About the project

• Background and objectives

  Recreation in the outdoors provides large benefits to individuals and societies, but with increased participation also follows challenges with sustainable management of nature areas. Nature-based recreation has transformed in several ways; besides the increase in volume of visitors, the behaviour of visitors has diversified; visitors partake in a wider set of activities, visit more remote places, take more diversified trips in nature, have different motivations for visitation as well as levels of experience and skills.

  New monitoring and management tools honed for the Anthropocene must address the cumulative social and ecological impacts from increased tourism and recreation while striking a balance with ethics, privacy, and equal opportunities.

  VIMAS’ primary objective is to develop more efficient governance of nature areas for tourism and recreation, in the best way possible for biodiversity, people’s quality of life and business development. This will be achieved through research about smarter monitoring methods, improved visitor management and more inclusive governance.

  VIMAS Strategic objectives are:

  • Train the next generation of multidisciplinary scientists that will be equipped with the skills to secure sustainable, knowledge-based visitor management through recruitment of 10 international Doctoral Candidates (DCs) to be assigned to a specific PhD curriculum, to be monitored and supervised in their career development by the multidisciplinary expertise network of the VIMAS consortium.

  • Strengthen European geo-digital businesses, public administration, and academia with a cohort of talented, well-connected researchers with the qualities to become leading European professionals in visitor management and planning.

  The innovations of VIMAS are to realise potential from new knowledge developed in the intersection between quantitative and qualitative social sciences, ecology, and geo-informatics technology based on inclusive approaches for non-agency stakeholders and citizens.

• Work packages

  1. Project governance
  2. Training
  3. Monitoring
  4. Effects
  5. Policy and management
  6. Communication

• PhD projects

  1. "Application of Mobile Big Data revealed from social media to monitoring of recreational visits to nature"

  Place: University of Copenhagen, Danmark
  Main supervisor: Prof. Hans Skov-Pedersen

  2. "Novel typologies of nature visitors derived from mobile big data"

  Place: University of Helsinki, Finland
  Main supervisor: Prof. Tuuli Toivonen

  3. "Advancing recreational monitoring and management by combining plural knowledge systems and diverse values through PPGIS for resilient visitor management in times of changes"

  Place: University of Copenhagen, Danmark
  Main supervisor: Ass. Prof. Anton Stahl Olafsson

  4. "The role of reliable customer insight in nature-based service/tourism business"

  Place: University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
  Main supervisor: Ass. Prof. Henna Konu

  5. "Challenges and solutions of financing public goods related to outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism"

  Sted: Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia
  Main Supervisor: Prof. Agita Livina

  6. "When intentions change, does nature benefit? Assessing the potential for long term value and behavioural change in visitors to nature areas"

  Place: NMBU
  Main supervisor: Prof. Øystein Aas

  7. "Role of natural soundscapes and dark skies experiences in visitor experience in nature"

  Place: NMBU
  Main supervisor: Prof. Øystein Aas and Dr. Rose Keller

  8. "Social inclusion, access, and equal opportunities in visitor management"

  Location: Universitetet of Iceland, Iceland
  Main supervisor: Prof. Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir

  9. "Collaborative governance solutions and management regimes through improved visitor monitoring"

  Place: Mid-Sweden University, Sweden
  Main supervisor: Prof. Peter Fredman

  10. "Indicators of recreational values in the landscape – development, implementation, and evaluation"

  Place: Mid-Sweden University, Sweden
  Main supervisor: Prof. Peter Fredman

• Project management and contact

  Any questions can be directed to the following e-mail: hans.christoffer.tyldum@nmbu.no.

Participants

• Academic partners

  The VIMAS consortium consists of seven full partners in six North-European countries, supported by 14 partners from business, public management and applied research from Europe and North America.

  • NMBU - The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (coordinator)
  • Mid-Sweden University, Sweden
  • University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • University of Eastern Finland, Finland
  • University of Helsinki, Finland
  • University of Iceland, Iceland
  • Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia

• Consortium members

  • Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE)
  • NINA - Norwegian institute for nature research
  • Eco Counter / Eco Compteur
  • Denali NP
  • Naturstyrelsen - Danish Nature Agency
  • Norwegian Environment Agency
  • SEPA - Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
  • Nature Conservation Agency Latvia
  • Metsähallitus - Luontopalvelut Parks & Wildlife Finland
  • European Network of Outdoor Sports
  • Outdooractive
  • Analyseogtal
  • Maptionnaire - Mapita Oy
  • Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute

• Work package leaders and supervisors

  Sandra Wall-Reinius

  Ass. professor

  Mid-Sweden University, Sweden

  Hans Skov-Petersen

  Professor

  University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Leader of work package 3.

  Tuuli Toivonen

  Professor

  University of Helsinki, Finland.

  Anton Stahl Olafsson

  Ass. professor

  University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

  Henna Konu

  Ass. professor

  University of Eastern Finland. Leader of work package 4.

  Agita Livina

  Professor

  Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia. Co-leader of work package 2.

  Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir

  Professor

  University of Iceland, Iceland. Co-leader of work package 2.

  Rose Keller

  Researcher

  NINA - Norwegian institute for nature research, Norway.

  Liisa Tyrväinen

  Research professor

  Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), Finland.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.