 'subconscious', which inspires design and enriches the experience of viewers and visitors (Jellicoe, 1966, 1970, 1993). This study investigated the meanings and the values that contemporary memorials hold through theoretical and empirical study, by which means of 'collective identity', individual and community engagement are enriched. This notion of engagement in contemporary memorial was examined based on the psychological theories s of 'transaction' (Altman and Rogoff, 1987; Dewey and Bentley, 1949; Pepper, 1942, 1967) and 'personal projects' (Little, 1983). Some other notions, such as 'anti-memorial', 'personalisation' and 'mirroring', drawn from memorial design, environmental psychology and philosophy of art, were discussed in relation to the main theoretical background. Accordingly, this research drew a distinction between the classical memorial, where symbolic representation is viewed in isolation from the viewers and their internal cognition, and the contemporary memorial landscape with its potential for transaction and shared memory, in which a spectator becomes a participant. As memorial design is a complex and multi-layered process, a memorial project for Palestinian displacement was conducted as a complementary part to the main scientific research. It offered a complementary approach to the conventional scientific inquiry, where the research situation is not a problem to be solved, but an enquiry whose problematic situations are characterised by 'uncertainty', 'disorder' and 'indeterminacy' (Schon, 1983). The collection methods for qualitative and quantitative data were observation and behavioural mapping in conjunction with theory of 'affordances' and the 'personal projects' questionnaire of memorial users. Data was collected from three memorial landscapes in London: the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain (PDMF), the 7 July Memorial (7JM) and the John F. Kennedy Memorial (JFKM). They vary in scale, design approach and process. Applying these methods enabled the researcher to attain more insights into memorial behavioural settings and their possible affordances and transactional properties. Key results of the data analysis showed that PDMF had high levels of transaction and a cathartic nature through qualities of playfulness, bodily involvement and social value. While the success of this memorial mainly lay in its cathartic and grieving quality, the ceremonial phallic design of 7JM and the allegorical landscape of JFKM did prove to create successful and powerful memorials through both their didactic and cathartic dimensions. The text and lettering embossed on the design elements helped these to occur simultaneously. The intended outcome of this research was to contribute to the recent development of the way contemporary designers and artists should approach memorial design. This was in the form of design guidelines and statements, which allowed individuals and communities to gain access to what a memorial could symbolise. This could be achieved through memorial physical forms representing different meanings associated with the commemorated subject, and by addressing the memorial design process in relation to both users' perception and designer's intention.

Theory and research have indicated that well-being can be enhanced via the fulfilment of three key well-being concerns or needs, namely efficacy, integrity, and belonging. This thesis used a positive youth development framework to explore well-being concern experiences within the context of a young person’s most salient activities and goals, referred to here as identity projects (Harré, 2007). Guided by an adaptation of the identity project model (Harré, 2007), using a longitudinal design, this thesis incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how identity projects were negotiated during adolescence; what impact well-being concerns had on commitment to projects; and how this related to subjective well-being (SWB). In the quantitative study, 162 ethnically diverse Year 12 high school students participated at time one (T1); and one year later 87 students took part at time two (T2). Participants completed an adaptation of the Personal Project Analysis tool (Little, 1983), and two independent measures of SWB. The main foci of the quantitative study were to explore the predictive value of each well-being concern to project commitment and SWB; and to investigate if commitment mediated the link between well-being concerns and SWB. For the qualitative study, narrative interviews were conducted among 16 adolescents at three time points – Years 12 and 13, and after completing high school. The main foci of the interviews were to investigate how well-being concerns were voiced within the context of specific projects; and to gain insight into how projects were negotiated during life transitions. The quantitative results showed efficacy and integrity, but not belonging, were predictors of concurrent commitment at T1 and actual commitment to T1 projects at T2. The mediating role of commitment (between the well-being concerns and SWB) was, however, not supported. Instead, each well-being concern directly predicted different aspects of SWB, and these relationships changed over time. Overall, experiences of efficacy and belonging, within identity projects, enhanced SWB in the short term, while only experiences of integrity enhanced SWB, namely life satisfaction, in the long term. The qualitative results indicated experiences of efficacy and belonging were most prevalent within leisure pursuits, while integrity was most commonly discussed within education and career projects.

Theory and research have indicated that well-being can be enhanced via the fulfilment of three key well-being concerns or needs, namely efficacy, integrity, and belonging. This thesis used a positive youth development framework to explore well-being concern experiences within the context of a young person’s most salient activities and goals, referred to here as identity projects (Harré, 2007). Guided by an adaptation of the identity project model (Harré, 2007), using a longitudinal design, this thesis incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how identity projects were negotiated during adolescence; what impact well-being concerns had on commitment to projects; and how this related to subjective well-being (SWB). In the quantitative study, 162 ethnically diverse Year 12 high school students participated at time one (T1); and one year later 87 students took part at time two (T2). Participants completed an adaptation of the Personal Project Analysis tool (Little, 1983), and two independent measures of SWB. The main foci of the quantitative study were to explore the predictive value of each well-being concern to project commitment and SWB; and to investigate if commitment mediated the link between well-being concerns and SWB. For the qualitative study, narrative interviews were conducted among 16 adolescents at three time points – Years 12 and 13, and after completing high school. The main foci of the interviews were to investigate how well-being concerns were voiced within the context of specific projects; and to gain insight into how projects were negotiated during life transitions. The quantitative results showed efficacy and integrity, but not belonging, were predictors of concurrent commitment at T1 and actual commitment to T1 projects at T2. The mediating role of commitment (between the well-being concerns and SWB) was, however, not supported. Instead, each well-being concern directly predicted different aspects of SWB, and these relationships changed over time. Overall, experiences of efficacy and belonging, within identity projects, enhanced SWB in the short term, while only experiences of integrity enhanced SWB, namely life satisfaction, in the long term. The qualitative results indicated experiences of efficacy and belonging were most prevalent within leisure pursuits, while integrity was most commonly discussed within education and career projects. / Whole document restricted until 04/2012, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

The thesis examines accompanied asylum-seeking children’s position in Swedish asylum reception management and in the determination of their claims. The three articles of the thesis focus on children’s own experiences of seeking asylum, on the experiences and practices of the civil servants at the Migration Board, as well as those of the legal representatives that assist asylum-seekers in the application process. The thesis builds on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2008 and 2010 in southwest Sweden. Theoretical inspiration has been sought in the new sociology of childhood as well as in practice theory. The first article in the thesis concerns children’s caseworkers who are responsible for safeguarding children’s interests in the Migration Board’s daily work with reception. The study highlights a range of dilemmas caseworkers have to deal with in their role as frontline bureaucrats. The study shows that the children’s caseworkers often perceive their discretion as limited, but also that they themselves contribute to limiting it, for example due to their hesitation in challenging existing norms and collegiality.    The second article examines the ways in which legal representatives, who act on behalf of families in asylum determinations, in their practice perceive and relate to the concept of children’s best interests and children’s right to participate. The study shows that children in families can become invisible in the legal representatives’ daily rounds. This invisibility is due to practical limitations in the representatives’ work as well as a general view that children rarely have their own grounds for asylum, as separate claimants to their parents. The third paper of the thesis explores the ways in which children experience and seek to influence circumstances that signify their time spent as asylum-seekers. The study shows how the children developed a range of tactics to deal with their particular situations, which varied with their housing and schooling, and the family’s financial resources. The conclusion is that the children themselves are the primary representatives of the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process, not least through their struggle to belong and create a life like that of ’ordinary’ children.  In line with previous research in the field, the thesis points to the contradiction between the principle of regulated migration and the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process. Together with practical circumstances, such as lack of resources, this contradiction results in a more limited implementation of the child perspective than rules and regulations actually stipulate. Finally, the thesis points to the active role asylum-seeking children take in their efforts to create an everyday life that is as similar as possible to that of  the ’ordinary’ children (e.g. non asylum-seeker and permanently settled children) around them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted.</p>