Scaling Up
In this interdisciplinary research project, we explore how participatory and strategic community planning could help mitigate land use conflicts during the new industrialization (green transition) taking place in northern Sweden. We particularly focus on mining establishments on reindeer pastures.
The project is linked to the national research program for sustainable spatial planning.
The project ends in August 2025.
Funder: Formas
About the project
Transition to a sustainable society and implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals require access to renewable and mineral resources. Resource extraction has far-reaching impacts on rural environments and local and indigenous communities.
Sweden’s planning framework has an urban bias and lacks proper mechanisms for dealing with land use issues on a landscape-scale. Trade-offs between conflicting goals and interests and mechanisms for stakeholder engagement are other pressing challenges.
The aim of this project is to explore how strategic and collaborative planning in rural areas can help handling land use conflicts related to natural resources in ways that are perceived as fair and legitimate. “Scaling Up” applies a comparative and transdisciplinary approach to develop new knowledge and planning solutions for mineral-related land use conflicts in Swedish Sápmi.
By learning from good examples and involving key actors in co-production of new knowledge, it generates planning solutions targeting the landscape scale, integrates different knowledge systems, and links planning to its proper context. The project specifically addresses the importance of landscapes and institutions embedding the collaborative system, trade-offs and claims to justice. While the empirical focus of this project is on mineral extractions in northern Sweden, the conceptual approach and planning solutions can be applied to other contexts and support transition to a sustainable society.
Project Meeting in Jokkmokk, 27-28 February
For the fourth project meeting, the research team gathered in Jokkmokk, which also included meetings in the field. In addition to the usual meeting issues, we held parts of the meeting in Vajmat at Sápmi ren och vilt/Sámesijdda. The research group had conversations by the fire with several reindeer herders about reindeer husbandry's relationship with forestry, mining and the green transition. It has been important to create a basic knowledge of Sami traditional knowledge, reindeer husbandry, landscape and Sami perception of nature for everyone in the research team.
Research trip to Aotearoa New Zealand, March
During the month of March, Karin Beland Lindahl and Christina Allard visited universities, researchers, Māori and Regional Council staff around Aotearoa New Zealand. Both English and Māori are official languages; Aotearoa is Māori and means roughly “the land of the long white cloud”.
New Zealand is considered a pioneer in terms of indigenous peoples and coexistence with the majority population (Pākehā). The comparison with New Zealand has focused on the country's planning regulations, how Māori rights are expressed and applied, and how authorities interact with Māori in land use decisions. New Zealand has had provisions for strategic and participatory planning in the Resource Management Act since the 1990s, and the Act is currently under review to streamline decision-making processes and strengthen the influence of Māori and iwi (local tribes). It has been extremely valuable to talk to people with different experiences and knowledge about their regional plans. The analysis of the regulatory framework and its application is ongoing.
Project team
Participants from Luleå University of Technology
External participants
Ingrid Sarlöv Herlin, Professor
E-mail: ingrid.sarlov-herlin@slu.se
Organization: Department of Landscape architecture, planning and management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Campus Alnarp.
Kajsa Kuoljok, researcher
Phone: 0971-17020
E-mail: kajsa.kuoljok@slu.se
Organization: Department of Urban and Rural Affairs, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Per Sandström, Associate Professor
Phone: 0690 786 86 53
E-mail: per.sandstrom@slu.se
Organization: Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Tom Mels, senior lecturer, associate professor
Phone: 018-471 8351, 0498-108351
E-mail: tom.mels@kultgeog.uu.se
Organization: Uppsala University, Campus Gotland, Department of Human Geography
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