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This paper utilises bibliometric data on peer-reviewed publications to examine the characteristics and dominant narratives in overtourism research to date. Departing from earlier state-of-the-art reviews, it introduces a spatial perspective with a distinct focus on spatial processes and geographical scales. The analysis identifies six overarching themes in the literature, which predominantly centre on metropolitan contexts and are characterised by a normative critique of tourism. While the literature often identifies the causes of overtourism at either the global or local scale, proposed solutions tend to emphasise local-level responses, particularly through planning and destination management. The paper makes two key contributions: first, it highlights the need to broaden overtourism research beyond its current urban and metropolitan focus to encompass a wider range of geographical contexts; second, it emphasises the significance of engaging with geographies of scale to address overtourism not merely as a local planning challenge, but as a structural and systemic issue demanding multi-scalar interventions.

The sustainability transition is reshaping the operational landscape of forest industries and their societal roles. While much attention is directed towards major forest companies and units situated in central regions of a country, smaller forest actors in remote areas have received comparatively less focus. In this chapter, we delve into forest industries operating in regional inland peripheries in northeast Finland and northern Sweden—locations characterised by their atypical circumstances. These forest industries are relatively small-scale compared to major players in the sector. Our case studies are strategically positioned amidst nationally and globally significant forest resources, placing them at the forefront of the sustainability transition. We explore how peripheral forest industries interpret their interrelations with sustainability transition agendas and the socio-economic environment. Additionally, we investigate how these industries navigate the dynamic currents of agendas, markets, and crises. Our inquiry is informed by the perspectives of local policymakers and representatives from peripheral forest industries. Interviews reveal that prospects are generally optimistic, particularly in light of the momentum generated by green growth initiatives and related sustainability agendas, as well as the proximity to forest resources. However, the process of adaptation has become increasingly unpredictable and challenging due to rapid and sometimes conflicting changes, as well as persistent socio-economic disadvantages.

Sweden's green industries along with public agencies have for a long-time expressed concern over labour shortage as a consequence of the depopulation of rural areas. Agriculture and forestry have seen increased employment of migrant workers which has been accredited to this shortage, especially in parts of the production that is accentuated by manual work and seasonality. Just as in the wild berry industry, these workers often face precarious conditions in Sweden. However, the solutions to the labour shortage are described differently by different stakeholders. This paper explores how different stakeholders on the Swedish labour market describe their need for labour within the greens industries, particularly the spatiality of the labour demands and the green commodity chain. Interviews are made with trade unions, state agencies, municipalities, and employers. In addition, policy documents and public statistics form the backdrop to the research. We identify four main themes in the narratives: Migrant labour is dominant; Agreement that it's not easy to recruit, but the reasons why differ: The attractiveness of the industry; A growing distance between resources and industries. In conclusion, the green industries have on a structural plane chosen to solve their labour supply, which is shaped by contemporary globalization, but also that solutions can be multifaceted and dependent on the employers.

The polar regions are increasingly at the center of attention as the hot spots of climate crisis as well as tourism development. The recent IPCC reports highlight several climate change risks for the rather carbon-intensive and weather-based/dependent polar tourism industry in the Arctic and the Antarctic. This study presents the scholarly state-of-knowledge on tourism and climate change in the polar regions with a literature survey extending beyond the Anglophone publications. As a supporting tool, we provide a live web GIS application based on the geographical coverages of the publications and filterable by various spatial, thematic and bibliographical attributes. The final list of 137 publications indicates that, regionally, the Arctic has been covered more than the Antarctic, whilst an uneven distribution within the Arctic also exists. In terms of the climate change risks themes, climate risk research, i.e. impact and adaptation studies, strongly outnumbers the carbon risk studies especially in the Arctic context, and, despite a balance between the two main risk themes, climate risk research in the Antarctic proves itself outdated. Accordingly, the review ends with a research agenda based on these spatial and thematic gaps and their detailed breakdowns.

The North of Sweden is a part of Arctic Europe that includes both wilderness and expansive industrial developments. Both contribute substantially to attracting tourism. In this chapter, the North of Sweden (Arctic Sweden) is used to illustrate how and in what ways nature and nature experiences are utilised for sustainable destination development. Furthermore, that development is connected to issues of degrowth, arctification and the possibilities of regenerative tourism. Here, two cases from Arvidsjaur are used to illustrate different levels of sustainable development involved in destination planning and development: that of the private and that of the public. The cases are the Frog Spring (Swedish: Grodkällan, Sami: Tsuobbuoája), which is used to discuss public destination development in a sparsely populated place, and the dogsledding companies which are used to illustrate (as part of) degrowth ideologies on an individual level. Adding to the current debates on degrowth we want to bring together and highlight the complexity and nuance of public destination development based on ideas of sustainable development and outdoor recreation activities locally and the individual motivations for setting up and running a business based on degrowth ideologies to look at how trends affect the outcome of such endeavours. We draw on interviews, documents and publicly available online material, all of which provide insights into strategies, plans and businesses on the local level. Results suggest that although the awareness of the need for sustainable development and the will of public actors to contribute to it are high, the outcome of development and management using such frameworks does not necessarily lead to sustainable destination development as seen from a holistic point of view. This also holds for private entrepreneurs who, as individuals, are seeking a sustainable mode of life and income.

De kommande tio åren kommer att vara avgörande om världen ska nå en hållbar utveckling. Hela samhällssystem, sektorer och branscher måste ställa om. Det krävs modiga politiska beslut, nya sätt att organisera, styra och planera våra samhällen, nya affärsmodeller och förändrade konsumtionsvanor. Inget av detta är lätt eller uppstår av sig själv.

Denna bok är en översatt och omarbetad version av boken Dipping in to the North: Living, Working and Traveling in Sparsely Populated Areas, utgiven på engelska av Palgrave Macmillan förlag (år 2020). Redaktörerna för den boken är Linda Lundmark, Dean B. Carson och Marco Eimermann. Boken är utformad som en samling kapitel runt tre teman: i) vilka som lever, ii) vilka som arbetar och iii) vilka som reser inom det glest befolkade norr. Inom varje tema fokuserar kapitlen på olika former av mobilitet, migration och icke mobilitet och placerar individer som lever, reser och arbetar i norr i relation till aktuella frågor för området samt inom deras historiska och samtida kontext. Boken nyanserar vanligt förekommande myter som porträtterar glest befolkade områden som att de antingen ständigt kämpar med flertalet utmaningar eller som en tidlös lantlig idyll.

Om du har plockat upp denna bok är du förmodligen en av många som ä rintresserad av Norrland. Du kanske arbetar med utveckling i norr, samhällsprojekt på lokal, regional, nationell eller annan myndighetsnivå, eller kanske inom privat näringsliv. Kanske är du en del av en grupp studenter eller akademiker som formar och bidrar till de olika debatterna kring nordlig utveckling i eller utanför Sverige. Om du är intresserad av demografi, ekonomi, geografi, historia eller statsvetenskap kommer du att se att dessa är centrala för innehållet i denna bok.

Second home tourism has been labelled the hidden giant of tourism. Still, little attention has been given to the impact of climate change and second homes. On the contrary, planning has neglected second homes and their users, who therefore often remain invisible in public statistics. After an overview of potential climate change induced risks for second home tourism, this chapter assesses the Swedish second home stock’s risk exposure. It is shown that second homes indeed concentrate on exposed localities such as mountain, riverine, and shoreline environments. Climate models also project dramatic change for northern environments, and thus, the presence of second homes needs to be recognised in planning to adapt to the risks of property damage as well as risks for its users.

This paper examines the role of public funding in transforming tourism pathways in sparsely populated Arctic destinations, comparing Northern Sweden and Finnish Lapland. Our theoretical framework considers destination path plasticity and moments of change through the lens of geographical political economy to understand patterns of uneven development. This perspective helps explain how regional development funding driven by multi-scalar political priorities and global markets set structural conditions for tourism. We present a spatial analysis of public funding between 2007 and 2021 for private firms and public projects, complemented by document analysis and expert interviews. We find that public funding in Finnish Lapland has largely reinforced ‘Arctification’ and export-driven tourism in a few locations. In Northern Sweden, it has focused more on redistributing resources to micro-businesses and broader socio-economic development in lagging regions, yet with limited impacts on changing dominant tourism pathways. Public projects improved knowledge creation and networking among public and private actors but were largely unable to consolidate emerging pathways in the long run. Overall, regional development funding supported incremental change around existing pathways and had limited transformative effects in response to shocks or disruptive moments due to the rigid nature of funding programmes.