Nora Fagerholm profile picture

Nora
Fagerholm

Associate Professor, Geography
Associate Professor

Contact

+358 29 450 4131
+358 40 708 0642
Vesilinnantie 5
20500
Turku

Areas of expertise

human-nature interactions
socio-ecological systems
landscape research
landscape sustainability science
sustainability transformations
participatory mapping
Participatory GIS (PGIS)
Public participation GIS (PPGIS)
landscape values
ecosystem and landscape services
multispecies justice
green infrastructure
landscape characterisation
land use and land cover dynamics
participatory spatial planning
national parks
outdoor recreation
3D virtual landscapes
participatory methods in 3D context

Biography

I am Associate Professor in Human-Nature Interactions and Sustainability at the University of Turku and head of the Sustainable Landscape Systems Research Group (https://sites.utu.fi/landscape/).

I hold a PhD in Geography (2012) from the Department of Geography at University of Turku. I spent my main post-doctoral research phase 2014-18 at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management. In 2018, I have also spent a post-doctoral phase at Aalto University, Department of Built Environment. In 2018-19, I was university lecturer in geoinformatics at University of Turku.


Ongoing reserach projects:

Multispecies well-being and accessibility of urban nature in densifying cities (JustTrees, 2025-26, funded by the City of Turku Urban Research Program, https://sites.utu.fi/justtrees/)

Urban Biodiversity Parks - Co-creative platforms for enhancing biodiversity, learning and community involvement in urban ecological regeneration (2024-27, funded by EU-UIA, https://www.urban-initiative.eu/ia-cities/turku/home)

Multispecies transitions of cities and regions (MUST, 2023-26, funded by the the Strategic Research Council operating under the Research Council of Finland, vice-director, https://must-project.fi/)

Transformative Cities: Coupling citizen-inspired geospatial and transformative governance methods to promote carbon neutral and climate resilient cities by 2035 (2023-25, funded by the Reserach Council of Finland through the NextGenerationEU instrument, sub-project PI, https://transformative-cities.eu)

Regions for climate change resilience through Innovation, Science and Technology (RESIST, 2023-27, funded by Horizon2020, sub-project PI, https://resist-project.eu/)

Previous projects:

Wellbeing benefits of urban green infrastructure mapped through participation and 3D virtual landscapes (GreenPlace, 2019-24, Academy Reserach Fellow project funded by the Reserach Council of Finland, principal investigator (PI), utu.fi/greenplace)

Interdisciplinary analysis of ecological and social complex feedbacks and relations linked to coastal tourism: the case of the Archipelago Sea Biosphere Reserve (Intestour, 2022-24, funded by Maragarita Salasa grant, supervision of postdoctoral researcher Liliana Solé Figueras)

Drivers and Feedbacks of Changes in Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity (CHARTER, 2020-24, funded by Horizon2020, sub-project PI, www.charter-arctic.org/).


Editorial roles:

Associate Editor of Landscape and Urban Planning (2024-)

Editorial Board member of Sustainability Science (2020-), Landscape and Urban Planning (2019-24), and Landscape Ecology (2019-24)

Teaching

I have teaching experience since 2006 at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. I have been teaching in the fields of sustainability, PPGIS/PGIS, GIS, remote sensing, cartography, urban planning, landscape management, spatial planning, regional and development geography and sustainable development at the universities of Turku, Copenhagen, Dar es Salaam and Vaasa.

Current courses:

MAAN6070 Kestävä kehitys maantieteessä/Sustainable Development in Geography, 5 ECTS (responsible teacher)
MAAN7772 GeoAI and Participatory Mapping for Sustainability Transformations, 10 ECTS (responsible teacher)
MAAN7082 Maantieteellinen asiantuntijatyö/Geography Specialist Work, 2 ECTS (responsible teacher)
MAAN7011 Maantieteen teorian ja metodologian luennot/Lectures in theory and methodology in geography, 5 ECTS
MAAN7010 Erikoistuminen maantieteessä/Specialisation in Geography, 5 ECTS
MAAN7052 Maantieteen kollokvio/Geography Colloquium, 3 ECTS
MTDK1213 Tieteen yhteiskuntavastuun projekti/Project in Social Responsibility of Science, 5-10 ECTS (https://sites.utu.fi/tyvi/en/)

I also supervise  Master's and Doctoral theses.

Research

I am a geographer and landscape researcher whose work has primarily focused on place-based assessments of people's perceptions of ecosystem services and landscapes. I have expertise in participatory mapping, often referred to as Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) or Participatory GIS (PGIS).

My research interests center on a holistic understanding of human–nature interconnectedness in a spatial context, situated at the interface of the human and natural sciences. This entails a strong place-based and mixed-methods approach, addressing social, ecological, and technological dimensions to support a transdisciplinary perspective in spatial planning and the management of landscapes, resources, and nature. Recently, I have focused particularly on exploring the diverse values of urban nature and promoting multispecies justice in land use planning.

I am one of the founding members of the Participatory Mapping Institute (established in 2020, www.participatorymapping.org), a global network of researchers and practitioners committed to advancing the field of public participation and participatory mapping beyond the current state of the art.

Publications

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Bridging senses of place and mobilities scholarships to inform social-ecological systems governance : A research agenda (2024)

Applied Geography
Gottwald Sarah, Kołodyńska Iga, Buchecker Matthias, Di Masso Andrés, Fagerholm Nora, Frąckowiak Maciej, Hakkarainen Viola, Kajdanek Katarzyn, Lau Ursula, Manzo Lynne C., Ortiz-Przychodzka Stefan, Pearson Jasmine, Quinn Tara, Rogowski Łukasz, Stedman Richard, Stewart William P., Trąbka Agnieszka, Williams Daniel R., von Wirth Timo, Zawieska Jakub, Raymond Christopher M.
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

Revisiting the sustainability science research agenda (2024)

Sustainability Science
Sahle, Mesfin; Lahoti, Shruti Ashish; Lee, So-Young; Brundiers, Katja; van, Riper Carena J.; Pohl, Christian; Chien, Herlin; Bohnet, Iris C.; Aguilar-Rivera, Noé; Edwards, Peter; Pradhan, Prajal; Plieninger, Tobias; Boonstra, Wiebren Johannes; Flor, Alexander G.; Di, Fabio Annamaria; Scheidel, Arnim; Gordon, Chris; Abson, David J.; Andersson, Erik; Demaria, Federico; Kenter, Jasper O.; Brooks, Jeremy; Kauffman, Joanne; Hamann, Maike; Graziano, Martin; Nagabhatla, Nidhi; Mimura, Nobuo; Fagerholm, Nora; O’Farrell, Patrick; Saito, Osamu; Takeuchi, Kazuhiko
(B1 Vertaisarvioitu muu artikkeli (esim. pääkirjoitus, letter, comment) tieteellisessä lehdessä)