Archive (Previous Research Projects)
Here is a list of the research projects conducted by Sara Borgström and her colleagues over the past ten years. The results of these projects published in peer-reviewed journals are available in Publications.
I) ENABLE – Resilience of Urban Green-Blue Infrastructure
Project Description: Funded by Biodiversa, EU ERANET (2017-2019) and led the Swedish Track by Erik Andersson and Sara Borgström, the aim of ENABLE was to examine the role of green-blue infrastructure in providing ecosystem services in urban landscapes, and the relationships between social-ecological dynamics and the potential of multifunctionality in such landscapes.
One of the case study sites in the project was the Flaten Nature Reserve in south of Stockholm Region. The focus was specifically on the flows of benefits from urban nature protected areas to a larger context and how these flows can be supported over time. The resilience of the Green-Blue Infrastructure (GBI) in the Flaten Nature Reserve was examined, by the development and use of a participatory resilience analysis process. A summary of the project is available in Swedish and English.
II) GREEN ACCESS – Urban Nature For All
Project Description: Funded by FORMAS (2017-2023) and led by Annika Dahlberg and Sara Borgström, the aim of GREEN ACCESS was to investigate how urban green commons are transformed by formal and informal processes of territorialization, as well as the opportunities and challenges these processes pose for access to green spaces in relation to issues of equity and multi-functionality.
Environmental justice is a framework to study how access to environmental qualities differs between marginalized and more powerful groups in society. In this framework, urban green spaces are “green commons”, which can and should be used by “all” who want to. The project studied how different forms of territorialization processes affect access to, and use of, urban green spaces, as well as how these processes affect the landscape’s social and ecological multifunctionality. Territorialization processes occur when authorities, organizations, informal groups and individuals through varied strategies affect the use, and the users, of an area. Järvafältet in Stockholm Region constituted the geographical framing of the project. How the area has changed over the last three decades was mapped in terms of use, accessibility, ecological and social diversity using aerial photographs, satellite images, maps, inventories, and field investigations. In addition, the processes of territorialization and potential actors lied behind identified changes were explored. A one-page factseet of the project is available here. For a longer description of this project in Swedish, click here. A Popular Science Report is also available for this project in Swedish.
III) CONATURE
Project Description: Funded by FORMAS (2016-2022) and led by Erik Andersson and Sara Borgström, the aim of CONATURE was to understand how green spaces are related to their surrounding landscape and develop tools for how linkages and flows can be proactively addressed in urban landscape planning, design and management. In this project, the importance of nature reserves for access to ecosystem services was investigated. The first step was to develop a tool to investigate connections between parts of a landscape, including its ecological and social boundaries and bridges between them. The tool was tested in five nature reserves in Stockholm County to investigate the importance of the reserves for biodiversity, the local economy, and values identified by the residents of these areas. Together with these actors, we developed a guide on how to identify and prioritize important efforts in the planning and management of Green Infrastructure (GI) that supports and benefits from protected areas. The framework we developed was also able be able to be used in other planning contexts, where issues of protection, management, exploitation, and restoration of GI need to be solved. Listen to a lecture about CONATURE delivered by Sara Borgström, and a podcast in Swedish.
IV) MISTRA SPORT & OUTDOORS
Funded by MISTRA (2020-2024), under Theme 3: Sustainable Use of Land and Water, the aim of this project was to investigate how planning and management of peri-urban green and blue spaces can be arranged to ensure a more multifunctional and sustainable use of such spaces over time. It was a large research project in collaboration with researchers and practitioners in Sweden for generating new knowledge that supports the environmental sustainability of sports and outdoor activities. Under Theme 3: Sustainable Use of Land and Water, three types of landscapes were targeted: mountains, coastal areas, and peri-urban landscapes. A summary of the results is available In English and a Popular Science Report in Swedish.
For peri-urban landscapes, four studies were designed and conducted: (1) Co-Management of Multifunctional Landscapes by Sara Borgström, (2) Space-Use and Recreation Ecology in Peri-urban Landscapes by Amin Rastandeh, (3) Recreation and Nature Conservation in Practice by Kristin Malmcrona Friberg, and (4) Outdoor Recreation and Land-Use Planning by Sara Borgström and Anja Moum Rieser. A summarized description of the process and methods designed for the co-management of landscape multifunctionality is available in Swedish in Sustainable Places: A Recipe Book for Local Collaboration in Multifunctional Landscapes. Additional information about nature experience by outdoor recreation and co-generation of knowledge for sustainability in peri-urban landscapes is available in two blog posts in Swedish. For a longer description of these peri-urban case studies in Swedish, click here.