Major research venture on outdoor recreation
Outdoor recreation, defined as spending time outdoors in natural and cultural environments for the purpose of wellbeing and enjoying the landscape without any competitive requirements, can both be an objective in itself or a means to achieve other aims. When considering the term outdoor recreation, it is essential to broaden the outlook and see the full spectre of the term and the changes over time; outdoor recreation as environmental history, civilisation criticism, class perspektive, regional development, wellfare politics, economic policy, association activity, pedagogical tradition, etc; in many ways an unexploited area and if the delimitations are too restrictive, the interesting findings risk falling outside the framework.
A research program with a wide scope
In the research program we aim to capture the changes and dynamics in outdoor recreation. This is the reason why the program engages researchers from seven universities and colleges in Sweden with competence that spans geography, economics, sociology, spatial planning, statistics and pedagogy.
The research within the program will use a common empirical arena , forming an essential basis for the program´s remaining five research projects, which focus on outdoor recreation patterns, urban-proximate nature, spatial planning, outdoor recreation and nature conservation, as well as nature-based tourism and regional development.