Suchergebnisse

In Swedish national transport policy is freight transport regarded as a major facilitator for economic development on all geographical levels. At the same time it is noted that methods and data on business location and transportation is not adequate in order to follow-up transport policy objectives. This paper reports on a pilot study on the potential to develop accessibility measures to support and follow up policy objectives in Swedish context. The concept of accessibility and its practical use in concrete measures is discussed and problematized. A number of practical examples from Region Västra Götaland are used as illustrations. In terms of results the study identifies a number of potentials and limitations of using accessibility measures for freight transport issues. The usefulness is mainly driven by the integration capability of transport and land-use. This opens up for more complex questions and measures and thus supports the integration between planning specialisations. Limitations are to a large extent related to data availability and quality and to the degree of which models are possible to communicate to non-experts. The concluding discussion highlights how the policy and governance context is key in understanding how to best utilise the potential strengths of the accessibility concept and measures.

This paper presents a currently running research project, which aims at exploring potential geographical and discursive shifts in regional cultural policy in Sweden. The backdrop against which these shifts are understood is that of globalization processes, understood as parallel processes of internationalization and decentralization in political-administrative organization. Two regional experiments, Region Skåne and Region Västra Götaland, carried out since the 1990's, constitute the comprehensive case studies of the project. Within both regions, two municipalities and two cultural activities have also been selected for the project. By analyzing strategic documents and by interviewing key agents in the cultural policy field in the two regions and four municipalities, the construction of regional identity is explored. In this process of construction, the relations between strategy and implementation, centre and periphery and formal and informal agents are highlighted.

In recent decades, various strategic approaches to spatial planning have been introduced and implemented in Sweden, although the planning system itself has not fundamentally changed. However, strategic spatial planning is not a fixed and regulated institutional practice in either planning in general or in the Swedish planning system. To investigate strategic planning practice in Sweden, 16 recently approved comprehensive plans were studied to elucidate how strategic planning is understood and conceptualized by planners and then expressed in a statutory planning instrument. Although there is no 'right theory' of strategic planning, to avoid an 'anything-goes' attitude towards strategic planning, the contents of the studied plans were set against an ideal, normative model compiled from the academic debate, thus researching practice in dialogue with theory. The results indicate that comprehensive plans, rather than being contextually embedded, follow generic models of environmental scanning and strategy making, and most visions reiterate common political goals and slogans found everywhere. The plans often become catalogues of detailed instructions that, although not legally binding, tend to steer practice into predefined paths framed by generic doctrines within the planning community, rather than being the flexible and open-minded planning instruments that academic ideals prescribe. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. ; open access

This paper outlines the state-of-the-art of the furniture industry in relation to circular economy while highlighting policies, initiatives, actors, opinions and scenarios. It has emerged that several initiatives exist but also divergent options on future sustainable development paths. Therefore, recommendations are offered for the industry by pointing at some potential opportunities to progress in its "circular journey". This report was developed during the "Framtidsscenarier för cirkulära möbelflöden" project that was funded by Västra Götaland Regional Council. The document should be read in connection with the project final report (RISE Report 2021:55).