Mid Sweden University

Purpose: This purpose of this research note is to draw on “visuality” and “the right to look” − concepts which challenge authoritarian classifications of what is visualised − to critically examine the use of qualitative visual methods. Design/methodology/approach: The author expands on and discuss insights from fieldwork and interviews conducted with participants of nature-based events in Sweden. Findings: Researchers who use qualitative visual methods face ethical dilemmas in relation to the complex interactions between research participants and researchers, and therefore, ideally need to learn to balance the power dynamics between visualities. Practical implications: Researchers ideally need to recognise the absence of straightforward answers when using qualitative visual methods and carefully consider who should realistically represent the images for research. At times, the findings of such research may need to challenge the participants’ own visual intentions. Social implications: Scholars should address certain ethical considerations, as the intentions in conducting qualitative visual research may conflict with what the participants wish to have visualised. Originality/value: The insights from this research note provide insights into how ethical implications might be addressed when two visualities meet in research context. 

Informality encompasses a wide range of unregulated activities that has usually been associated with the activities of marginalised groups. However, it has been recognised that affluent lifestyle migrants use informal strategies to pursue a good life across borders. How lifestyle migrants resort to informality and how it affects their lives is less well understood. To fill this gap, we present findings from 22 qualitative interviews with Swedish lifestyle migrants in Portugal. Lifestyle migrants can navigate webs of (in)formalities thanks to their privileged position as citizens of the European Union. First, lifestyle migrants gradually appropriate informality, which illustrates their privileged use of informal strategies to establish themselves in a new country. Second, lifestyle migrants never have to settle down in one place because they can employ informal strategies across countries to support their desired life in one of them. Finally, lifestyle migrants end up facing a paradox of immobility because their use of informal strategies to retain connections between countries creates dependency and immobility. Not unlike marginalised groups, lifestyle migrants exploit gaps in formal frameworks of the global mobility regime. Informality is intertwined with the privileged pursuit of a momentarily better life abroad and is thus essential to lifestyle migration.

Few other tourism activities attract large crowds to specific areas over a short period of time like events. Yet, despite their environmental impacts, actors—from residents to organisers—seem to accept them. Understanding the socio-cultural mechanisms behind this acceptance can further explain how tourism continues to impact nature without curtailing development in the Anthropocene. The aim of this dissertation is to enhance understanding of the acceptance of environmental impacts from tourism activities. This is achieved by shifting the scale from environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions, to physical impacts on nature, such as the wear and tear on land and trails during nature-based events. The empirical data and qualitative fieldwork were conducted in rural areas of Jämtland, Sweden, integrating interviews, observations and document analysis, and involving four key actors across a compilation of four articles: local government authorities responsible for issuing permits, local residents who use nature in the vicinity of the events, event organisers and participants in trail running and mountain biking events. The empirical data is analysed through a post-development theory lens to challenge established knowledge and development frameworks in tourism and to illustrate how a dynamic use of resources can foster acceptance.

The results identified five socio-cultural mechanisms that shape acceptance. First, a mechanism of scale illustrates how actors relate environmental impact to both local and global contexts. Relating the impacts in terms of scale reshapes the actors’ acceptance by comparing the physical impacts on nature to broader global environmental impacts. Second, a mechanism of growth shows how actors view the expansion of events as separate from their environmental impact. Acceptance arises because actors do not fully reflect on the cumulative effects of impacts. When actors place themselves outside of the immediate event, the total amount of impacts becomes more obvious. Third, a mechanism of ownership reveals three types of ownership that influence acceptance: ownership linked to social responsibility, national pride and economic interests. Fourth, a mechanism of responsibility shows how actors shift responsibility for mitigating environmental impacts onto others. When actors distance themselves from the immediate space or become part of a broader chain of responsibility, the physical impacts on nature become accepted. Finally, a mechanism of limits shows that acceptance is tied to shifting boundaries of what is considered acceptable as the event becomes integrated into a wider plurality of activities. The main argument of this dissertation is that the acceptance of physical impacts on nature from events depends on actors’ willingness to adapt to other actors. When events are closely connected to various tourism and other actors in the area, this plurality creates acceptance even if tourism activities affect the actors’ everyday lives.

Få andra turistaktiviteter lockar så stora folkmassor till ett specifikt område under en kort tidsperiod som evenemang vilket kan leda till stor miljöpåverkan. Trots denna påverkan tycks aktörer som lokalt boende och arrangörer ändå acceptera evenemangen. Dock är de sociala och kulturella mekanismerna bakom denna acceptans relativt sällan adresserade inom forskningen. Genom att förstå dessa mekanismer kan vi förklara hur aktörer formar sin acceptans av turismprodukter trots mänsklighetens pågående miljöpåverkan. Syftet med denna avhandling är att öka förståelsen för acceptansen av miljöpåverkan från turistaktiviteter vid evenemang. Detta görs genom att flytta fokus från generell miljöpåverkan, såsom utsläpp, till den lokala påverkan på naturen, såsom slitage på mark och leder under naturbaserade evenemang. Empirin bygger på kvalitativa fältstudier med intervjuer, observationer och dokumentanalys som genomförts i fjällnära natur i Jämtland, Sverige. Avhandlingen är en sammanläggning av fyra artiklar som var och en lyfter fram fyra grupper av aktörer: den regionala länsstyrelsen som utfärdar tillstånd till naturbaserade evenemang; lokala aktörer som boende och verksamma i områdena kring dessa evenemang; evenemangsorganisatörer; och slutligen deltagare som använder leder som en resurs för sina aktiviteter. Det analytiska ramverket bygger på post-utvecklingsteori för att utmana tidigare forskning och de så vanligt förekommande ekonomiska förklaringsmodellerna bakom turismutveckling. Avhandlingens analytiska ramverk används för att förklara hur aktörers acceptans formas när olika aktörer använder naturen på olika sätt.

Fem centrala mekanismer som formar acceptans har identifierats i avhandlingens studier. En mekanism visar hur aktörerna formar sin acceptans av skador på naturen genom att jämföra dem med global miljöpåverkan. En andra mekanism visar hur aktörerna ser ökningen av evenemang och turism som frikopplad från dess miljöpåverkan och att aktörerna inte reflekterar över de kumulativa effekter som uppkommer i samband med alla turismaktiviteter i området. En tredje mekanism visar olika typer av ägandeskap som påverkar acceptansen: ett ägandeskap kopplat till samhällsansvar, ett annat kopplat till nationell stolthet och ett till ekonomiska intressen. En fjärde mekanism belyser hur aktörerna för över sitt ansvar till andra aktörer vad gäller att minimera miljöpåverkan. Acceptansen uppstår genom att aktörer distanserar sig från ansvarskedjan och det lokala sammanhanget. Slutligen visar en femte mekanism hur acceptansen är knuten till hur gränser flyttas gällande vad som är acceptabelt när evenemang integreras i ett brett spektrum av olika aktiviteter. Huvudargumentet i avhandlingen är att acceptansen av fysisk påverkan på naturen från evenemang beror på aktörernas vilja att anpassa sig till andra aktörer. När evenemangen är nära kopplade till olika turismaktörer och andra intressenter i området, främjar det acceptansen även om det påverkar deras framtida och vardagliga liv.

Drawing inspiration from Davydd Greenwood’s “Culture by the Pound,” this chapter delves into tourism development from an introspective viewpoint. Based on my 13 years of living and working in Lisbon, I have crafted four vignettes from fragmented memories to explore the evolu- tion of tourism with poignant emotions as it became interwoven into everyday life. Reflecting on my experiences, I provide an analysis of informal development, which arises from a grassroots perspective when tourism occurs spontaneously and without management. Local residents utilized existing resources for tourism purposes, shaping their own tourist activities. Ultimately, I underscore the significance of examining tourism development beyond structured planning and acknowledging its organic growth and transformation. 

This paper highlights the challenges of self-limitation, providing insights into how event sport participants relate to and act within limits. From a cultural degrowth perspective that advocates for the need to practice self-limitation and reduce environmental waste from economic activities, we examine how event participants perceive physical impacts on nature during two types of nature-based events in Jämtland, Sweden. Based on 50 semi-structured interviews, observations and photo-elicitation observations, the findings reveal the difficulties of adhering to limitations. Initially, the informants considered only trash or greenhouse gas emissions as impacts but were stunned to see photos of how impacts such as trail and soil erosion had gone beyond what they imagined. However, responsibility for limiting the effects tended to shift to others, particularly the event organisers. These two events present a paradox in tourism. The convivial idea of visiting nature collides with resource utilisation that heavily impacts the environment.

Evenemang blir en allt vanligare reseanledning och passar vårt sätt att resa; flera gånger per år, men kortare i tid. Allt fler väljer att besöka evenemang, både som deltagare och som åskådare. En stadigt växande efterfrågan och ett ökat utbud förstärks av rådande trender inom hälsa och livsstil.

Ökningen av evenemang skapar glädje och gemenskap samt möjligheter genom ökad sysselsättning och tillväxt, men innebär också en ökad belastning på miljön. Inte sällan återfinns evenemang i känsliga miljöer i mer eller mindre perifera lägen, men även evenemang i stadsmiljöer påverkar miljön på olika sätt.

Det är viktigt men svårt att mäta miljöeffekter av evenemang. De många tänkbara perspektiven kopplat till tid, geografi och aktörer gör att öppenhet och transparens är av största vikt. Stort fokus har legat på negativa miljöeffekter av evenemang, men rätt planerat och genomfört kan evenemang också bidra till att driva en rörelse i mer hållbar riktning. Utöver de miljömässiga effekterna är det angeläget att dessutom väga in ekonomiska och sociala aspekter.

Syftet med guiden är att ge en snabb och populärvetenskaplig introduktion till miljömässiga effekter av evenemang - centrala begrepp och perspektiv. Guiden har framställts av forskare på ETOUR vid Mittuniversitetet

Jämtland in Northern Sweden is one of the most tourism and eventintense regions in the country. The rise in volume of events in alpine and subarctic nature environments, and the subsequent increase in participants, requires closer scrutiny of the environmental impacts.The region is characterised by mountains, forests and a sensitive ecological environment, and shared by several land users. With this study, we aim to gain in-depth knowledge of how environmental impacts are understood and valued in the regional assessment process for nature-based events and organised outdoor recreation.We analyse permit documents from the County Administrative Board of Jämtland from 2011 to 2020. The results show that most events were approved, and none were rejected solely due to environmental concerns. Assessments were instead balanced against other considerations, such as local development and economic gains. We argue that these priorities make nature a commercial arena for events, visitors and recreationists. This paper sheds light on human use and the associated environmental effects that further increase the pressure on nature. We end with managerial implications and propose that the permit process can be improved and integrated into spatial planning.

Through the lens of liveability and Buen Vivir, I explore how local actors form their acceptance of the physical impact on nature caused by a trail marathon in north-central Sweden, particularly given trail and soil erosion. With a qualitative multi-method research approach, the findings reveal that the local actors minimise the impacts by getting involved in various activities both inside and outside the event. Different knowledge and practices foster sustainability and create acceptance. While the growth of tourism creates unease and feelings of inadequate control, this event is seen as a distinct phenomenon. I show that liveability goes beyond perception and requires integration of the local environment into local practices. Current acceptance may however be eroded if more or larger events occur in the future. Policies and planning must therefore acknowledge and incorporate these local practices to create sustainability. 

In this case study we illustrate the interplay of social-ecological factors and uncontrollable processes in an event context. We focus on trail running, the popularity of which is on the rise, and scrutinise the case of a nature-based event – the mountain trail running marathon Fjällmaraton in Sweden. We introduce pedagogical and theoretical perspectives of new materialism and the Anthropocene, building on the ontological stance of hybridity of social-cultural systems. To understand the role of events as active agents of the Anthropocene we focus on infrastructure and feral effects. By looking at the unintended consequences, we discuss the limitations of managerial frameworks, unable toaccount for processes beyond the control of event planners, entangled in the complex social-ecological systems.