Nature, Green Spaces and Outdoor Recreation

Major research projects

• Outdoor Recreation 2022-23 - A national trend and demand survey
• Attitudes to "naturnationalparker" - A national survey
• Local monitoring of outdoor recreation in "naturnationalparker"
• Collective Impact Det åbne land som dobbelt ressource (Evaluation of recreational benefits from land consolidation projects under the Collective Impact project: “Landscape as a double resource”)
• VIVA-PLAN is about revitalising in-between spaces in residential housing areas to promote nature conservation, social inclusion and human well-being. The project aim is to develop sustainable plans with social and ecological values for public areas to engage local residents in active participation in proposed activities.
• SMARTer Greener Cities. Funded by Nordforsk, SMARTer Greener Cities aims to develop and test novel tools and processes for explicitly converging social, ecological, and technological approaches. The convergence of these approaches will promote resilient and equitable urban futures in Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, and generate new opportunities for transformative change and increasing resilience to extreme events in other Nordic cities.
• Planning with youth. Engaging, meaningful and forward-looking participation of youngsters in shaping attractive and sustainable living environments. This project aims to
  1) systematically and empirically assessing challenges with youth involvement planning,
  2) testing and comparing alternative tools with youngsters (13-18 years), and
  3) develop an intergenerational framework for planning of blue-green infrastructure in public places.
• CO-CARBON, Funded by the Finnish Academy of Science, CO-CARBON will develop a new concept of carbon-smart UGI, and through co-creative processes, create science-based solutions to support its implementation among the society. A systemic approach is used to maximise carbon-smart solutions together with other environmental and societal factors.
• Center for Børn og Natur: (Children & Nature – Denmark). Leading the partnership between six stakeholders with various projects about children’s use of nature and connections to nature – including national surveys 

Completed projects

• Evaluering af 115 kystfacilitetsprojekter i ’Kysten er Klar puljen (Nordea-fonden)
• Kystfriluftsfaciliteter i Danmark (FR & LOA)
• INUT-projektet (Innovationsfonden)
• Havfriluftsliv (Online mapping survey of water-related activities)
• ØKOMAR-projektet (Villumfonden)
• Havplan Kattegat-projekt (Foreningen Bæredygtig Kystkultur)
• Blåt friluftsliv i Morsø og det vestlige del af Limfjorden (Morsø Kommune)
• European COST Action "Ocean Governance for Sustainability - Challenges, Options and the Role of Science"
• GREEN SURGE (Green Infrastructure and Urban Biodiversity for Sustainable Urban Development and the Green Economy)
• Cost Action FP1204 GreenInUrbs (Green Infrastructure approach - linking environmental with social aspects in studying and managing urban forests)
• DIABOLO (Distributed, Integrated And Harmonised Forest Information For Bioeconomy Outlooks)
• Fremtidens Landskaber
• Barrierer for offentlighedens adgang til naturen. A national survey of barriers (signs, fences etc.) which may obstruct public access to the Danish countryside and nature areas

PhD projects

• Yu Liu: Promotion of active mobility in urban greenery
• Oriol García-Antúnez: Social acceptability of transformative urban green infrastructure planning and management.
• Ping Chang: ​​Data integrity towards inclusive transformative change: place, justice, and technology
• Jonas Vester Legarth: Travel cost analysis of sociodemographic factors affecting motivation to and constraints to engagement in outdoor recreation.

Completed PhD projects

• Maja Steen Møller: How can place-based e-tools support urban green infrastructure governance?
• Understanding the preconditions for revitalizing bicycle transport in Beijing, with a reference study from Copenhagen
• Projekt Børn & Skov
• Ecological Resilience of Small Urban Parks: System Functionality and Adaptation to Disturbances
• The Role of Green Space in City Branding. An Urban Governance Perspective
• Outdoor recreation and ethnicity – seen in a Danish adolescent perspective
• Parks, People and Places. Place-based governance in urban green space maintenance
• GIS-based Recreation Experience Mapping: Development, Validation and Implementation

Master courses with course responsibility in the group:

Nature Perception – Theories and Methods for Investigation

Urban Forestry, Urban Greening

Outdoor Recreation – Planning and Management

In addition, members of the group supervise 10-20 bachelor and master theses yearly. Contact us if you are interested in thesis project supervision.