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This explorative study aims to gain more insight into Swedish-Iranians' purchase of second homes in Turkey. The study is based on 22 questionnaires (19 of them from owners and buyers), field observation, and participant observation. Motives behind owners' and buyers' purchases are: other Swedish-Iranian friends/relatives bought there; cultural proximity; absence of visa restriction for Iranian citizens; geographical proximity to Iran and relatives living in Iran; economic factors, including the low prices and costs and investment for retirement; and the climate. The respondents are well-integrated into Swedish society and have access to different types of resources which facilitate the purchase, but they also show the potential to partially become integrated socioculturally into their Turkish communities. A meaningful proportion of them are seriously planning to live permanently in Turkey after retirement, but the majority stay there for longer periods or semi-permanently. Despite some limitations, this study makes an important contribution to the area of diaspora second-home tourism and to the field of diaspora studies.

Indicators are widely used in climate variability and climate change assessments to simplify the tracking of complex processes and phenomena in the state of the environment. Apart from the climatic criteria, the snow indicators in ski tourism have been increasingly extended with elements that relate to the technical, operational, and commercial aspects of ski tourism. These non-natural influencing factors have gained in importance in comparison with the natural environmental conditions but are more difficult to comprehend in time and space, resulting in limited explanatory power of the related indicators when applied for larger/longer scale assessments. We review the existing indicator approaches to derive quantitative measures for the snow conditions in ski areas, to formulate the criteria that the indicators should fulfill, and to provide a list of indicators with their technical specifications which can be used in snow condition assessments for ski tourism. For the use of these indicators, a three-step procedure consisting of definition, application, and interpretation is suggested. We also provide recommendations for the design of indicator-based assessments of climate change effects on ski tourism. Thereby, we highlight the importance of extensive stakeholder involvement to allow for real-world relevance of the achieved results.

The paper examines the size, structure, distribution, dynamics, and use of Airbnb accommodation offer in 167 countries. Web-scrapping Airbnb website in fall 2018 and 2019 resulted in a datasets on 5.7 million listings, including 3.6 million active listings which have been rented out (reviewed) during the last year. Listings are divided into four groups based on types of properties and numbers of offers hosted by one platform user. The results show that the platform is most commonly used to rent out entire apartments by multi-hosts. The numbers of Airbnb listings in countries depend on the level of economic development and size of inbound tourism. One third of Airbnb supply is located in big cities, another one third near seacoasts. Airbnb offer grows most quickly in its relatively new markets, while in primary urban destinations of some European countries it is stable or decreases. The offer of professional hosts is growing more quickly than of peer-to-peer hosts. Differences in the frequency of use and prices of listings exaggerate the geographical unevenness in benefits and impacts of Airbnb activity. Airbnb supply is not a uniform segment of tourist accommodation and its effects on destinations should be considered in relation to territorial context.

Internet platforms, enabling short-term rental of private houses, are an increasingly important provider of tourist accommodation. The largest peer-to-peer accommodation platform is Airbnb. To date, most geographical studies on Airbnb investigated spatial patterns and effects of platform activity on large cities. This study attempts to expand the understanding of the role of Airbnb in various types of urban and non-urban tourism destinations. It employs Tourism Area Life Cycle model to investigate the differences in the quantity of peer-to-peer accommodation in destinations in various stages of their life cycles. Five Nordic countries are used as the study setting. A database of 61 thousand active non-hotel Airbnb listings is compared with statistical data obtained from national statistical institutions on regional (74 NUTS-3 regions) geographical scale. The results show that peer-to-peer rental supply and use is concentrated in destinations characterised by the quick increase in the number of tourist visits.

The rising number of homes and apartments rented out through Airbnb and similar peer-to-peer accommodation platforms cause concerns about the impact of such activity on the tourism sector and property market. To date, spatial analysis on peer-to-peer rental activity has been usually limited in scope to individual large cities. In this study, we take into account the whole territory of Spain, with special attention given to cities and regions with high tourist activity. We use a dataset of about 250 thousand Airbnb listings in Spain obtained from the Airbnb webpage, aggregate the numbers of these offers in 8124 municipalities and 79 tourist areas/sites, measure their concentration, spatial autocorrelation, and develop regression models to find the determinants of Airbnb rentals' distribution. We conclude that apart from largest cities, Airbnb is active in holiday destinations of Spain, where it often serves as an intermediary for the rental of second or investment homes and apartments. The location of Airbnb listings is mostly determined by the supply of empty or secondary dwellings, distribution of traditional tourism accommodation, coastal location, and the level of internationalization of tourism demand.

Internet platforms enabling the short-term rental of private homes are an increasingly important provider of tourist accommodation and a challenge for urban policy. Airbnb is frequently blamed for encouraging property owners to remove their homes from the permanent housing market, thus contributing to the gentrification and displacement of local residents. Empirical research on this topic has been mostly represented by qualitative or indirect quantitative studies, which focus on changes in housing availability rather than the actual population. In our study, we fill this gap by presenting a study of the city of Stockholm, using two sources of georeferenced data: information on properties offered for rent on the Airbnb platform and micro-data on individuals and properties derived from the national statistical office. We verify whether the high number of apartment rental offers on the Airbnb website contributes to the high number of apartments that became uninhabited during 2012–2016. Using both aspatial and spatial autoregressive models, we find that the platform expansion does have a significant effect on the number of emptied apartments, and thus conclude that the presence of Airbnb contributes to the process of touristification, understood as the replacement of permanent residents with non-permanent populations. This confirms that when analysing urban population change and the gentrification process, mobile populations should be considered. Context-aware multiscalar and relational approaches are needed to understand the interrelation between human mobility, housing markets and regulations, and transnational internet platforms.

This chapter brings together invited contributions from new and emerging academics with respect to their experiences and how publishing demands affect their careers and life, and vice versa. The provision of such experiences is important as it conveys the reality of publishing from a real-world context with respect to the pressures we face, especially when starting on the academic ladder. Authors were given a broad scope with respect to their contributions and the results are provided with only very minor editing. They have also been presented anonymously, or rather collectively, because although there are clearly different perspectives, emphasises, and interpretations, there are also commonalities in the contributors’ experiences. Nevertheless, as the reader will see, there are a number of common themes that emerge. Following the perspectives of the different contributions the chapter will discuss some of the main issues that emerge and their implications, including some of the darker aspects of the pressures of publishing.

This paper constructs a theoretical framework that explains how exposure to entrepreneurial activities impacts start-ups’ survival. First, this study examines the effects of entrepreneurial capital (EC)–inherited entrepreneurial practices from parents as a result of the exposure to entrepreneurial activities, on the survival of start-ups. Second, it examines the effects of EC across firm types (family and non-family firm) and regions (smaller and larger region). Using a sample of start-ups in 2002 in Sweden, we found first that EC influences the survival of start-ups, especially start-ups in smaller regions. Further, we found that EC conditions the survival of family start-ups. This paper adds to the literature by opening the discussions on the survival of start-ups and EC. We provide policy implications thereafter.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of immigration on the labour market outcomes of low-educated natives (i.e. residents without a university diploma). Using the labour market competition theory, which argues that the labour market effects of natives depend on the skill set of immigrants, the paper addresses whether immigrants are complementary to or substitutes for native workers.

Design/methodology/approach: Longitudinal matched employer–employee data on Sweden are used to estimate how low-educated natives, in regions experiencing the greatest influx of refugees from the Balkan wars, responded to this supply shock with regard to real wages, employment and job mobility between 1990 and 2003.

Findings: First, the analysis shows that low-educated native workers respond to the arrival of immigrants with an increase in real wages. Second, although employment prospects in general worsened for low-skilled workers in most regions, this is not attributable to the regions experiencing the largest supply shock. Third, there are indications that low-skilled natives in immigration-rich regions are more likely to change workplace, particularly in combination with moving upwards in the wage distribution.

Originality/value: Rather than seeing an emergence of the commonly perceived displacement mechanism when an economy is subject to a supply shock, the regional findings suggest that high inflows of immigrants tend to induce a mechanism that pulls native workers upwards in the wage distribution. This is important, as the proportion of immigrants is seldom evenly distributed within a nation.

Our book chapter examines the effects of family co-occurrence (i.e. the presence of familial relationships inside a firm, including between co-workers and between employees and the owner) on firm productivity. Analysing a set of Swedish firms over the 1995–2012 period, we find a positive and significant relationship between family co-occurrence and firm productivity. This positive relationship is particularly evident in smaller regions characterized by a more specialized industry mix. When looking at the specific case of family co-occurrence involving familial relationships with firm owners, we find that the positive productivity effect of familial relationships with firm owners varies depending on the type of family tie. While familial co-occurrence involving partners or spouses is positive and abates the negative effects of employees having very similar or very diverse skills (e.g. based on education), family co-occurrence involving siblings is pretty much non-existent. In sum, our findings suggest that family co-occurrence in workplaces does influence productivity and that the positive or negative impact of familial relationships on productivity is contingent on the type of family tie, the family members’ skills, and the regional context.

Recent large investments in northern Sweden connected to the green transition – primarily within mining and manufacturing (fossil-free steel, batteries) – have led to substantial increases in local demand for labour. In a territory with low unemployment and a decreasing labour supply due to ageing and a history of net outmigration, there is a substantial risk that this increased labour demand will, particularly in the short term, draw at least to some extent from the public sector.

Against this backdrop, the chapter examines the dynamic effects of employment expansion in the mining and manufacturing industries on public sector employment in northern Sweden during the period 1990–2019. It also analyses which factors affect the probability of a worker leaving the public sector for a job in manufacturing or mining.

Our results suggest that the expansion of manufacturing and, in particular, mining has a negative short-term effect on public sector employment. The largest effect is attributable to poaching from public administration, with education and health less affected. Assuming a linear trend based on previous labour market interdependencies, a three standard deviation increase in mining (about 2,700 new jobs) and manufacturing (about 10,800 new jobs) could potentially lead to 8% of the current public administration workforce being poached. The results also indicate that younger individuals, low- and high-income earners, and those highly educated in the social or technical sciences are the most likely to leave the public sector. In the longer perspective, these vacancies go on to be filled by skilled but inexperienced workers.

A number of policy implications arise from the above findings. First, given the regional dimension of job mobility, policy-makers should consider how large investments influence the other parts of a regional economy, rather than simply attending to the immediate demands of focal industries. Second, while the poaching of public sector employees will inevitably occur, the functioning of the public sector also hinges on the supply of workers entering the labour market. There is therefore a pressing need to bolster the status of key public sector jobs and improve working conditions, thereby ensuring they are regarded as viable career opportunities when mining and manufacturing expands. The public sector should also ensure that it is in a position to attract and retain workers crowded out of the mining and manufacturing in the event of future rationalisation. Third, general policy interventions may not serve local needs, especially the spatial mismatch of available jobs and supply of workers. Support for relocation tailored to local demands is therefore crucial.

This article examines the impact of establishing a large industrial manufacturing entity on employment and the labor market in a remote, sparsely populated part of Sweden, focusing on how it affects total regional employment because industrial policies aiming to attract investment and reignite employment in stagnating regions have been a central policy tool. The empirical analysis is based on the synthetic control method, which enables the estimation of place-specific causal effects. Using aggregated microdata from 1995 to 2019, the results indicate that employment in the treated region, as compared to synthetic regions, has been negatively affected by the manufacturing establishment. However, the short- and long-term effects differ across different labor market segments (same, related, and unrelated industries) and according to firm size. Overall, the findings suggest that large manufacturing investment does not necessarily have a positive or instantaneous impact on total regional employment. It does, however, provide some potential for long-term diversification because employment in related activities grows in the long run.

A previous publication advocated for integrating decolonial perspectives as a transversal principle to the practice and progress of economic geography (Morales, 2024). In this paper, we propose tools to achieve this goal, highlighting the opportunities that the expansion and diversification of the subdiscipline presents for doing so, anecdotally, we observe increased representation of women and individuals from diverse backgrounds at major conferences, in graduate schools, and as early career researchers (we are yet to witness such diversification at more advanced career stages). This presents a great opportunity to expand our theorisations, engage with different expertise and backgrounds, and learn from different geographies. However, diversifying the pool of economic geographers is not enough, we need to challenge, revise, and transform the structures, practices, and ideologies that have perpetuated colonial legacies in the areas of theory, curriculum and pedagogy, methodology, and the dissemination of research, in both education and practice. This may be an uncomfortable and lengthy, but necessary task. Here we propose some ideas on how to start.

Med utgångspunkt i perspektivet att ekonomisk utveckling i grund och botten är betingat på de kompetenser som används i produktionen av varor och tjänster, har denna rapport analyserat skogsnäringarnas utveckling i Västernorrland 2002-2015 med avseende på sysselsättning, antal arbetsgivare och arbetsinkomster. Särskilt fokus ligger på hur Västernorrlands skogsindustri är kopplad till övriga delar av näringslivet i form av det humankapital som de delar med varandra. Detta görs empiriskt genom analyser av regionens skill-relatedness, det vill säga flöden av arbetskraft mellan sektorer i regionen, för att grafiskt visa i vilken grad olika sektorer är relaterade till varandra. Utifrån argumentet att humankapital är en central resurs för regional utveckling låter vi data visa hur regionens skogsnäringar är kopplade till övriga näringslivet, och därigenom belysa branschöverskridande relationer bortom gängse föreställningar om kopplingar drivna av det officiella industriklassificeringssystemet. 

Även om inkomstutvecklingen och andelen kvinnor i Västernorrland följer riksgenomsnittet har både antalet företag och sysselsatta utvecklats betydligt sämre i Västernorrland. Generella utbildningsnivån har ökat både i riket och i regionen, men Västernorrland har generellt en lägre utbildningsnivå. Skogsnäringarna i Västernorrland bryter delvis mot detta generella regionala mönster. Både antalet sysselsatta och antalet arbetsställen inom skogsnäringarna har kraftigt minskat i antal och tvärtemot regionens generella utveckling har också andelen högutbildade (med minst treårig universitetsexamen) minskat liksom andelen kvinnor. Trots dessa kraftiga rationaliseringar på personalsidan är utvecklingen för skogsnäringarna inom Västernorrland betydligt mindre negativ än för riket i övrigt. Det gäller framförallt inkomstnivåerna bland de anställda. Inkomstnivåerna i Sveriges skogsnäring har sjunkit i relativa termer men ökat med drygt 20% i Västernorrland och ligger 2015 på en något högre nivå än övriga näringar i regionen. Det kan i sin tur tyda på en positiv omvandling mot mer kvalificerade arbetstillfällen, även om det också inneburit kraftiga rationaliseringar. 

För att belysa hur skogsnäringarna är inbäddade i regionens struktur av kompetenser har vi kartlagt graden av specialisering (hur representerad en industri är i regionen relativ i riket), graden av relatedness(hur väl en industri är kopplad till andra industrier genom personalflöden), och graden av inbäddning (förekomsten av andra industrier i regionen som delar liknande kompetensresurser). När det gäller den relativa närvaron av skogsnäringar i regionen utifrån antalet sysselsatta finner vi att ingen av skogsnäringarna har en betydande relativ specialisering i Västernorrland. Det är endast tillverkning av wellpapp och pappers- och pappförpackningar som har en specialiseringsgrad över 1 (dvs högre än riksgenomsnittet). Det innebär med andra ord att trots ett relativt högt bidrag till regionalt förädlingsvärde och skatter är näringarna underrepresenterade på regionens arbetsmarknad. Det återspeglas bland annat i den relativt kraftiga minskningen av sysselsatta och arbetsställen vi identifierat (och som pågått långt innan den period denna rapport analyserar) men också den relativt kraftiga ökningen av inkomster (högre än riksgenomsnittet för skogsnäringarna och i paritet med regionen i övrigt). Skogsnäringarna har med andra ord genomfört produktivitetshöjande rationaliseringar vilket i sig kan gynna regionen.

Utifrån vårt analytiska ramverk är det dock aningen mer problematiskt att de relativt få arbetsgivarna inom skogsnäringarna också är relativt isolerade i regionen utifrån ett kompetensresursperspektiv. Det är endast tillverkning av andra byggnads- och inredningssnickerier, skogsförvaltning, drivning och pappers- och papptillverkning som har en genomsnittlig koppling till andra näringar i regionen över gränsvärdet för en kompetensrelaterad verksamhet. Detta återspeglas också i hur inbäddad skogsnäringen är utifrån den relativa koncentrationen av kompetensrelaterade verksamheter. Det är endast ovan nämnda fyra näringar som är tydligt inbäddade i regionens näringslivsstruktur, och endast två (pappers- och papptillverkning och tillverkning av byggnads- och inredningssnickerier) som har ett inbäddningsindex över regionens medelvärde. Det innebär att skogsnäringarna generellt är relativt perifera när vi pratar om vilka kompetensresurser skogsnäringen delar med övriga regionen. Dock är teknisk konsultverksamhet direkt eller indirekt relaterat till flertalet skogsnäringar, vilket kan peka på ökade tekniknivåer och ökat behov av tekniska specialistkunskaper. Även om företag kan kompensera för en svag regional inbäddning genom utomregionala nätverk, innebär framförallt en svag inbäddning att det kan vara svårare för arbetskraften att finna nya produktiva uttryck för sina kompetenser i regionen vid framtida rationaliseringar. Det i sin tur kan driva på utflyttning till andra regioner.

Utifrån en smart specialiseringsagenda drar vi slutsatsen att policyinsatser bör verka för att öka graden av inbäddning för regionens nyckelindustrier då det kan underlätta en framgångsrik omvandling som bygger på regionens redan existerande kompetensresurser. 

Vuxna bör följa uppmaningen från ungdomarna i Fridays for future-rörelsen och protestera eftersom det politiska ledarskapet är otillräckligt. Omfattande och långvariga påtryckningar från hela samhället behövs för att få de politiskt ansvariga att utöva det ledarskap som klimatkrisen kräver, skriver 171 forskare i samhällsvetenskap och humaniora.

Social media platforms have the potential to influence destination choice among potential travellers.Before potential travellers embark on a trip, they are faced with decision-making processes on whereto go, what to do, the best time to go, how to get there among other things. These pre-travel planning decisions can be influenced by their expectation of the experiences they will encounter at the destination and based on their perception of the destination. Their perception of destinations isusually informed by information found on social media platforms or passed on by family and friendswho have encountered similar travel experiences. Using Crompton’s model of destination choice set,this study explores the roles of social media platforms on destination choice among international students in the Umea university.

With the threat of a climate disaster and the shortage of electricity during the first half of 2023, there is an increased need for more clean and renewable energy, such as wind power. However, the implementation of wind power plants in Sweden is far from easy, with different levels of government, plenty of different groups with different interests and an imposing physical form, the implementation of wind power is bound to bring on discussion and conflicts by the local residents.

This paper explores how five municipalities in the Swedish north work with wind power establishment and what obstacles and opportunities the planners see in the inclusion of public opinion and social acceptance, where voices regarding the deterioration of their sense of place and the handling of the planning process often are raised. The result shows the complex nature of wind power planning from planners perspective, but also reveals tools and perspectives that can prove useful for future plans to gain social acceptance and create an easier pathway for a carbon neutral Sweden.

The aim of this essay is to study population change in tourism intensive mountain municipalities. Then to investigate whether center displacement takes place from the municipality center to the area with growing tourism. Areas of growing tourism have in this study been delimited to ski resorts. To answer the study’s purpose and questions, both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used. Population statistics have been used to explain population change in Swedish mountain municipalities. Population statistics showed that there are four mountain municipalities that have a shrinking population in the municipality and in the municipality center, while there is a ski resort with population growth in the municipality. These mountain municipalities are Dorotea, Malung-Sälen, Storuman and Härjedalen. Interviews with officials from these municipalities have been used as a complement to analyze the findings from the population statistics. The result of the interviews shows that the ski resorts have characteristics of being so-called ‘center’ with reference to the center-periphery model. At the same time, it also appears that the informants do not think that it is possible to talk about any tourism-driven center displacement. At least not with regard to public service. The municipality house will be remain located where it is today. Based on the given results, this essay conclude that ski resorts should be regarded as commercial centers and that the municipality center is the public center. From this aspect this study also conclude that there is possible to talk about a patriell center displacement from the municipality center to the ski resorts. Which, based on this study, is explained as commercial. The study also conclude that the commercial supply is dependent on the tourist visitors and those who work on the ski resorts, where the result shows that much of those who live in the ski resorts work in the touristindustry. In this way, the commercial center displacement also becomes tourism-driven.

This qualitative study explores the factors influencing safety and security in Ersboda from the perspective of individual residents. By focusing on the thoughts and experiences of seven inhabitants, the aim is to gain deeper insights into the challenges and opportunities facing the area. Safety and security are vital elements in creating an environment where residents can live and thrive without fear or worry. Considering these aspects, the study seeks to enhance understanding of how quality of life in Ersboda can be improved. Additionally, the research aims to delve into the social dynamics and perceived safety within the community. Through qualitative methods such as interviews, the study provides a platform for residents to express their views, experiences, and concerns, which can inform and shape future efforts to enhance safety and security in Ersboda. 

Drawing on qualitative interviews with residents, the study reveals a significant variation in opinions regarding safety and security in the area, highlighting the subjective and complex nature of these concepts. While some respondents view safety as a feeling of freedom and stability, others emphasize the importance of actual protective measures such as police presence and surveillance cameras. Commonly, residents stress the significance of community spaces and social connections in fostering a sense of security. Additionally, the study explores the prevalence of social unrest, particularly among youth, and its impact on the perceived safety of the neighborhood. The findings underscore the role of technology, media representation, and community collaboration in addressing safety concerns. Overall, the study offers insights into the multifaceted nature of safety and security in Ersboda and provides recommendations for enhancing community well-being and safety measures. 

This study aims to generate increased understanding for, and to portray, the mobile lifestyle vanlife by examining motives, obstacles and potential consequences of this particular lifestyle. 

The study was conducted using qualitative method. The selection of study participants was aimed towards people who own or have owned a mobile home and lives or have lived in it periodically at the least. The selection was interviewed through semi structured interviews, and the empiric material was analyzed using thematic analysis. 

The results show that vanlife can be seen as a form of voluntary simplicity because it’s a minimalistic lifestyle both in terms of resource- and energy consumption and because of the simpler dwelling. Vanlife can also be seen as a form of lifestyle migration because of the great importance of the destination to people within vanlife, but also because they can move to these places whenever they feel due to the flexible mobility of their homes. 

The strongest motive is freedom in various aspects – such as freedom to travel but also financial freedom. Another strong motive is the feeling of belonging to a community. The opinions about the environmental impact of the lifestyle are divided among the participants, but some testify of negative impacts on local environments. Cold weather and safety concerns are some of the obstacles to vanlife, and a feeling of not belonging anywhere are one of the consequences. Additionally, vanlifers don’t want to be confused with people living at traditional camping grounds. 

This study aims to examine and compare the representations of the colonial era in history textbooks from Uganda and Sweden to broaden the understanding of colonial discourses. Utilizing critical discourse analysis (CDA), it seeks to uncover and emphasize the variations in colonial discourse between the two countries. Findings reveal a nuanced portrayal of colonial history in Ugandan textbooks, characterized by complex and conflicting relationships between colonizers and the colonized, yet heavily patriarchal and overlooking women’s experiences. On the other hand, Swedish textbooks present a stereotypical and dualistic portrayal of colonizers’ cruelty and colonized inferiority. A potential implication from the analysis is that these different representations could impact students’ perspectives and identities, at both individual and societal levels.

During recent years green energy has been spoken about a lot, especially whether we have access to it or not and how we should solve the accessibility problem if so. One thing is for sure, whether we aim to rely on green energy or energy production through fossil fuels we are soon running low, at least according to the predictions. 

Sweden have had an increasing electricity production from wind energy during the last decade and it is not seeming to slow down. However, if one looks at the energy needed until the year of 2040 one can quite fast realize that the development of energy production facilities must speed up even more. On the other hand, we need to do it in a sustainable way, not compromising other national and public interests. To facilitate this, Energimyndigheten in cooperation with Naturvårdsverket have published a strategy called Nationell strategi för en hållbar vindkraft (National strategy for a sustainable wind power) in which they suggest further regionalization to be carried out by the county administrative board. 

Against this background, this analysis investigates the municipalites of Skellefteå, Lycksele and Robertsfors in the county of Västerbotten to find opposing interests to the establishment of windfarms. The analysis is carried out using Geographical information systems (GIS) in which second-hand data is being analyzed through an overlay analysis.  The results indicate that environmental values such as biodiversity etc. and national interests regarding reindeers and Sami are most common in all the municipalities. Also, all the municipalities are considered to have quite good conditions to meet the regional development needs of wind power in the county of Västerbotten. However, further examination of the conditions must be done to determine this. Many interests have a claim on the land use in all the municipalities.

This analysis is a first step to regionalize (municipality level) the national strategy and from my point of view a helpful basis for the municipalities to update their comprehensive plan regarding wind energy. This is necessary to get a sustainable development and to meet the regional development needs of wind energy in Västerbotten county. 

This thesis has examined and compared physical accessibility to primary care facilities, or health centers, in two rural regions, one located in Sweden, and one located in Norway. The study areas are Västerbotten county in Sweden, and Nordland county in Norway. The analysis has been conducted via a service area analysis in ArcGIS, where the relative distance in terms of travel time to the health center determines accessibility. Good accessibility is defined as less than an hour of total travel time, including the return journey. Overall, accessibility is good in both study areas with around 95% of the population having good accessibility, while a vast majority of people live within five minutes one way to the nearest health center. However, there is a difference between the two study areas, where the Västerbotten population generally has better accessibility than their Norwegian counterpart. These differences are despite the fact that Nordland has almost double the amount of health centers that Västerbotten has. Overall, these differences appear to primarily be due to differences in population pattern, which in turn can be seen as a part of the difference in regional policy between the two countries, although it is hard to pinpoint the full effect that regional policy has on primary care accessibility. 

This thesis aimed to investigate and describe the influence that certain socioeconomical, demographical, and geographical variables had on the election results for the three parliamentary party groups in the 2018 Swedish parliamentary election on the municipal level. The study also aimed to compare the difference in effect of the variables between two different geographical study areas: Norrland and the Greater Stockholm area. The study has been conducted via a regression analysis. 

The results indicated that income, education, population density and average age all have a noticeable influence on the election results for the different party blocks. Income was the factor with the overall largest influence on the election result. There was a difference in influence from different variables between the three different party blocks. The study also found that there was a difference in effect between Norrland and Greater Stockholm. Certain variables had more of an effect in Norrland, and vice-versa. Most notably, income and average age had the opposite effect in Norrland compared to Greater Stockholm. The reason for this is not clear, but differences in culture between the study areas may provide an explanation.

Abstract In this study the author conducts a content analysis on the Dreamhack Summer website to examine which stakeholder is the most important to the event and to examine what kind of event Dreamhack Summer is. An analysis on how Dreamhack Summer balances local and global stakeholders is conducted. The material for this paper is gathered through coding of various keywords and identification of themes on the Dreamhack Summer website. The result of the content analysis shows a stakeholder focus on global stakeholders and the further analysis and discussion concludes that Dreamhack Summer as an event is managed as a mix of official and private via their ownership to the Saudi Arabian government which proves the difficulty in finding a conclusive answer to authors posed questions.

Increasing diversification, urbanization, economic restructuring, and distances, as well as declining economic dependence on forestry, are changing the characteristics of forest ownership and the conditions for environmental governance. Through an interview-based case study of Swedish forestry industrial actors, this article examined the organizational and governing aspects and implications of recent shifts by exploring the strategies and marketing/governing technologies of private/industrial forestry organizations. With a focus on local implementation, this study shows that forest owners are largely constructed, and engaged, as consumers (rather than, for example, as timber suppliers) and are governed, partly at a distance, through specific forms of guidance, technologies, and knowledge to overcome the lack of social and physical presence in the design and interaction of sale. This stresses the need to understand the role, function, and power of the forestry organizations and sales processes in research on environmental and forest policy implementation on multiple levels.