Category: Meetings

Annual LANDPATHS retreat included lively discussions with our followers

22 November 2024 /

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).

Most of the team in front of beautiful Wiks Slott

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.

Discussing our findings and recommendations with followers

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.

Revisiting the programme timeline and discussing collaborations

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!

Looking back and looking forwards: taking stock of our progress so far

13 February 2024 /

In November 2023, the LANDPATHS team gathered for a two-day workshop at Häverö Kursgard near Hallstavik. This was a chance for us to share and reflect on what we have learned so far, and plan the next stages of the research. In a programme as large as LANDPATHS, these types of meetings are vital to ensure coherence and co-production within and across the nine sub-projects.

As the first winter snow arrived, so did all the LANDPATHS team at a beautiful kursgård east of Uppsala. We meet regularly to discuss our work but this meeting was over two days and away from our ‘normal’ work environments. This allowed us to get into more depth in our discussions and get to know each other even better in a relaxed setting.

LANDPATHS team photo
Members of the research team after a successful two days together (back row, L to R: Marcus Hedblom, Charles Westerberg, Lucas Dawson, Michael Gilek, Tuija Hilding-Rydevik, Fanny Möckel, Stefan Sandström, Neil Powell, Magnus Florin, Max Whitman; front row, L to R: Lara Tickle, Jayne Glass, Malgorzata Blicharska, Tim Daw, Frida Öhman, Alejandra Figueredo, Judith Lundberg-Felten). Photo: Marta Kubacka

We had a full agenda of items to discuss, beginning with the important activity of updating each other on our work in each of the sub-projects. There was lots to report, with all sub-projects having carried out interviews or workshops in each of the landscapes in recent months (read more about the forest landscape workshops here).

Research team discussing around tables
Many of our discussions related to our evolving understandings of multifunctional landscapes in Sweden

Ahead of presenting our work in a session on ‘Collaborative Multifunctional Governance for Biodiversity’ at the upcoming Nordic Environmental Social Science conference in Finland, we also dedicated some time to unpacking our understanding of multifunctional landscapes in Sweden. This included reflections on how the people we have spoken to in our research interpret multifunctionality in a landscape context, and what other approaches and terms they use in their day-to-day work.

Research team completing a timeline exercise on a long table
Planning our activities and discussing integration of the subprojects

Getting together for an extended period of time also allowed us to plan the next stages of our work and get to know each other even better. We enjoyed a ‘landscape walk’, inspired by educational materials developed alongside the European Landscape Convention. Our challenge was to create and present an artwork that captured our experiences in the local area and the multifunctionality that we experienced in this area. The five groups had used different materials or sounds collected during their walks and combined this creatively with written poems or set it up as installations. We were impressed with the diversity of the results and the different messages the artworks conveyed.

Graveyard with old church on a winterday
Häverö church and graveyard where many LANDPATHS researchers took a walk and found signs of multifunctionality. Photo: Judith Lundberg-Felten

Michael Gilek, Lucas Dawson and Judith Lundberg-Felten presenting their piece of multi-biomaterial artwork in the shape of a cross representing the various social, cultural, economic, religious and ecosystem services provided by land owned by the church of Sweden. Photo: Charles Westerberg

Per Sandström and colleagues setting up their art installation using natural and human-made materials found close to Häverö kursgård. The artwork represented the changing nature of landscapes and their multiple functions over time and was accompanied by a poem recital. Photo: Charles Westerberg

We also had the pleasure of learning about the work of Marta Kubacka, a visiting researcher from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland. Marta gave us a presentation about her research on landscape diversity and how diversity relates to the provision of cultural ecosystem services.

Researcher presenting her work next to a screen with other researchers sitting in the audience
Marta Kubacka presenting her research. Photo: J. Lundberg-Felten

Thanks to Ingrid at Häverö Kursgård for such a comfortable and welcoming place to stay for a meeting like this.

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