Public Spheres for Deliberation on Nature? Democratic Qualities of Visitor Centres in Sweden

Bibliographic Data

ID21255416
AuthorsElvira Caselunghe (0000-0002-7551-1900, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Hanna Bergeå (0000-0003-0953-6074, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Emma Von Essen (0000-0002-9169-0064, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)
Year2019
Volume15
Issue1
Publication date2019-04-23
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Deliberative Democracy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2634-0488 • E-ISSN: 2634-0488
PublisherUniversity of Westminster Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.16997/jdd.316
OpenAlexW2940617473
LanguageEN
Citations received2

In this paper we explore in which ways and to what extent Swedish visitor centres in protected sites work as forums for public deliberation on environmental issues, such as nature conservation and natural resource management. By hosting deliberations on nature in nature the deliberation process is connected to its materiality. Nature interpretation sessions at three such centres, called naturum, were analysed to achieve a picture that displays the range of content and formats of these guided tours. To explore their deliberative democratic potential, we also examine how these nature interpretation sessions relate to societal and democratic issues in different ways. The conclusions are that naturum has an underdeveloped capacity to serve as a communicative forum for public deliberation on the environment and that the new national guidelines for naturum may contribute to renewed roles of the guide and the visitor in interpretive sessions, in which the citizen will be in focus

Aesthetics · Deliberation · Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Visitor pattern · Computer Science · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

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Open DOIOpen Access