EXPERiencing and Interacting with Landscapes – a way to sustainable living and healTH, EXPERTH

WHY, HOW, WHAT

Today’s global challenges of urbanisation and climate change and their detrimental impact on both public health and landscapes necessiates a better understanding of people-landscape interactions. This requires collaboration between actors  from various disciplines. Within SLU Landscape extensive expertise exists on core topics such as landscape/environmental architecture, planning and management, public health, and recreation. This project aims at integrating these fields of expertise and creating a base for an international consortium to address these issues and conduct innovative, integrative research.

RESEARCH SUMMIT

A Research Summit will be hosted in 14^th of April 2016, in Alnarp, with selected international key-researchers. At this Summit, our position and approach will be presented, followed by a moderated discussion on how to further develop existing resources, integrating international methods. The concrete outcome of this Summit is the EXPERTH-website and a constructive plan for research applications. The envisioned direction of this innitiative is an innovative, transdisciplinary project that integrates knowledge from landscape architecture and planning, public health, and behavioural sciences. This includes; analysis of public participation and perception of landscape and change over time, previous and current behaviour in landscapes, policy actions, and the impact on environment and health.  Establishing SLU Landscape’s role as leader in this research consortium, the platform would achieve not only a long-term competitive national position, but also enhance international outreach and visibility. This supports SLU Landscape’s researchers in identifying options for continued productive and collaborative work.

Participants in EXPERTH from SLU Landscape

Team leader: Matilda van den Bosch, researcher at AEM, Alnarp. Expert in public health, human behaviour and relation to access to and experience of natural landscapes.

Team participant: Åsa Ode Sang, lecturer, associate professor and deputy head of LAPF, Alnarp. Expert in landscape analysis and change, experience of landscape and landscape resource management.

Team participant: Andrew Butler, lecturer and researcher at SOL. Expert in landscape character assessment, public involvement, and landscape related identity.