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Over the last decade, many of America's urban areas have developed "sustainability plans" focusing on the long-term viability of their communities. Although many local governments have concentrated on environmental issues, others have incorporated economic and social policies. A new subset of literature has emerged highlighting equity and social justice within the sustainability dialogue. Scholars and practitioners alike argue that true sustainability requires equal access to all three pillars of sustainability for all groups. Through interviews with public and private actors, as well as content analysis of the plan, this study investigates the structure of the governance network responsible for the development of "Sustainable Chicago 2015", elements of the sustainability plan, and the plan's consideration of equity and social justice. The central purpose of this research is to determine if underserved communities were represented in the decision-making process and whether they will benefit from the resulting policies and programs. "Sustainable Chicago 2015" is found to be largely an environmental plan, with some elements of economic and social sustainability that are rooted in the environment. As a guiding document for Chicago, the plan defines sustainability for the city and includes little explicit acknowledgement of Chicago's underserved communities. This can be seen as a result of a lack of underserved and minority voices in the decision-making coalition, but ultimately the network was found to have little influence on the plan. From the onset, "Sustainable Chicago 2015" was the mayor's plan and that vision did not emphasize social justice and economic equity.

The thesis is a compilation of three articles that explore the relationship between immigration and minority nations. It focuses on Stateless Nationalist and Regionalist Parties (SNRP) through the lens of the centre periphery cleavage. Overall, the articles make contributions towards the research question how do the main dimensions of the centre-periphery cleavage (identity, territory and economy) reflect on the SNRPs' discourses on immigration? Each article explores one of the dimensions of the centre periphery cleavage. They analyse how identity, territorial distribution of powers and the economic context appear in the SNRPs' official discourse on immigration. Paired comparisons of different SNRPs in different contexts (Catalonia, Quebec and Scotland) are carried out using qualitative content analysis of manifestos, parliamentary debates and other party documents. The thesis provides, among other contributions, a deeper understanding of SNRPs discourses on immigration and how centre-periphery relations interfere in its construction. ; La present tesi és una compilació de tres articles de recerca que exploren la relació entre la immigració i les nacions minoritàries, tot centrant-se en els Partits Nacionalistes sense Estat i Regionalistes (SNRP) des de la perspectiva del cleavage centre-perifèria. Orientats per la pregunta de recerca com apareixen reflectides les principals dimensions del cleavage centre perifèria en el discurs dels SNRP sobre immigració?, cadascun enfronta una de les dimensions amb l'objectiu de copsar com la identitat, la distribució territorial del poder, i el context econòmic apareixen en el discurs oficial dels SNRP. S'ha dut a terme comparacions aparellades de diferents SNRP de diversos contexts (Catalunya, Escòcia i Quebec) a través de l'anàlisi qualitativa del contingut de programes electorals, debats parlamentaris i altres documents. La tesi ofereix un major coneixement dels discursos dels SNRP en immigració i com les relacions centre-perifèria interfeixen en llurs construccions. ; La ...