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This thesis is about Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) practice in Sweden. Impact Assessment (IA) is expected to play a crucial role in enabling democratic and enlightened decision making. EIA practice seems however not to be in accordance with best IA practice norms and legislation in many countries. We therefore need a more thorough understanding of IA practice and its outcomes and about what is gained through EIA and thus also be able to suggest, on a more profound basis, how the practice can be improved. This thesis presents an analysis of the two cases EIA practice on cumulative effects and the final disposal for spent nuclear fuel. The methods and approaches used are qualitatively and include literature review, document analysis, individual interviews and focus group interviews. The results were analysed using social psychology theory and community of practice theory. The case of cumulative effects clearly demonstrated that a positive attitude towards including cumulative effects was in place, but the conditions to change the knowledge base were not. In the investigated case for a final disposal for spent nuclear fuel it was revealed that a shared practice and social learning over time might result in difficulties for the authority in mapping out a clear role and identity for itself in relation to the proponent. It also showed that the shared practice that has developed between the industry, and the competent authorities, has over time resulted in the adoption of a shared understanding and similar perspectives, concerning at least two points. The first concerns downgrading the need to more thoroughly investigate alternate technical methods to the main alternative, while the second concerns the need to avoid delays in the planning process. Communication and the shared practice that has developed over a long period of time, can have a significant and not necessarily positive impact on power relations and thus hamper knowledge production, diffusion of roles and identities.

"""Guiden till Spaniensverige"" (The Guide to Spanish-Sweden) is an ethnographic account on the mobilisation of a social community of Swedish migrants who otherwise belongs to the diverse networks of lifestyle migrants or resident tourists in Southern Spain. The book is based on interviews with people who are engaged in Scandinavian associations/clubs or in other ways involved in practices which are associated with a Swedish community in Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol, which are two main destinations for lifestyle migrants in Spain. In addition the analysis is based on the discursive material that the social clubs, and to some extent other organisations and networks, are using in the service to their members.
The book demonstrates how the practices of the large Scandinavian social clubs, but also other organisations like the Swedish church and some of the business associations, are operating at the locus of an ethnic and transnationalised form of community-making. The offering of a home-like social arena with social and cultural activities are privileging the Swedish language and the Swedish origin. This study concludes that the social practices employed by the clubs are guiding potential members to a social space in which preferably 'senior' Swedish migrants meet, socialise, and, to some extent, also consume in 'Swedish'. The book argues that the practices of the social clubs reveal the contours and infrastructure of a lifestyle diaspora in which a comfortable life in Spain – but in Swedish and with maintained relations with the Swedish society – is accentuated and given priority."

The evaluation of organizational climate is a critical factor in business management, and its importance is even greater in military higher education institutions, due to the high motivation and commitment expected from their members. However, research on this topic in Ecuador is scarce. The present study validates a scale to measure organizational climate in Ecuadorian military higher education institutions. The instrument proposed by Hernández, Garrido & Rico (2016) was applied to an intentional sample of 44 Military Engineering School (ESINGM) members. Its reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, obtaining values above 0.960, indicating high internal consistency. The dimensions of the organizational climate present in the institution were identified, and the results of the first-level statistical validation were presented. It is concluded that the scale is valid and reliable for measuring the organizational climate in this institution. In addition, this study contributes to the understanding of the organizational climate in military higher education institutions in Ecuador and may have implications for the management and improvement of educational quality in the context of higher education in Ecuador.

Adaptation research and practice too often overlooks the wider social context within which climate change is experienced. Mainstream approaches frame adaptation problems in terms of the consequences that flow from biophysical impacts and as a result, we argue, ask the wrong questions. A complementary approach gaining ground in the field, foregrounding the social, economic and political context, reveals differentiation in adaptation need, and how climate impacts interconnect with wider processes of change. In this paper, we illustrate how this kind of approach frames a different set of questions about adaptation using the case of Nepal. Drawing on fieldwork and a review of literature, we contrast the questions that emerge from adaptation research and practice that take climate risk as a starting point with the questions that emerge from examination of contemporary rural livelihoods. We find that while adaptation efforts are often centred around securing agricultural production and are predicated on climate risk management, rural livelihoods are caught in a wider process of transformation. The numbers of people involved in farming are declining, and households are experiencing the effects of rising education, abandonment of rural land, increasing wages, burgeoning mechanisation, and high levels of migration into the global labour market. We find the epistemological framing of adaptation too narrow to account for these changes, as it understands the experiences of rural communities through the lens of climate risk. We propose that rather than seeking to integrate local understandings into a fixed, impacts-orientated epistemology, it is necessary to premise adaptation on an epistemology capable of exploring how change occurs. Asking the right questions thus means opening up adaptation by asking: 'what are the most significant changes taking place in people's lives?', along with the more standard: 'what are the impacts of climate change?' Viewing adaptation as occurring between and within these two perspectives has the potential to reveal new vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptation practice to act upon.

Continued unsustainability and surpassed planetary boundaries require not only scientific and technological advances, but deep and enduring social and cultural changes. The purpose of this article is to contribute a theoretical approach to understand conditions and constraints for societal change towards sustainable development. In order to break with unsustainable norms, habits, practices, and structures, there is a need for learning for transformation, not only adaption. Based on a critical literature review within the field of learning for sustainable development, our approach is a development of the concept of transformative learning, by integrating three additional dimensions—Institutional Structures, Social Practices, and Conflict Perspectives. This approach acknowledges conflicts on macro, meso, and micro levels, as well as structural and cultural constraints. It contends that transformative learning is processual, interactional, long-term, and cumbersome. It takes place within existing institutions and social practices, while also transcending them. The article adopts an interdisciplinary social science perspective that acknowledges the importance of transformative learning in order for communities, organizations, and individuals to be able to deal with global sustainability problems, acknowledging the societal and personal conflicts involved in such transformation.

Nomadic pastoralism has thrived in Asia's rangelands for several millennia by tracking seasonal changes in forage productivity and coping with a harsh climate. This pastoralist lifestyle, however, has come under intense transformations in recent decades due to socio-political and land use changes. One example is of the high-altitude trans-Himalayan rangelands of the Jammu and Kashmir State in northern India: major socio-political reorganisation over the last five decades has significantly impacted the traditional pasture use pattern and resources. We outline the organizational transformations and movement patterns of the Rupshu pastoralists who inhabit the region. We demonstrate the changes in terms of intensification of pasture use across the region as well as a social reorganisation due to accommodation of Tibetan refugees following the Sino-Indian war in 1961 to 1962. We focus in particular on the Tso Kar basin - an important socio-ecological system of livestock herding and biodiversity in the eastern Ladakh region. The post-war developmental policies of the government have contributed to these modifications in traditional pasture use and present a threat to the rangelands as well as to the local biodiversity. In the Tso Kar basin, the number of households and livestock has almost doubled while pasture area has declined by half. These changes have potentially negative consequences for the long-term resilience of nomadic pastoralism as well as for the survival of rare local wildlife. To increase the pastoralist standard of living, having fewer pastoralists may be the only solution, and alternative livelihood options may bring this about. Development programmes should concentrate on enhancing opportunities for herders so that there is a greater diversity of employment opportunities and potentially better chances for the persistence of biodiversity.

Background: Agriculture is among the relevant factors for the formation of cities and it has been an integral part of city life throughout history. Despite the increase in population growth, urban agriculture can offer a unique opportunity for improving the livelihood of individuals through the practice of growing food in urban green spaces. Nevertheless, maintaining urban green spaces as part of the urban fabric presents a unique challenge in an environment where there is a shortage of housing and urban space is limited for development. Allotment gardens might be seen as compensation for the lack of green space and private gardens in cities, especially in dense urban areas. However, due to the long waiting list for renting out, not everyone can get access to growing locally cultivated food and other benefits, especially people who are less privileged and cannot afford private gardens. Objective: The aim of this thesis, therefore, was to design a proposal for urban green space, Ekebydalen, to show how to integrate allotment gardening with other social activities. Also, as an input to the proposal, the history of allotment gardens and the theory of sustainable wellbeing was reviewed, and local public participation was investigated. Method: Literature was extensively reviewed in an attempt to identify relevant studies and better understand the context and characteristics of allotment gardens from a social and environmental context, the change in its land use, and accessibility; all in the perspective of the general development of urban agriculture and specifically in allotment movement through history in Sweden. Moreover, Site observation was conducted in a purposely selected allotment garden, Ekebydalen, Uppsala city. Also, an online and paper-based self-administered cross-sectional survey was done among 40 participants. Result: 6 different allotment gardens were observed and characterized. Based on the case study (observation), the Ekebydalen allotment garden was chosen as the main site for further pro-posal development. (60%) of the respondents in the survey were middle-aged (30 -50 years old) women (77.5%), most of them with university education (88%) and Swedish background (90%). Despite the participants has reported living in close proximity to the gardens, around a fourth of them reported having waited for more than six months. Gardening and nature interest (100%), socializing (15%), food complement (62%), and maintaining wellbeing (65%) are the motivation for renting allotment gardens. Conclusion: This thesis argues that the economic and wellbeing values of allotment gardens are perceived as highly significant compared to the social benefit that is allegedly seen less. Nevertheless, the social value can be seen as equally important if integrated as an activity with other social activities in a city, especially in urban communities that don't have enough space for gardening and are caught in their busy lives. Moreover, a design strategy was proposed to show how the allotment garden can be integrated as an activity for cultivation and recreation use (Cultivation park). This thesis has also implied that policy support, institutional recognition, and strong political will from policymakers and planners are required to bring urban agriculture into city planning for improving the quality of life for the people living and working in cities.

Environmental assessment (EA) is intended to ensure that environmental issues, in a broad sense, are considered in decision making. EA is globally institutionalised through national and international legislation, policies and guidelines, and a field of practice. However, there is a gap between the expectations on EA presented in these regulatory and guiding documents and how it is addressed in practice. This thesis explores the reasons for this gap, focusing on EA practitioners' daily work. The aims of the research are development of theory and generation of new empirical knowledge about how EA practitioners think and act in their daily practice. At the heart of the research is the development of a conceptual framework, space for action, that centres on practitioners' possibilities for influencing practice. The two-dimensional framework is developed iteratively, through empirical and theoretical investigations. The empirical investigations centre on: challenges for practitioners from the multiple perspectives available to apply when deciding appropriate actions; how practitioners think and act when seeking possibilities to influence practice; and, the consultant's role in determining quality. The theoretical basis for the framework integrates and builds on earlier work by planning theorists and elements from frame theory. The first dimension in the framework concerns how practitioners decide on appropriate actions. This process restricts which perspectives practitioners decide to act on and argue for in practice and, subsequently, which perspectives that have potential to be addressed in EA. The second dimension concerns whether these suggestions for appropriate action are enacted and agreed upon in EA processes. These interactions restrict practitioners' possibilities of exerting influence on practice, in terms of both the actual scope of an EA, and how the issues and impacts included are addressed, hence influencing EA quality. The results reveal that these dimensions are important for understanding the gap between expectations of improvements and actual practice. They also reveal a need to recognise the evolving and multi-perspectival character of EA, together with opportunities for advancing the field of practice through critical reflection, reframing and multi-profession collaboration. Overall, this thesis contributes to understanding the important role of practitioners in shaping the field of practice, and provides a new theorisation that strengthens the practitioner focus in EA research.

Participatory processes are becoming widely established in areas such as policy and planning. They promise to achieve more inclusive, sustainable, and democratic outcomes. However, this is often only an ideal that is not achieved in reality due to dynamic power relations that shape planning practice in various forms. Moreover, planning contexts differ between countries, producing different power dynamics that affect participatory processes. Planners have an essential role in identifying and facilitating different power relations, so their role is often linked to guiding participatory planning processes towards more balanced outcomes. Yet, the issue of power is insufficiently addressed and analyzed in the planning literature of the Global North and the Global South. To contribute to the discussion on power in participatory planning in the Global South and beyond, this study investigated how planners understand and experience power in Latin America. Therefore, interviews with planners from Argentina, Bolivia, and Colombia were conducted. Their practice stories were analyzed by drawing on the framework of the three dimensions of power. After being introduced to the three dimensions of power, they could relate to the second and third dimensions of power to varying degrees through their practical experience. The planners' practice stories illustrate how power can be exercised differently in the three dimensions and in the interplay of these dimensions in participatory planning processes. The practice stories make less visible power exercises in the second and third dimensions in planning practice more visible. Thus, they provide practical examples for planners that can promote reflection and understanding of how power works in practice. Furthermore, the findings point to the importance of looking beyond the formal, invited spaces of participatory planning processes and considering exercises of power that take place outside of planning processes. Therefore, the value of this work is that it provides valuable insights ...

The objective behind this article is to study the proliferation of the politics of information technology (IT) in Sweden, 1994-2003, based on a discourse analysis. The article argues that the Swedish IT political discourse is characterised by a guiding rule according to which there exist an autonomous & inevitable historical path towards the "information society." Swedish citizens are defined as dependent subjects, without any means to influence the advent of this new society. Instead they have to comply with new requirements in terms of swift social adaptation & life-long learning. In addition, the IT-political discourse is distinguished by nationalist optimism, as well as democratic ambitions. This also gives rise to peculiar contradictions within the discourse, for instance in the educational arena where there is a clash between individualist pedagogical doctrines & collective compliance to the information society. The author concludes that Swedish IT politics have hitherto mainly focused on affecting definitions & perceptions through the persuasive use of a model of steering which the author labels "visionary governance," ie, the establishment of an authoritative definition of the future by certain experts or "visionaries." Discursive power within such a model consists in making all actors addressing the political issue unanimously. 24 References. Adapted from the source document.

This thesis investigates the deliberative potential in two communicative initiatives resulting from the 2001 government policy in Swedish nature conservation, A coherent nature conservation policy. The two initiatives, which constitute the empirical material in the thesis are, (1) a national competence development programme that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency ran 2008-2011, Dialogue for nature conservation, and (2) the nature interpretation at naturum, visitor centres at national parks and nature reserves. Data was generated through qualitative interviews with nature conservation administrators at county administrative boards; participant observation at dialogue courses and workshops with researchers and nature interpreters; video analysis of recorded nature interpretation sessions at naturums; documentation from naturum exhibitions; and document and literature studies. The thesis draws from critical theory and clarifies rationales behind communicative practices in nature conservation. The analysis shows that the communicative initiatives are dominated by the instrumental state rationality, circumscribing space for communicative rationality. The 2001 nature conservation policy emphasised communication, but the communicative initiatives did not sufficiently integrate democratic aspects. By identifying the role of meaning-making as a central phenomenon in a communicative process, the thesis indicates how to include democratic dimensions in communicative work. The theoretical contribution of the thesis draws from an analysis of modernity, nature alienation and reconciliation. In the thesis, naturum is identified as a communicative forum with an underdeveloped potential for reconciliatory activities, more precisely deliberations on nature in nature. The thesis contributes to the field of environmental communication through highlighting how communicative practices of nature conservation depend on both communication and materiality.

Whaling is a globally controversial topic, and Faroese drive-style whaling, grindadráp, is no exception. A complex common-pool resource (CPR) institution, viewable from multiple moral, social, economic and political viewpoints, grindadráp is a challenge to assess. Responding to calls to utilise more relationship-centred and multiperspectival approaches to studying CPRs, this article examines grindadráp utilising the theory of socio-cultural viability, which asserts diverse understandings of the world can be classified within a fourfold typology and that 'successful' institutions draw on all four social solidarities in dealing with challenges that arise. The analysis reveals how throughout grindadráp's history its place in Faroese society has been maintained through the enforcement of a largely egalitarian conceptualisation. However, in meeting various challenges around the distribution of meat, sustainability and killing methods, the institution has accepted solutions utilising alternative conceptualisations. It is this adaptability which has allowed grindadráp to remain a popular part of Faroese society, even as dependence on pilot whale meat has declined. The issue of toxins in pilot whale meat is found to be arguably the greatest threat to grindadráp, undermining the egalitarian foundations of the practice, the response to which is something that Faroese society is currently in the process of negotiation.

This paper reflex on the development of the concept of an Archaeology with the City, expanding the concepts of Archaeology in the City, of the City and for the City. Such new concept was developed within the scope Urban archeology projects in the City of São Paulo, in dialaogue with proposals from Sociomuseology, since most researches aimed at musealization of Archeology. Despite archaeology with the city being born from encounters between Urban archaeology and Sociomuseology, this path also brought up closer dialogues with Public and Collaborative archaeology, safeguarding the specificities of considering the city an Archaeological Site, as usual among archaeologists working with urban contexts. Thus, new challenges are posed to the practice of Archaeology with the City.