Changing power of geographical competencies: National parks as experiments for a multifunctional and sustainable use of landscapes

Torsten Hägerstrand’s ideas on landscape stayed as a rather general concept design which he mainly illustrated and tested through specific empirical studies. One of the most interesting examples on this mode proved in his study of the foundation of national parks in Sweden. It includes all major ingredients of his understanding of the dynamics of landscape. The study provides the possibility of a follow-up to the contemporary park-discussions on land sparing contra land sharing and the tougher conflicts between geography of neoliberal globalization and local sustainable development of the landscape. I will present a comparable follow-up with the foundation of national parks in Denmark, completed 100 years later, clearly showing the current strength and potential of his conceptualisation of landscape dynamics.