Informella sittplatser i det offentliga stadsrummet

This thesis is about informal seatings, those which are planned to merge into the city core environment and to supply a flexible public space. The thesis discusses how a diverse range of elements could result in different functions and social meanings. These are illustrated with visual examples and conceptual drawings. The position of the seating in a small public place is important, as well as its location in the city. Furthermore, the detail design of the seating, such as the form and dimensions have to be considered in order to create an informal seating appropriate for the user. This leads to the broad scope of this thesis which deals with the small scale - how the seatings can create a good environment in a small place; and the big scale - how a site can influence the city. This thesis suggests the physical design of some informal seatings and also investigates how these seatings can strengthen the place through their function and how they relate to their surroundings. This includes an analysis of what attracts people to the site, such as what facilities are close by and how the microclimate can affect the orientation of the seatings. The site of my proposal is currently used as a parking lot on Stora Gråbrödersgatan, situated in the city centre of Lund.Detta arbete handlar om de informella sittplatserna, vilka är de som är planerade för att smälta in i den centrala stadsmiljön för att ge en flexibilitet i utnyttjandet av det offentliga rummet. Diskussion förs kring hur olika faktorer kan påverka deras funktion och sociala betydelse. Detta visas med bildexempel och konceptskisser. Placering av sittplatsen på den lilla platsen är en viktig aspekt, men platsens placering i staden måste också tas i beaktning. Likaså är måttsättning av den informella sittplatsen en detalj som påverkar användningen. Därför sträcker sig arbetet från den lilla skalan i form av hur en sittplats kan skapa förutsättningar på en liten plats - till den stora skalan i form av hur en plats kan påverka en stad. Arbetet resulterar i ett förslag som fokuserar på informella sittplatser - men rymmer även faktorer som påverkar den lilla platsens attraktion, eftersom det hänger samman med hur sittplatserna blir använda. Ett skissförslag görs på vad som idag är en parkeringsplats längs med Stora Gråbrödersgatan, en central plats i Lund

Early postglacial hunter-gatherers show environmentally driven “false logistic” growth in a low productivity environment

Studies that employ probability distributions of radiocarbon dates to study past population size often use exponential increase in radiocarbon dates with time as a standard of comparison for detecting population fluctuations. We show that in the case of early postglacial interior Scandinavia, however, the summed probability distribution of radiocarbon dates has best fit with a S-shaped logistic growth curve. Despite the logistic growth model having solid grounding in ecological theory, we further argue that what our data indicate is not logistic growth in the population ecological sense but “false logistic” growth that mainly follows from climatic and environmental forcing. In the initial postglacial phase, 9500–7500 BCE, human settlement was located almost exclusively along the Scandinavian Atlantic coast and the use of the mountainous interior remained low. Thereafter the formation of separate inland adaptations resulted in population growth in tandem with increasing climatic warming and environmental productivity. Some millennia later, when environmental productivity started to decrease after the Holocene Thermal Maximum, hunter-gatherer population size in interior Scandinavia reached a plateau that lasted at least 2000 years. Lowering productivity prevented any population growth that would be detectable in the available archaeological record.Peer reviewe

Marching Intersections: An Efficient Approach to Shape-from-Silhouette

A new shape-from-silhouette algorithm for the creation of 3D digital models is presented. The algorithm is based on the use of the Marching Intersection (MI) data structure, a volumetric scheme which allows ef\ufb01cient representation of 3D polyhedra and reduces the boolean operations between them to simple boolean operations on linear intervals. MI supports the de\ufb01nition of a direct shape-from-silhouette approach: the 3D conoids built from the silhouettes extracted from the images of the object are directly intersected to form the resulting 3D digital model. Compared to existing methods, our approach allows high quality models to be obtained in an ef\ufb01cient way. Examples on synthetic objects together with quantitative and qualitative evaluations are given

Biologisk overvåking i Vannområde Leira-Nitelva 2014

Som en del av overvåkingen av vassdragene Nitelva og Leira med tilløpsbekker ble NIVA bedt om å kartlegge økologisk tilstand ved hjelp av de biologiske kvalitetselementene begroingsalger (PIT/AIP), vannplanter (TIc) og bunndyr (ASPT/Raddum2) på 24 utvalgte lokaliteter. For eutrofiering/organisk belastning er den generelle trenden en økende grad av eutrofi nedover i begge vassdrag. I Nitelva når to av syv stasjoner målet om god eller svært god økologisk tilstand, mens tilsvarende tall for Leira er bare en av 17 stasjoner. Sammenliknet med årene 2008-2010 ses ingen store endringer i eutrofigrad ved denne undersøkelsen i 2014, men vi ser en svak trend mot dårligere tilstand i nedre deler av Leira inkludert enkelte tilløpsbekker. Stasjonene SOG og BØL i vassdragene hadde i 2014 et bunnsubstrat som var mer dominert av sand og silt enn tidligere år, noe som tyder på en økt tilførsel av erosjonsmateriale fra aktiviteter i nedbørfeltet. Når det gjelder vassdragsavsnitt som har en unaturlig lav pH er det kun to stasjoner øverst i vassdragene (L12 og RO) som ikke når målet om god eller svært god økologisk tilstand (begge fikk i 2014 moderat tilstand). Det er en generell trend at vannkvaliteten mht pH har blitt bedre nedover i begge vassdragene Leira og Nitelva. Sammenliknet med årene 2008-2010 ser vi ingen store endringer i pH situasjonen.Vannområde Leira-Nitelv

Brown bear predation on semi-domesticated reindeer and depredation compensations

The recovery and conservation of large carnivores can negatively impact the economy of traditional pastoralist societies, including indigenous reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) herding communities. Quantifying the magnitude of predation on livestock is critical to evaluating governmental carnivore compensation schemes. We collaborated with two Sami herding communities in northern Sweden (2010-2012) to examine brown bear (Ursus arctos) predation patterns on semi-domesticated reindeer and quantify the economic impact of bear predation. Predation patterns were estimated by following 21 GPS proximity-collared bears and similar to 2500 transmitter-collared female reindeer during calving season. We calculated economic impact by multiplying the monetary value of reindeer by the expected number lost to bears. On average, bears killed 10.2 [8.6, 11.5] calves per bear, accounting for 39-62% of all calf mortality, while few adult reindeer were killed. Bear kill rates increased with time spent in the calving area, and varied widely by individual and reproductive status, e.g., females with cubs-of-the-year did not kill calves. Kill intervals increased over the parturition season, and were larger for sub-adults than adults. The mean reindeer calf predation rate was 16-27%, which resulted in an annual loss between similar to(sic)50,000 and similar to(sic)62,000 per herding group. Current compensation schemes for herding communities in Sweden are calculated as a fixed rate based on herding community land-area. The herding groups in our study were reimbursed for similar to 2% of realized monetary loss. Compensation schemes based on herding community area, rather than realized predation patterns, may be less effective at mitigating the economic impact of living with large carnivores

Policy Options for Sustainable Food Consumption – Review and Recommendations for Sweden. Mistra Sustainable Consumption report 1:10

The environmental impact of the average Swede’s diet exceeds the planetary limits for the food system in most areas. Over 15% of consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions come from food in Sweden. Sweden’s agricultural landscape has the largest proportion of European Red List species of all landscape types in Sweden and food imports are associated with high rates of land use, pesticides and veterinary antibiotics in other countries. Our diet is also not sustainable in terms of health – for example, 51% of Swedes are overweight and many of the most common diseases and causes of death are linked to diet.This report identifies and discusses policy instruments that the state and other public actors could introduce to steer food consumption in Sweden towards a more environmentally sustainable diet. Seventeen policy instruments operating either through knowledge and support, changes in relative prices, or regulation and requirements have been identified and previous research on policy effectiveness, costs and acceptance has been mapped out in a way that we hope is clear and easy to understand. Based on the current state of knowledge, we have formulated three recommendations on what public actors could do to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable food system.1.Intensify work in the public sector2.Develop national targets for sustainable food consumption3.Develop and implement effective and attractive policy instrument packagesThe mapping and analysis show that there is a need for research on policy instruments for environmentally sustainable food consumption, particularly when it comes to combinations of instruments. However, there is a sufficient evidence base for the immediate development and implementation of policy instruments to deal with the climate, environmental and health impacts of food. A focus on targets and policy instruments in the food area, as outlined above, is also fully in line with the EU’s new Farm-to-Fork strategy. The policy instruments discussed in the report can probably achieve only part of the huge, transformative changes required to limit the production and consumption of food to planetary limits, but a central issue is how to do this. Part of the answer lies in a change in food consumption and here we believe that we know where the answer lies: public actors ought to develop and implement a variety of policy instruments and systematically evaluate them – it is in this more large-scale implementation that the real need for research lies. The challenge of reducing the environmental impact of food consumption in Sweden is considerable, but there are good opportunities for nudging the trend towards more environment-friendly and health-friendly sustainable food consumption through the deployment of new policy instruments