The aim of the study was to see how the media affects the legitimacy of an actor in the climate transformation, by looking at a specific actor. A qualitative analysis has been carried out in the form of a document study of newspaper articles concerning an actor in the climate transformation. The qualitative analysis is supplemented with a quantitative analysis, with the aim of providing an overview of the empirical evidence. With the help of an analysis tool, we have investigated how the media affects an actor's legitimacy. The analysis tool was based on literature on how legitimacy can be created in polycentric governance arrangements, as well as within the theory of framing and from a business networks perspective. The quantitative analysis is presented in descriptive statistics and the qualitative analysis is presented in text and with a final summary in tabular form. The analysis showed that the actor often was portrayed as important in the climate transformation, but also credible in terms of empirical credibility, credibility of the speaker and social and political trust. The actor also portrayed themselves as very confident. They were also shown to care about their employees, future generations, and society at large, which should further affect their credibility and trust. Interesting findings from the analysis included bombastic rhetoric from a politician, challenges and criticism did not seem to damage the actor's legitimacy and that the actor has "skipped" some of the factors that the literature describes create or promote legitimacy. But also, the actor was described as a "done deal" early in the decision-making process and that trust in various forms seems to be the most important factor for legitimacy. The conclusions are that the portrayal of the actor in media, positively affects their legitimacy. / Syftet med studien var att se hur media påverkar en aktörs legitimitet i klimatomställningen, genom att titta på en specifik aktör. En kvalitativ analys har genomförts i form av dokumentstudie på tidningsartiklar som berör en aktör i klimatomställningen. Den kvalitativa analysen kompletteras med en kvantitativ analys, med syftet att ge en överblick av empirin. Med hjälp av ett analysverktyg undersöktes hur media påverkar en aktörs legitimitet. Analysverktyget baserades på litteratur om hur legitimitet kan skapas i polycentriska styrningsarrangemang, så väl som inom teorin om framing samt utifrån ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv. Den kvantitativa analysen presenteras i beskrivande statistik och den kvalitativa analysen presenteras därefter i text samt med en avslutande sammanställning i tabellform. I analysen framgick att aktören ofta porträtterades som viktiga i klimatomställningen, men också trovärdiga i termer av empirisk trovärdighet, trovärdighet för talaren samt socialt och politiskt förtroende. Aktören porträtterade också sig själva som mycket självsäkra. De visade sig också vara måna om sina anställda, kommande generationer och samhället i stort, vilket ytterligare bör påverka deras trovärdighet och förtroende.  Intressanta fynd från analysen var bland annat bombastisk retorik från en politiker, att utmaningar och kritik inte verkade skada aktörens legitimitet och att aktören har “hoppat över” vissa av de faktorer som litteraturen menar skapar eller främjar legitimitet. Men också att aktören beskrevs som en “done deal” redan tidigt i beslutsprocessen och att förtroende i olika former verkar vara den viktigaste faktorn för legitimitet. Slutsatserna är att porträtteringen av aktören, i media, påverkar deras legitimitet positivt.

The purpose of this study was the development of an architectural methodology capable of re-establishing polycentric civitas in the City of Los Angeles. To establish a new civic design framework for the city of Los Angeles, research and analysis was conducted in many fields using several different methods. A review of literature pertaining to the historic establishment of civitas serves an analysis of the different forms of public space in Western civilization. An analysis of urbanism in Los Angeles was conducted using existing literature related to the topic, while an analysis of the neighborhood chosen as the site for the “execution” of the methodology was performed through first-hand research and field study. This information was then synthesized, producing a building program customized to the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles. The final stage of the study was the design of this new civic core. In the context of the Miracle Mile—defined by the presence of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art—the proposed civic core took the form of an artist commune. The study concludes that the re-establishment of polycentrism in Los Angeles, as a means for (re)discovering civitas, requires the development of several new alternative civic cores, dispersed throughout the urban fabric of the Los Angeles Basin. In order to effectively operate as sites of critical civic engagement, however, each core must be developed independently of the other, responding to specific micro-cultures. This study advocates choosing sites based on the presence of existing civic potentials. In this way, the alienating effects of tabula rasa city planning are avoided. The architectural project presented at the end of this study, should therefore be understood, not as an architectural prototype to be universally replicated across the city, but as a prototype for an architectural research method. In order to (re)discover civitas in Los Angeles, architects and urban planners must recognize the limitations of universal models and accept that the architectural spaces that define the civic realm must reflect the needs of the specific societies who will ultimately activate them.

The purpose of this study was the development of an architectural methodology capable of re-establishing polycentric civitas in the City of Los Angeles. To establish a new civic design framework for the city of Los Angeles, research and analysis was conducted in many fields using several different methods. A review of literature pertaining to the historic establishment of civitas serves an analysis of the different forms of public space in Western civilization. An analysis of urbanism in Los Angeles was conducted using existing literature related to the topic, while an analysis of the neighborhood chosen as the site for the “execution” of the methodology was performed through first-hand research and field study. This information was then synthesized, producing a building program customized to the Miracle Mile in Los Angeles. The final stage of the study was the design of this new civic core. In the context of the Miracle Mile—defined by the presence of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art—the proposed civic core took the form of an artist commune. The study concludes that the re-establishment of polycentrism in Los Angeles, as a means for (re)discovering civitas, requires the development of several new alternative civic cores, dispersed throughout the urban fabric of the Los Angeles Basin. In order to effectively operate as sites of critical civic engagement, however, each core must be developed independently of the other, responding to specific micro-cultures. This study advocates choosing sites based on the presence of existing civic potentials. In this way, the alienating effects of tabula rasa city planning are avoided. The architectural project presented at the end of this study, should therefore be understood, not as an architectural prototype to be universally replicated across the city, but as a prototype for an architectural research method. In order to (re)discover civitas in Los Angeles, architects and urban planners must recognize the limitations of universal models and accept that the architectural spaces that define the civic realm must reflect the needs of the specific societies who will ultimately activate them.

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and for long nation-states and international agreements have been in focus in the search of solutions. Yet, this approach to climate change action is becoming increasingly contested and the focus has in part been turned to other types of actors, such as actors from other levels of governance. A polycentric governance system is one of the new approaches posed for climate change governance. Through this governance system such actors are emphasized and the collaboration and cooperation between them, horizontally and vertically, is in focus. In this thesis the aim is to analyze two different alliances, one of city governments and one of regional governments. These two alliances are then positioned in relation to the polycentric system of governance. A frame analysis is used to investigate the alliances’ respective framings in order to identify how they position themselves within such a system. Reports and official documents by the alliances are used as material for the analysis. The results show that these two actors’ frames are similar in many ways. Their focus lays on the importance of the level of governance that they represent, as well as collaboration and cooperation with various types of actors. Proving their compatibility with the polycentric governance system theory.

This thesis investigates the potential of express bus to serve travel demand in a polycentric region, using the Atlanta metropolitan area as a case study. Express bus, which serves as the primary mode of line-haul transit commuting for most suburbs in the Atlanta region, is primarily focused on serving traditional suburb-to-city commutes. However, more than half of the commutes in the Atlanta metro are to suburban locations. This thesis investigates the potential of an author-devised plan to enhance the transit commute to suburban employment centers, using express bus as the primary technology. Working mostly with existing routes, the plan incorporates ideas found in the literature, such as intermediate stops, transfer hubs, and local bus serving first and last mile connections. The thesis also tested existing plans, off of which the author's plan was devised. Tests were performed using the trip-based model of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). Dramatic gains were seen as a result of the author-devised plan, such that 8,000 daily transit trips are added, and express bus ridership increases by 50%. Performance improved especially for routes in which intermediate stops were added. The results have implications for how transit can better serve travel demand in a polycentric region.

This research examines the potential of polycentrism as artistic methods in contemporary hip-hop and as a socio-political movement in dance to luminate negotiations of relations, power and appropriation. The research questions are: 1. How can the concept of polycentrism as an aesthetic principle in the traditions of hip-hop be used to investigate and develop artistic methods in a contemporary dance context? 2. What scope for action and negotiation of power systems does polycentrism create in contemporary hip-hop? This artistic research is drawn upon Practice as Research with methods of freestyle/improvisation and interactive introspection. It also suggests polycentrism as a research method. The empirical material consists of the experiences of the eleven dance artists that participated in the study through five workshops that was documented via filming and writing. Artistic methods are presented as processes and ideas of polycentric movements inside and outside our bodies, always in relation. Secondly, the study suggests polycentrism with potential to circulate as sociopolitical movement through our bodies and create expanded crosscircular perspectives on aesthetics as multiple, relational centers in constant energy flow. The findings of this project can also be useful in education and teaching of dance.

La question des villes moyennes ou intermédiaires a été largement débattue, en raison de la difficulté à établir leur définition. Un système de villes moyennes particulier est situé au sud du Chili, constitué par les régions de La Araucanía, Los Ríos et Los Lagos. Ce système présente une configuration spatiale plutôt monocentrique, où les interactions entre villes sont développées à l'intérieur de chaque région et, par conséquence, les liens transfrontaliers sont faibles voire inexistants. Les centres urbains à l'intérieur de chaque région développent différents types de configuration spatiale, tant à un niveau régional et que local. Cette thèse a cherché à comprendre les concepts de ville intermédiaire ou moyenne et à les stabiliser, pour pouvoir mieux comprendre le système de villes moyennes du sud du Chili à partir d'une analyse de réseau et du degré de cohésion des différentes villes. Le réseau qui organise ce système est déterminé principalement par les relations hiérarchiques et de type vertical. Ainsi, il existe un élevé degré de dépendance à l'égard des capitales régionales, ce qui organise un réseau monocentrique à l'intérieur de chaque espace régional, où il serait encore possible de trouver des villes isolées. Le degré de polycentrisme pour l'ensemble du système a été estimé moyen à faible. Cette situation est encore plus dramatique au sein de chaque espace régional. Les relations spatiales entre centres urbains se réalisent à deux échelles. Dans la première, trois types d'organisation spatiale se mettent en place et dans la deuxième, trois types d'organisation spatiale ont lieu entre des paires de nœuds du réseau. / Medium-size cities have been the subject of profound debate given their complexity in order to define them. A particular system consisting of this type of cities is located in southern Chile, an area which comprises the regions of La Araucania, Los Ríos and Los Lagos. This system seems to have a monocentric configuration, where interactions between population centers would be arranged within each region and therefore trans-border links would be weak or not present. In addition to that, urban centers that compose the system would have differentiated spatial patterns, both at a regional and local scale. In this sense, this thesis tries to understand the concept of medium-size and intermediate cities and stabilize it, to understand the system of cities of southern Chile thanks to a network approach and the analysis of the cohesion degree in urban centers. The network that organizes this system is determined largely by relations of hierarchical and vertical type, having a high degree of dependency of small cities within a region to each of the regional capitals, which organizes a moncentric network within each regional area, including identifying isolated towns. The degree of polycentrism for the entire system is low and this situation is even deeper within each regional area. The spatial relationships between urban centers are in two scales, first to set up three types of spatial organization and second presents three types of spatial organization that develop between pairs of nodes in the network.

L'étalement urbain et le transport sont deux problématiques prépondérantes à La Réunion. Dans un contexte de forte croissance démographique où le million démographique est prévu pour 2030, la question de l'occupation du sol devient primordiale. Le relief réunionnais présentant des spécificités telles, que presque deux tiers de l'île sont indisponibles à l'urbanisation, la problématique de l'étalement urbain devient de plus en plus importante. Dans le même temps, le réseau routier réunionnais, limité également par le relief, est déjà saturé et la problématique transport occupe une grande place dans les préoccupations en matière d'aménagement, à l'exemple de la Route du Littoral. Ainsi, cette relation transport et aménagement est particulièrement importante. Cette thèse propose ainsi de découvrir, à l'échelle des aires urbaines, les différentes formes d'étalement urbain visibles à la Réunion et s'interrogeant sur d'éventuelles similarités avec des territoires non limités par le relief. En effet, une question est posée : le milieu insulaire favorise-t-il des formes d'étalement spécifiques ? De même, la relation entre transport et étalement urbain est mise en exergue à travers les exemples des trois principales aires urbaines de l'Île : Saint-Denis, Saint-Paul- Le Port et Saint-Pierre. A partir de leur évolution depuis 1990 nous proposons quelques scénarios d'évolution qui permettent d'alerter sur la nécessité d'une approche transport-urbanisme dans les futurs projets d'aménagement de l'Île de La Réunion. / Urban sprawl and transport are two dominating problems in Reunion Island. In a context of strong population growth where the demographic million is planned for 2030, the question of the land use becomes essential. The relief of the island is so difficult, that almost two-thirds of the island are unavailable to urbanization. Thus, the urban sprawl question is becoming increasingly important. At the same time, the road network of Reunion Island is also limited by the relief and already saturated. The transportation problem occupies an important place in the development concerns, like the Route du Littoral. This interaction between transport and planning is particularly important. This thesis proposes to discover, on the scale of urban areas, various forms of urban sprawl visible in Reunion, and questions on possible similarities with territories not limited by relief. Indeed, a question is raised: do the island environment favors specific forms of urban sprawl? Similarly, the relationship between transport and urban sprawl is highlighted through examples of the three main urban areas of the island: Saint-Denis, Saint-Paul- Le Port and Saint-Pierre. From their evolution since 1990, we offer a few evolution scenarios that allow to alert the need for a transportation-planning in future development projects on the island of Reunion Island.

O presente estudo propõe-se a investigar o potencial de o projeto de democracia cosmopolita, tal como formulado por David Held, Anthony McGrew e Daniele Archibugi, suprir o déficit democrático das instituições representativas brasileiras decorrente dos fenômenos da globalização e do policentrismo do poder, no contexto da atual crise econômica mundial. Trata-se, pois, de se contrapor o modelo cosmopolita, de caráter transterritorial, ao modelo representativo, de base territorial. A pesquisa segue um plano analítico político-jurídico, ou seja, sua sede epistemológica é a Teoria Geral do Estado. / This study wants to investigate the potential of the project of cosmopolitan democracy, how it was formulated by David Held, Anthony McGrew and Daniele Archibugi, to supply de democratic deficit of the Brazilians institutional organizations, occurred because the phenomenon of globalization and polycentrism of power, in the context of now global economic crisis. Therefore, we will compare the cosmopolitan model, of transterritorial character, and the representative model, based on the territory. This research follows a politic-juridical plan, so, its epistemological place is the General Theory of State.

L'étude vise à dépasser le constat paradoxal d'une notion omniprésente et pourtant inconsistante endroit public. La parcimonie des études consacrées à la coordination tranche avec les nombreuses occurrences du vocable dans les textes juridiques. Comment interpréter une telle circonspection doctrinale ? Une première réponse consiste à estimer que la coordination n'a aucune existence endroit ; une autre posture est de considérer que la coordination n'a aucune pertinence en droit. Le postulat selon lequel ces deux affirmations sont erronées constitue le point de départ d'une recherche qui a permis d'esquisser une définition fonctionnelle de la coordination : il s'agit d'un mode d'ordonnancement flexible de l'organisation, de l'action et du droit de l'Etat, congruent avec le cadre juridique pluriel et complexe actuel qui interroge les procédés classiques verticaux. Trois figures de la coordination en droit public ont été dégagées : une « coordination-integration » qui permet de préserver la cohésion de la structure administrative de l'Etat en dépit d'un phénomène de fragmentation ; une « coordination-articulation » qui recherche la cohérence de centres de décision politique dans un contexte de polycentrisme ; une « coordination-harmonisation » qui tend à la concordance de règles juridiques marquées par le pluralisme. / The study aims to overcome the paradox of an omnipresent, yet inconsistent notion in Public Law.The sparsity of studies on coordination contrasts with the many occurrences of the term in the legalcorpus. How to interpret this doctrinal caution? One answer is to deem that coordination is non existentin Law; another position is to consider that coordination is irrelevant in Law. Theassumption that both statements are wrong is the starting point of this research that had led to a functional definition of coordination seen as a flexible method of ordering the State organization,action and law, congruent with the current plural and complex legal framework that query vertical legal processes. Three figures of coordination in Public Law were identified: a "coordination integration" helping to preserve the cohesion of the administrative structure of the State despite a fragmentation phenomenon; a "coordination-articulation" which seeks consistency in political decision centers in a polycentric context; "coordination-harmonization" which tends to the concordance of legal rules characterized by pluralism.