Department of Human Geography

Nicklas Guldåker

     "Krishantering, hushåll och stormen Gudrun - att analysera hushålls krishanteringsförmåga och sårbarheter" ("Crisis Management, Households and the Hurricane Gudrun - An analysis of Households Crisis Management Capability and Vulnerability")

• Presentation: Defence date: 27th November 2009. Severe crises and disasters such as the Hurricane Gudrun and their consequences will probably occur in the future. However, there are many uncertainties concerning disasters and their effects. New scientific approaches and methods for crisis and disaster research must be developed to increase the knowledge and ability of societies to manage known and unknown threats. Substantial research on the emergency preparedness and crises and disaster management capability of agencies, organizations and institutions exists in Sweden and the Nordic countries. Despite this, there is a general lack of research on the crisis management capability of citizens, individuals, groups and households. This thesis should be seen as a complementary approach within the crisis and disaster research field.

Martin Svensson Henning

     "Industrial Dynamics and Regional Structural Change. Geographical Perspectives on Economic Evolution"

• Presentation: This thesis investigates the process of economic transformation taking place in Sweden since the mid 1970s. Especially, it is concerned with how and why benefits that firms and industries draw from regional co-location with other actors (agglomeration externalities) vary over stages of economic transformation. Drawing on recent findings within the fields of evolutionary economics and evolutionary economic geography, the thesis has a cumulative design, where three different theoretical frameworks are used to structure the research. In sum, the results of the thesis emphasise the value of applying long-term theoretical perspectives to the study of regional economic transformation and agglomeration externalities.