Understanding the multiple dynamics of the countryside - Examples from forest cases in northern Europe

Abstract

Rural literature has often been seen as expressing specific perceptions of the rural, largely based in an Anglo-Saxon conception of agricultural rural idyllic landscapes. Based on studies of forest ownership (in Sweden, but also comparatively), we suggest that an understanding of forest and forest ownership can illustrate the dynamic and shifting role of rural areas: as both rural and urban, based on both forest property and second-home ownership; that forest areas are not only post-production landscapes but continuously also production areas, in addition to many other use patterns; as areas of buzz and forest-related industrial and services growth, and thus rural growth; and that Sweden and more broadly Fennoscandia are areas with different habitation patterns and linkages between nature and population than what has often been described in the broader rural literature.

Published in

Journal of Rural Studies
2020, volume: 78, pages: 59-64
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

SLU Authors

• Keskitalo, Carina

  • Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Umeå University

• Lidestav, Gun

  • Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Human Geography
Forest Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.06.023

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/108021