On 15-16 October 2024, the whole LANDPATHS team gathered at Wiks Slott near Uppsala for our annual retreat. This is a longer meeting where we take stock of our work and deepen the collaborations between the subprojects. This year, the retreat included an engaging workshop with some of our followers from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM) and the County Administrative Boards (CAB).
Discussing our findings
On the first day, we started the meeting with a World Café exercise to identify and discuss our most pressing challenges and questions together. We focussed on identifying core themes emerging from the subprojects and thinking about how to synthesise our work going forwards. We also started to look at how our recommendations or proposed pathways for multifunctional landscapes can be made as useful and practical as possible for a range of people working in different organisations and in different contexts.
After these initial discussions we had the opportunity to discuss some of our emerging results and recommendations in more detail with Ann Åkerskog,
Ingrid Johansson-Horner, Lars-Olof Sarenmark and Hannah Östergård Roswall (from SEPA), Therese Elfström and Ulrika Stensdotter Blomberg (from SwAM), and Klara Tullback Rosenström (representing CABs). We were able to think more about the target groups for our research, how the idea of multifunctional landscapes can appeal to a wider range of interests, and how the programme might contribute to the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration law that came into force in August 2024.
Shaping the LANDPATHS Manifesto
On day two, we shifted our focus to planning the Manifesto that we will present at the end of the programme. The Manifesto will be co-created within and beyond the programme, and include a range of recommendations on governance strategies, policies and sustainable practices for multifunctional landscapes. Building on the discussions from the first day, we were able to discuss the Manifesto co-creation process in more detail, as well as how best to structure our recommendations.
Deepening collaborations
A vital part of meetings like this is also to find the time to develop our collaborations within the programme and explore ideas in a supportive setting. There was time for side discussions about ongoing preparations for the deliberative mini-publics taking place this autumn in Voxnadalen and Nämdö, planning upcoming imaginaries workshops in the urban and agricultural subprojects, and also finding the time for some creative activities and walks in the surrounding forest.
We would like to thank everyone from SEPA, SwAM and CAB who joined us at this meeting and we look forwards to working more closely with you all in the coming months!
