Mid Sweden University

In this chapter, we discuss how immigrants’ experiences of outdoor recreation are influenced by social capital, and how these activities, in turn, can promote social integration, leading to increased environmental awareness. Engagement in domestic tourism and outdoor recreation exposes interconnected challenges in multicultural societies, highlighting immigrants’ perceived disparities, social and environmental vulnerabilities, as well as issues of inclusion and justice in outdoor activities. We suggest that outdoor recreational activities play a significant role in the ‘green integration’ of immigrants. Through the concept of green integration, we emphasize the empowering social role of outdoor settings by fostering elements of social capital, such as socialization, networking, trust and social norms, enabling immigrants to gain societal advantages and develop environmental attitudes. This dual benefit underscores the importance of immigrants’ engagement in outdoor activities, expanding the scope of sustainability research by exploring the linkages between social aspects and environmental attitudes of immigrants in the post-immigration period. This creates a social bridge between immigrants and natural environments, leveraging mutual social and environmental outcomes. Empirically this chapter is based on interviews with immigrants in the north of Sweden, a region known for its nature and outdoor pursuits. 

This article explores the role of domestic tourism, specifically outdoor recreational sports and events, in fostering immigrant integration, with a focus on Jämtland County in northern Sweden. While friluftsliv (outdoor recreation) holds a central place in Swedish leisure and domestic tourism culture, immigrants are often underrepresented in such activities. Rather than framing this solely as a matter of cultural difference, we investigate how immigrants perceive outdoor engagement, the barriers they encounter, and how social connections shaped through social capital can offer empowering, integrative experiences. The study draws on in-depth interviews with thirty-four immigrants, adding new knowledge to how outdoor recreation intersects with social capital, social sustainability, and integration. Our analysis highlights three key themes: belonging to outdoors, barriers to participation, and the role of sports and events in shaping social connections. We argue that outdoor engagement can support integration and enhance social sustainability, offering insights into both theory and inclusive practice in domestic tourism and recreation planning.

In this research, we discuss how immigrants’ experiences in outdoor activities are influenced by the social capital, and how these activities can promote immigrants’ social integration leading to their environmental awareness and pro-environmental behaviors. Engagement in domestic tourism exposes interconnected justice challenges in multicultural countries. Immigrants’ perceived disparities, social and environmental vulnerabilities, inclusion in outdoor activities, and justice are some pressing issues considered in the research. Moreover, integrating justice into domestic tourism discourses is urging the re-evaluation of our understanding of sustainable tourism through the lenses of justice and sustainability. Recognizing and including the immigrants’ diverse voices is essential in generating new insights on sustainable transformative options, developing theoretical and empirical foundations to guide tourism communities and national and regional policy responses, especially within the outdoor setting, which brings up both social and environmental concerns. This research discusses how the holistic approach to both social and environmental aspects of outdoor recreation through the ethnic or immigrant lens can address the complex web of sustainability challenges, fostering more just and sustainable future of tourism. We adopt a social capital lens to understand the social and environmental implications of domestic tourism within the context of outdoor recreational activities. Empirically, this chapter is based on interviews with immigrants in the north of Sweden – a region known for its nature and outdoor pursuits. 

Immigrant-receiving societies, like Sweden, underscore the importance of immigrant integrationinto mainstream life. While integration through leisure activities and outdoor recreation has beena focal point in Europe (Gentin, 2011), academic research on this aspect is lacking in Sweden. This is significant given Sweden's strong social and economic ties to outdoor activities. Sweden, renowned for its vast forests and natural environment, places importance on outdoor recreational activities, winter sports, and international events. Major sports events not only impact regional economies but also contribute to positive social outcomes, including a sense of pride and improved quality of life (Wallstam et al., 2020). The popularity of outdoor activities among Swedes, with one in three Swedes ages 6-80 engage in sports (Idrottsstatistik, 2022) and one-third in outdoor recreation (Public Health Agency for Sweden, 2018), make the mintegral to daily life. Sports and outdoor activities serve as potential avenues for immigrants to connect with natives, acting as social bridges for integration (Ekholm, 2019; Elbe et al., 2018). Previous research highlights the potential for integration through events and leisure activities, with factors such as race (Qian & Cobas, 2004), and cultural differences (Kalmijn & Tubergen, 2006) influencing cross-group interactions. This study focuses on the social integration of immigrants in Jämtland County, Sweden, exploring socially sustainable tourism perspectives, social capital (Putnam, 1993), and integration frameworks (Ndofor-Tah et al., 2019). Insights from 34 immigrants reveal events as potent settings for building interactions and networks. However, the study emphasizes that time and active involvement in events are fundamental for integration, placing a substantial responsibility on immigrants. Moreover, the study reveals that immigrants perceive events differently from other leisure activities, particularly sports, underscoring a significant and multifaceted information gap. Recognizing the distinctive role and importance of events in their social lives during the post-immigration period is crucial, calling for increased awareness among both immigrants and relevant stakeholders. 

Sustainable development resides at the interfaces and synergies between its variousdimensions; however, the social pillar of sustainability attracts the least attention when wethink about infrastructures. Moreover, ensured sustainable tourism requires to adopt theworld’s major and minor sustainability approaches which is always changing due to itsdependence on the quality of host environment and communities (White et al., 2006).Raising this issue that sustainable tourism indicators is context-based (Rasoolimanesh etal., 2023) is also too familiar. As Twining-Ward & Butler (2002) found out, it is necessaryto clarify the meaning of socially sustainable tourism with local community groups;therefore, this research applies this concept to a minority group of residents in Sweden,immigrants.Social sustainability has received political and institutional recognition and intertwinedwith the agenda of sustainable community, social capital and corporate socialresponsibility (Colantonio, 2007). To identify sustainable tourism, social capital can beemployed as an analytical tool to examine the social and cultural dimensions ofsustainability (Ooi et al., 2015). As a social phenomenon and an important component ofsocially sustainable tourism (Nunkoo, 2017), social capital contributes to betterunderstanding of the necessary factors for sustainable development and human well-being(Helliwell et al., 2017). Moreover, focusing on challenges and problems represented inmedia and policy articulations in Western countries in terms of migration and integrationof minorities, leisure, recreational activities, events and sports have been alwayshighlighted as arenas where social relations can be formed, social capital can be developedand can successively stir up inclusion of immigrants in the host society (Gibbs & Block,2017; Elbe et al., 2018).In terms of significance of context as emphasized, it's noteworthy that Sweden is evolvinginto a multicultural nation, where over 20% of its total population boasts a foreignbackground (Statistics Sweden, 2022). Moreover, the inherent perks of sports, events, andoutdoor activities within the Swedish lifestyle have positioned them as social catalysts,actively contributing to the orchestration of family engagements, amplifying socialintegration, and ultimately enriching society (Swedish Sports Confederation, n.d.).Outdoor events, as constructing social landscapes, establish some interrelations,interlinkages and reciprocities between different groups of people, and people and nature.Thus, theory of social capital is to examine the social dimension of events at the individuallevel (Bourdieu, 1986), or the community level (Putnam, 2000) or to use the theory thatfocuses on the social networks and network society (Castells, 1996). Hereby, outdoors andenvironment are staged as tourism domains which call our attention to the interface ofsocial and environmental pillars of sustainability. To address this issue, understanding the relationship among social drivers of pro-environmental behavior is significant, particularlyamong immigrants.This research therefore, delves into the intersection of all-encompassing concepts of socialdimension of sustainability, social capital, social integration, and immigration. To addressthese themes, this research focuses on outdoors and nature as tourism stages which bringsnew thoughts for the reciprocity of social and environmental interactions.At the first glance, the discovered results from a series of in-depth interviews show thatoutdoor events can have a positive role in integration of immigrants and developing thesocial capital among minorities; however, there exist barriers and challenges in terms ofengagement in the activities as well as social sustainability aspects of outdoors and events.The results concur in Putnam’s theory indicating that outdoor events can be settings forhorizontal relationships and reveal the possibilities of generating social capital involuntary organizations. To look for the interface of social and environmentalsustainability, in the continue of the research, the immigrant’s point of view in respect ofimportance of environmental responsible behaviors, their awareness in terms of proenvironmental behaviors, the role of social capital and their integration process inachieving more environmental responsible behaviors as well as role of outdoor events ininfluencing their environmental perception and understanding are to be studied.

Immigrant-receiving societies emphasize the need for immigrants to integrate intomainstream life. In Sweden, this trend has manifested itself in integration policies.In the present study, the authors aim to understand sports and outdoor events experience and its effects on social integration of immigrants and refugees’ in the Jämtland County, Sweden. By ‘giving voice’ to 19 immigrants from different nationalities, this study explores the new Swedes’ perspectives on social integration process and conceptualizes their engagement and experience of sports and outdoor events throughout this process. The participants speak of the benefits and needs to participate actively in the society of settlement, but they also describe the barriers and obstacles that they may face. Their perception of integration is built on their life stories and experiences. Based on findings and results, three descriptive themes are described. These themes are interpreted in one overarching theme elaborating the role of sports and outdoor events as a social connection leading to social integration of newcomers. It is assumed that sports and outdoors are not strong enough to achieve social integration, rather they can act as social bridges and provide a common ground where integration can be cultivated. The results of this study can be useful for the sports and events planners and organizers as well as those who deal with newcomers’ integration in any society