Six forums have been granted funding for 2026
The following six forums have been approved by the SLU Landscape Steering Group for the year. Each forum is allocated SEK 50 000.
Forum för morfologiska studier av urbana landskap/ Forum for Morphological Studies of Urban Landscapes
Contact: Karl Lövrie, Christopher Klich, LAPF
The forum brings together urban morphological methods and digital techniques from a landscape perspective that is central to education, research, and collaboration. By analysing spatial structures—particularly green infrastructure—the forum contributes to a deeper understanding of urban function, experience, and capacity to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and living environments. It provides a platform for shared learning, methodological development, and field-based studies within SLU Landscape.
Forum för landsbygdsplanering/ Forum for Rural Planning
Contact: Mattias Qviström, SOL
The forum is important for SLU Landscape as physical planning is largely dominated by an urban perspective, while the specific conditions, opportunities, and conflicts of rural areas are often overlooked in both education and practice. At the same time, the need for knowledge on rural planning is increasing due to climate change, the green transition, and emerging societal risks. The forum brings together and strengthens research, education, and networks in rural planning, creating opportunities for new collaborations and a more balanced planning perspective beyond the urban.
Forum for Reflective Practice and Design Research
Contact: Victoria Sjöstedt, LAPF
The forum is important for SLU Landscape as it strengthens reflective practice and design research in landscape architecture over the long term. The forum constitutes—and is intended to continue to function as—a shared arena for knowledge exchange, methodological development, and critical discussion. It contributes to making design competence and design research at SLU more visible, strengthening the subject’s position within academia, and acting as a bridge to professional practice and other universities. The forum is already well established.
Forum för hållbar landskapsanläggning och konstruktion/Forum for Sustainable Landscape Construction
Contact: Jitka Svensson, LAPF
The forum is important for SLU Landscape as applied landscape architecture is crucial to the realization of sustainable and well-designed living environments. By integrating aesthetics with construction materiality, regulations, and professional practice, the forum strengthens the link between design, technology, and implementation. It contributes to development of knowledge and collaboration within SLU, as well as with other universities and the professional sector. This year’s focus on soil and substrates addresses a highly topical and resource-critical area, central to climate adaptation, biodiversity, and sustainable landscape construction. The forum was initiated in 2025 and is established.
Forum on Biodiversity in Research and Education
Contact: Christine Haaland, LAPF
This forum works at strengthening the competence among scholars in the field, and thus the quality of education and research. A forum on biodiversity - being a topic in acute need of handling by society - should facilitate agency within the organisation, thereby preparing it for new initiatives.
The expressed intention is to continue with on-line seminars and active participation during SLU Landscape Days, which both add potential value to the greater collegium. The forum is established and continues from 2025.
Forum Barn och landskap/ Forum for Children and Landscape
Contact: Märit Jansson, LAPF
The forum is important for SLU Landscape because outdoor environments for children and youth are crucial for equitable health, sustainable societal development, and democratic participation. Knowledge and expertise in this area risk being weakened due to generational change. The forum aims to bring together research, education, and practice across institutional boundaries to ensure continuity, strengthen early-career researchers and teachers, and meet growing demand from municipalities and other stakeholders. In this way, SLU Landscape’s role as a leading hub for knowledge on children’s outdoor environments is reinforced in relation to present and future challenges. The forum is established and continues from 2025.