To make a city. On democracy and participation in public space

Malmö has often been described as a segregated city, with relatively low democratic participation and high poverty and alienation. Behind this kind of statements we often find a material reality, with unequal distribution of assets and potentials that needs to be taken into consideration for political action. At the same time this categorisation of people into different groups can take stigmatising effects and result in increased inequality. I find the theoretical basis for my thesis in Lefebvre’s writings on “the right to the city”, that shortly means that all inhabitants of a city have the right to take active part in the constantly ongoing process of producing and reproducing the city – on all levels, from a hands-on everyday life level to a more abstract political level. With an interdisciplinary approach, where the right to the city is discussed in relation to citizenship, presence, representation and public space, I try to understand the connections between democracy, participation, justice and equality. These discussions are then applied to examples from Malmö; both publically initiated projects and individual physical markings in the city. The professional role and possibilities of (landscape) architects is also discussed. Parallel to the theoretical discussions, I also retell some of my experiences and thoughts from a practical attempt to implement some of the ideas of the right to the city. This was done through a workshop with 16-17 year olds – a workshop that (albeit small in extent) adds a lot to my thesis through practical lessons. Since the right to the city is formulated as a collective and not individual right, we cannot say to have implied it unless all citizens are included. Individual markings or joint actions from groups of individuals need instead to be seen as manifestations of a desired right to the city; as protests or attempts to create change. To increase democratic participation and equality (both material and political), we need to create better opportunities to interact with and in the city. Temporary uses of space could be a way of enhancing inclusion, as well as physical change that guide social change. Public space need to be seen as the key to democracy. Public initiatives can help but never replace a collective realisation of the right to the city. Keywords: democracy, justice, equality, right to the city, participation, public space, youth, Malmö, planning, landscape architectur

Safety in public urban spaces : discourses, power and possibilities to make a change

Women experience, in a vaster extent than men, unsafety in urban public spaces. This is a structural phenomenon, based on unequal power relations. The theoretical starting-point for my thesis is that how we choose to express ourselves shape the ways we can think about and understand society. In my thesis I study depictions of safety in six of Malmö city’s action plans and guidelines towards increased safety. I analyse depictions in order to see how these documents deal with women’s fear, and how gender, ethnicity and class can be constructed or reproduced through the safety discourses. I also discuss what possibilities to accomplish change these discourses have. I do so by observing underlying connections and discrepancies between how problems, causes and actions are depicted, and by examining what power relations these discourses are based on. In my thesis I find three major directions in the safety discourse: The safe, nice and exciting city, The dangerous city and The little inside the big city. All documents studied, are written in the purpose of increasing experienced safety, but only a few acknowledge structural inequalities. Also actions tend to be of both structural and individual character. I acknowledge the importance of analysing what (problem), why (causes) and how (actions) in order to accomplish the intended changes. I recognize a repeated lack of causes, which can lead to discrepancies between worded problems and actions. Only one of the documents studied clearly express all three levels of what – why – how. All studied documents are dominated by discourses that may reproduce unequal power relations (gender, class and ethnicity). By some discourses marginalized groups are at risk to be stigmatized, since the discourses acknowledge unequal power distribution, but don’t offer any possibilities to act. My conclusions are that a more clear analysis of power is necessary to accomplish change, and that the causes of the experienced unsafety must be further examined and more clearly presented in the document, in order to evaluate the effects of the actions

Challenges in top-down and bottom-up soft-linking: Lessons from linking a Swedish energy system model with a CGE model

This paper proposes and discusses a soft-linking procedure between a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and an energy system model with the aim to improve national energy policy decision-making. Significant positive and negative experiences are communicated. Specifically, the process of soft-linking the EMEC and TIMES-Sweden models is presented, and unlike previous work we rely on the use of multiple direction-specific connection points. Moreover, the proposed soft-linking methodology is applied in the context of a climate policy scenario for Sweden. The results display a partly new description of the Swedish economy, which when soft-linking, generates lower CO2-emissions in the reference scenario due to a decline in industrial energy demand. These findings point at the importance of linking bottom-up and top-down models when assessing national energy and climate policies

Best available technologies for the heat and cooling market in the European Union

Every year, over 40% of the total energy consumed in Europe is used for the generation of heat for either domestic or industrial purposes whereas the cooling demand is growing exponentially. The importance of the heat and cooling sector is underlined in the EU energy policy initiatives. This emphasize the role of technologies based on renewable energy sources combined with high-efficiency energy technologies, to meet the heat and cooling demand in Europe more sustainably in the future. In this context, the JRC led study, which was undertaken with two partners , to identify the current best available technologies (BATs) which can contribute to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the CO2 emission in the heat and cooling market in the EU.JRC.F.6-Energy systems evaluatio

Grandpaternal-induced transgenerational dietary reprogramming of the unfolded protein response in skeletal muscle

Objective: Parental nutrition and lifestyle impact the metabolic phenotype of the offspring. We have reported that grandpaternal chronic high-fat diet (HFD) transgenerationally impairs glucose metabolism in subsequent generations. Here we determined whether grandpaternal diet transgenerationally impacts the transcriptome and lipidome in skeletal muscle. Our aim was to identify tissue-specific pathways involved in transgenerational inheritance of environmental-induced phenotypes. Methods: F0 male Sprague–Dawley rats were fed a HFD or chow for 12 weeks before breeding with chow-fed females to generate the F1 generation. F2 offspring were generated by mating F1 males fed a chow diet with an independent line of chow-fed females. F1 and F2 offspring were fed chow or HFD for 12 weeks. Transcriptomic and LC-MS lipidomic analyses were performed in extensor digitorum longus muscle from F2-females rats. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to determine pathways reprogrammed by grandpaternal diet. Results: GSEA revealed an enrichment of the unfolded protein response pathway in skeletal muscle of grand-offspring from HFD-fed grandfathers compared to grand-offspring of chow-fed males. Activation of the stress sensor (ATF6α), may be a pivotal point whereby this pathway is activated. Interestingly, skeletal muscle from F1-offspring was not affected in a similar manner. No major changes were observed in the skeletal muscle lipidome profile due to grandpaternal diet. Conclusions: Grandpaternal HFD-induced obesity transgenerationally affected the skeletal muscle transcriptome. This finding further highlights the impact of parental exposure to environmental factors on offspring's development and health

Heat and Cooling Demand and Market Perspective

In order to fully understand the national potentials for cogeneration, it is essential to identify the existing and prospective demand of heat and cooling by sector. A study will be performed on a MS level to describe the demand of heat and cooling by different sectors (i.e. industrial, residential), demand types (different temperatures) and supply technologies. This work aims to analyze the current situation and future trends of heat and cooling demand in the EU, as well as, the use and availability of industrial. Within each sector the demand will be presented for different segments. The focus is to map the demand of heat and cooling on temperature intervals possible to be supplied by district heating, district cooling or CHP. In order to capture the characteristics of heat, heat is split into different types; space heating, warm water, cooking, and industrial heat. For cooling, space cooling is the main type applicable to district cooling.JRC.F.6-Energy systems evaluatio

Acute Exercise Remodels Promoter Methylation in Human Skeletal Muscle

SummaryDNA methylation is a covalent biochemical modification controlling chromatin structure and gene expression. Exercise elicits gene expression changes that trigger structural and metabolic adaptations in skeletal muscle. We determined whether DNA methylation plays a role in exercise-induced gene expression. Whole genome methylation was decreased in skeletal muscle biopsies obtained from healthy sedentary men and women after acute exercise. Exercise induced a dose-dependent expression of PGC-1α, PDK4, and PPAR-δ, together with a marked hypomethylation on each respective promoter. Similarly, promoter methylation of PGC-1α, PDK4, and PPAR-δ was markedly decreased in mouse soleus muscles 45 min after ex vivo contraction. In L6 myotubes, caffeine exposure induced gene hypomethylation in parallel with an increase in the respective mRNA content. Collectively, our results provide evidence that acute gene activation is associated with a dynamic change in DNA methylation in skeletal muscle and suggest that DNA hypomethylation is an early event in contraction-induced gene activation

Malonyl coenzymeA decarboxylase regulates lipid and glucose metabolism in human skeletal muscle

Objective: malonyl coenzyme A (CoA) decarboxylase (MCD) is a key enzyme responsible for malonyl-CoA turnover and functions in the control of the balance between lipid and glucose metabolism. We utilized RNA interference (siRNA)-based gene silencing to determine the direct role of MCD on metabolic responses in primary human skeletal muscle. Research design and methods: we used siRNA to silence MCD gene expression in cultured human myotubes from healthy volunteers (seven male and seven female) with no known metabolic disorders. Thereafter, we determined lipid and glucose metabolism and signal transduction under basal and insulin-stimulated conditions. Results: RNA interference-based silencing of MCD expression (75% reduction) increased malonyl-CoA levels twofold and shifted substrate utilization from lipid to glucose oxidation. RNA interference-based depletion of MCD reduced basal palmitate oxidation. In parallel with this reduction, palmitate uptake was decreased under basal (40%) and insulin-stimulated (49%) conditions compared with myotubes transfected with a scrambled sequence. MCD silencing increased basal and insulin-mediated glucose oxidation 1.4- and 2.6-fold, respectively, compared with myotubes transfected with a scrambled sequence. In addition, glucose transport and cell-surface GLUT4 content was increased. In contrast, insulin action on IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation, tyrosine-associated phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase activity, Akt, and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) phosphorylation was unaltered between myotubes transfected with siRNA against MCD versus a scrambled sequence. Conclusions: these results provide evidence that MCD silencing suppresses lipid uptake and enhances glucose uptake in primary human myotubes. In conclusion, MCD expression plays a key reciprocal role in the balance between lipid and glucose metabolism