The following abstracts and information are provided on the posters that are on display, as well as the afternoon parallel sessions.
Speculative Futures and Arctic Realities: Literature at the Edge of the Polycrisis
Lena Leimgruber, PhD Student in English Literature at the Department of Language Studies
This poster explores how speculative fiction engages with the interconnected crises shaping the Arctic — including climate change, colonial legacies and cultural transformation. Focusing on contemporary literature set in the Arctic regions, my PhD project examines how narrative can reflect, mediate and challenge dominant ways of knowing in times of environmental and epistemic instability. By reading fiction alongside scientific discourse and Indigenous perspectives, the poster highlights the power of literature to make complexity legible and emotionally resonant. In doing so, it argues for the relevance of the humanities in sustainability research, particularly in contexts where lived experience, memory and identity intersect with large-scale ecological change. This approach invites a deeper understanding of transformation not only as systemic change, but as a cultural and imaginative process — vital for navigating the layered dimensions of the polycrisis.
There’s no future in ice: Lichen, Olfaction, Reindeer and Environmental Change
Tarsh Bates, Postdoctoral research fellow in UmArts, UID & Department of Molecular Biology (Co-author: Susan Hauri-Downing, Independant Artist, Australia)
Ephemeral and invisible, smell chemicals are exchanged at all scales, from cellular to planetary, flowing鈥痓etween microbes, fungi, plants, animals, soil, water and air. Odorants move through and between bodies and ecologies, integral to life processes and multi-species place-making. However, olfactory orientations are redolent with the pungent stench of colonial and capitalist over-consumption, extraction and terra-firming. Across Saapmi, anthropogenic climate change has caused unpredictable snow melts that freeze into ice, covering lichen, which is the main winter food for reindeer. Odorants produced by lichen don’t diffuse through the ice and reindeer struggle to smell and find food. This seemingly small shift has profound effects on ecologies, economies and cultures. This poster describes an artistic research project, “There’s no future in ice,” which explores how creative practices can help us better understand the olfactory relations of lichen, reindeer and ice, non-human experiences of ecological grief and loss, and responsibilities of settler-colonial consumption.
Sámi cultural endurance and the transformation of municipal services
Lieuwe Jan Hettema, PhD student in Department of Language Studies
The possibility for minoritized Peoples to influence and participate in administrative and political processes is a key element of minority rights (Weller, 2007). Municipalities in Sweden are obliged to be in dialogue with national minorities since the Minorities Act entered into force in 2010. The objective of this obligation is to include perspectives of national minorities in decision making. For this PhD project, I participated in diverse arenas designed by municipalities to be in dialogue with Sámi people. A diversity of interlocutors shared experiences and understandings of the conditions wherein transformative processes take place. The aim is to investigate with a critical assemblage analysis (Pietikäinen, 2024) processes of transforming municipal operations in the Sámi language administrative area. These processes are regarded as part of the cultural endurance of an Indigenous People. The poster presents three narratives of transformation: the job advert, the municipal kitchen, and the code of conduct.
Design for Transhumance Systems; dealing with the polycrisis through community practices
Sergio Bravo Josephson, PhD student in Umeå Design Institute (Co-author: Fernando Garcia Dory from Campoadentro (Inland, Spain).
In Madrid there is a public park of 1400 Hectares. Five years ago, we managed to get permission to graze there by the city council. We decided to take back transhumance as part of our management system and be there as winter pastures. Even if thousands of kilometres of pastoralist trails are commons connecting south and north of the country are protected by law, there are less shepherds using them because of obstacles invading the trails by farmers and infrastructures such as roads and buildings. UNESCO declared in 2023 Transhumance a mankind heritage and that could provide pastoralists and nomadic herding practices with a political instrument to influence the governments at different levels. With UN naming 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, we present designs from research activities exploring creative social practices built around transhumance systems examining strong arguments for sustainability transformation in community practices.
Real-Time Monitoring of Antibiotics in Drinking Water Using Printed Sensor Technology
Shatrudhan Palsaniya, Postdoctoral Fellow at Department of Applied Physics and Electronics
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a critical global health challenge. Amoxicillin antibiotics is frequently detected as an environmental contaminant due to extensive human activities. Our study introduces a novel amoxicillin sensor based on a flexible printed electrode, which is further enhanced by modification with a polyaniline-silver bromide (PANI-AgBr) conjugate hybrid. The practical application of this device was demonstrated by monitoring amoxicillin in a controlled laboratory environment. Amperometry sensor exhibits a wide linear detection range, spanning from 1 part per million down to 1 part per billion, and demonstrates robust selectivity, stability, and repeatability (~ 91%). This makes it highly suitable for real-time, on-site detection of amoxicillin. In terms of analytical performance, the sensor chip achieves an impressively low limit of detection of 0.410 nM within a concentration range of 0.357 μM to 0.410 nM. The DPV method further confirms the sensor’s capabilities, with a detection limit of 0.195 μM in the 10–50 μM range. The sensor’s effectiveness was validated through the analysis of real water samples, demonstrating its reliability and potential for practical deployment.
Cryotourism: Facing the polycrisis
O. Cenk Demiroglu, Associate Professor at Department of Geography
Cryotourism refers to any form of travel that takes place in ice- and snow-based environments for various purposes such as leisure, sports, adventure, wellness and, even, business/science (Bachmann-Vargas et al., 2025; Demiroglu, 2026). It can have a strong significance for socioeconomic development of remote and peripheral rural regions but is also often based and dependent on the changing weather conditions, as well as a carbon-intensive activity, hence one that is in a complex relationship with contemporary climate crisis. This poster introduces the forthcoming open-access book "Cryotourism: Facing the Climate Crisis" (ed. O. C. Demiroglu, publisher: Palgrave Macmillan), as well as its Web GIS and serious game companions, with diverse cases across the world and an emphasis on the conclusion chapter, where the future of cryotourism is elaborated in terms of a polycrisis-SDGs framework (Boluk et al., 2024; Gössling & Scott, 2025) to address broader sustainability challenges and transformation needs.
Maker Utopias
Cindy Kohtala, professor at Umeå Institute of Design (Co-author: Rickard Åström, Umeå Institute of Design, Interaction Lab; Sara Rylander, Department of Creative Studies, Teacher Education, Magnus Wink, Department of Creative Studies, Teacher Education)
Our poster will present our artistic research project Maker Utopias and interim findings from an ongoing study. We explore the material, aesthetic, technical and conceptual dimensions of maker culture futures, through the creation of miniature dioramas (Kohtala et al., 2025). Makers and hackers are technology subcultures who encourage others to actively participate in locally relevant and socially good design and production, often termed grassroots innovation. Their narratives envision replacing empty consumerism with more empowering, creative, circular, democratic and community-based production in shared workshops (fab labs and makerspaces), according to local needs, materials and resources. We ask, what does it take to build tiny sustainable solar societies in the interstices of unsustainable macro structures, in the face of hypercapitalism and the polycrisis? What do sustainability transformations and industrial transitions really look like at the grassroots? Perhaps we as a society can only create such utopias in miniature form.
Analyzing university initiatives for sustainability transformations: Insights from northern Sweden and the Netherlands
Natxo García López, Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Pamela Bachmann-Vargas, Department of Political Science and Irina Mancheva, Department of Political Science. (Co-author: Maria Kaufmann, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands)
In response to the growing urgency for sustainability transformations, universities are increasingly taking active roles through transdisciplinary collaborations, curriculum development, and institutional initiatives. This poster presents a comparative analysis of two such initiatives: the Umeå Transformation Research Initiative (UTRI) at Umeå University, Sweden and Transformative Sustainable Change in Action (TransAct) at Radboud University in the Netherlands. Drawing on our involvement in both, we examine how these initiatives enable sustainability transformations—exploring their goals, target groups, approaches, funding, and outcomes. We comparably analyze how each initiative fosters sustainability transformation, and discuss the implications of their multiple goals and target groups for their functioning and outcomes. Our analysis offers insights into how universities can structure and adapt organizational strategies to support sustainability. We further discuss whether such initiatives are sufficient to transform the institutions themselves. The findings aim to inspire other universities to critically reflect on their own efforts toward a more sustainable future.
The afternoon parallel sessions are divided into two blocks, with a coffee break in between. Below you will find full information about each session, including individual abstracts where applicable.
Att berätta (och lyssna) i en polykris: om existentiella utmaningar, meningsskapande och transformation
Annika Bünz Umeå universitet, Maria Deldén Mittuniversitetet, Carola Nordbäck Umeå universitet och Svenska Kyrkan, Caroline Owman Linköpings universitet och Ann-Louise Sanddahl Högskolan Dalarna
I denna session presenterar fem forskare olika perspektiv på berättande som meningsskapande praktik i relation till existentiella utmaningar utlösta i spänningen mellan individuella och samhälleliga kriser. Sessionen utforskar upplevelser av mening som drivkraft för transformation i olika sammanhang. Detta sker med teoretiska redskap och perspektiv hämtade från museologi, historia, kritiska kulturarvsstudier, historiedidaktik och visuella studier. Genom konstnärliga och vetenskapliga angreppssätt behandlas berättelser om kropp, kosmos, temporala processer och människans relation till det mer-än-mänskliga. Tillsammans pekar presentationerna mot behovet av nya, ekologiserande narrativ som gestaltar världen som relationell och ömsesidigt tillblivande – där berättandet fungerar som verktyg för förståelse, ansvarstagande och hållbara visioner i en postantropocentrisk tid.
Seaprata abstracts
Annika Bünz, Umeå universitet
Titel: Universum, Cancern och Jag
Presentationen handlar om en rad utforskande experiment grundade i posthumanistiska och ny-materialistiska ontologier, där jag undersöker hur Universums levande och icke-levande materia är sammanflätade i ständigt pågående processer av skapande och upplösning, och hur gränserna för mitt uppfattade Jag och en sjukdom i min kropp löses upp och smälter samman med Universum och Livet på jorden. Det jag arbetar med är kombinationer av bilder och texter som sätts samman till små delberättelser. Bilderna består av mina egna foton, röntgenbilder av min kropp och kollage av dessa skapade med redigeringsverktyg i Photoshop. Målsättningen är att hitta nya idéer att tänka med, nya berättelser att berätta andra berättelser med - nya ekologiserande narrativ som beskriver världen som relationell och allt varande som ömsesidiga tillblivanden.
Maria Deldén, Mittuniversitetet
Titel: Polykron tidsuppfattning genom film
Historia handlar traditionellt om människans tid på jorden från det att vi har skriftliga källor. Historieskrivningen har varit och är antropocentrisk i det att den skildrar skeenden och händelser utifrån människans perspektiv och erfarenheter. Den är också tydligt linjär då den rymmer berättelser som länkar mänskligt agerande från dåtid mot framtid. Men vår tids polykris reser en rad frågor om hur historiskt berättande kan transformeras att omfamna den mänskliga historien sammanflätad med andra arters historia, och planetens. I detta bidrag vill jag lyfta filmspråkets potential att fördjupa förståelsen av hur mänsklighetens historia är sammanflätad med naturens och planetens. Genom narrativ analys av filmer som på olika sätt skildrar förhållandet mellan människor, naturen och planeten i dessa tider av klimat- och miljökris, utmanas den linjära antropocena historieförståelsen till förmån för ett historiskt berättande som inkluderar och synkroniserar olika tidsskalor – en polykron tidsuppfattning.
Carola Nordbäck, Umeå universitet och Svenska kyrkan
Titel: Elin Wägners berättande i 1930-talets polykris
Journalisten och författaren Elin Wägner (1882-1949) har beskrivits som en av det moderna miljömedvetandets svenska pionjärer. Hennes debattskrifter Fred med jorden (1940) och Väckarklocka (1941) innehöll en skarp civilisationskritik där människans relation till den övriga naturen stod i centrum. I dessa böcker flätade hon bland annat samman orsakerna bakom världskrigen med det pågående jord- och skogsbruket till en gemensam berättelse om en antropocentrisk civilisation som genomsyrades av en härskar- och erövrarmentalitet. Hon identifierade perspektiv, maktstrukturer och teman som ekofeminister, ekoteologer och ekokritiker vidareutvecklade långt senare, från 1970-talet och framåt. I detta bidrag presenteras både Wägners sätt att närma sig de kriser hon identifierade och den relationella ontologi som hennes berättande resulterade i. Vidare diskuteras det samhälleliga mottagandet av hennes kritik och det avtryck som den gjorde i hennes samtid.
Caroline Owman, Linköpings universitet
Titel: Att göra djur
Människans relationer sin omvärld – till naturen och de icke-mänskliga djuren – är i ständig förändring, styrda av antropocentriska behov och begär. I det kapitalistiskt drivna industrisamhället är kommodifieringen och instrumentaliseringen av de icke-mänskliga djuren särskilt påtagligt inom djurindustrin, men också i medicinsk forskning och i läkemedelsindustrin som bygger på användningen av försöksdjur. Med utgångspunkt i detta djur-görar-fält ska min presentation handla om hur man ”gör djur” för medicinsk forskning, det vill säga kontinuerligt om/förhandlar vad ”ett djur” är och inte kan vara. Detta är i sin tur intimt sammanlänkat med vår självsyn: vad är det att ”vara människa”? I ett tentakulärt resonemang vill jag sträcka ut tanken och diskutera möjliga relationella möjligheter för hållbara framtider.
Ann-Louise Sandahl, Högskolan Dalarna
Titel: Visuell gestaltning för en postantropocentrisk tid
Det rådande antropocentriska metanarrativet där människan härskar över allt levande har lett till ekologisk exploatering och klimatkris. Narrativet är så normaliserat att det ofta passerar obemärkt, men inom det mångdisciplinära ekokritiska forskningsfältet betonas nu vikten av att få till stånd mindre antropocentriska narrativ. I en tid av polykris behövs hållbara och inkluderande sätt att förstå och visualisera de mångfaldiga och täta relationerna mellan människan och det-mer-än-mänskliga. Syftet med denna presentation är att utforska hur ett postantropocentriskt, ekocentriskt bildspråk kan se ut och hur det kan bidra till att transformera förståelsen av människans sammanflätningar med det mer-än-mänskliga. I presentationen diskuteras exempel från den klimatmedvetna och ekokritiska samtidskonsten, där det antropocentriska narrativet har ersatts av ett uttalat icke-hierarkiskt, horisontellt postantropocentriskt narrativ där människan är decentraliserad. Också exempel från reklam och medier tas upp. Teorier från posthumaniora såväl som grön och blå humaniora används.
Ele Carpenter, Professor of Interdisciplinary Art and Culture; Chair of the Nuclear Culture Research Group at Umeå University; Artist Christian Danielwitz (Denmark/Oslo); Artist Agnes Villette (France/Belgium).
How can artistic and curatorial research help to unpack the complexity of the nuclear polycrisis and create new forms of resilience? The world has entered a new era of geopolitical and environmental instability which presents specific nuclear challenges. Today the weaponization of radioactive waste sites and nuclear power plants, the rebranding of nuclear energy as "green", renewed Uranium prospecting, and the impact of rising sealevels on coastal nuclear power plants, all subvert traditional nuclear narratives.
The panel will be chaired by Curator Ele Carpenter, introducing her current research on nuclear decoloniality, with presentations by artists Christian Danielwitz and Agnes Villette, two artists whose research-based practices investigate the complexity of the nuclear polycrisis.
Separate abstracts
Christian Danielewitz (Denmark, living in Oslo).
This paper explores how artistic practice can generate new ways of sensing, knowing, and resisting within unjust systems of colonial legacies and the inequal global distibution of toxic waste and pollution. The paper draws on my field work on frontlines of resource extraction, such as rural villages in Senegal’s phosphate mining districts, and townships in the Zambian Copperbelt, where my work engages with concepts of slow violence, material witness, and investigative aesthetics to make visible the long-term impacts of environmental degradation and toxic residues. The paper situates these methods within a broader framework for socio-environmental justice and extractivism, proposing models for how artistic research can make space for voices that are excluded from conventional political arenas.
Agnes Villiette
Villiette will examine the formation of an eclectic nuclear geography on the shores of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands where three nuclear installations, all built on polders: Gravelines, Doel and Borssele nuclear power stations started operating in the same decade, in the 1970s, on the unstable marsh soils of reclaimed land. Today, rising sea levels due to global warming threaten the three nuclear plants imminently, requiring the construction of dykes and elevated buffers, which are currently being implemented. In the paper, I will consider the Gravelines swampy geography as a place where the future-oriented temporality of the nuclear sector crumbles. Threaten by the encroaching sea and surrounded by heavy petrochemical industries, Gravelines' six reactors nuclear plant epitomises the unravelling environmental polycrisis.
Matilda Marshall, Associate professor at Department of Culture and Media Studies
Climate change affects the way people understand, experience and live with weather and seasons (Bremer & Wardekker, 2024). Preparing for and meeting these changes will require engagement from different research disciplines and societal actors. This workshop aims to connect people at Umeå University who in different ways study or have an interest in aspects relating to weather and seasons and explore potentials for future cross-disciplinary collaboration (e.g. seminar series or projects). There will be no regular paper presentations, but each participant are invited to briefly (2-3 minutes) present their research interests. We will then together map interest areas and explore ideas for future collaboration. Reference: Bremer, Scott, och Arjan Wardekker, eds. 2024. Changing Seasonality: How Communities Are Revising Their Seasons. Berlin: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111245591
Annika Egan Sjölander, Professor at Department of Culture and Media Studies (chair of the session), Madeleine Eriksson, Associate professor at Department of Geography, Moa Hedström, Doctoral student at Department of Geography (tbc) and Mattias Näsman, Assistant professor at Unit of Economic History.
The aim with this session is to bring together a set of scholars from different subjects and research fields that are engaged in research of relevance for understanding the establishment and recent bankruptcy of the battery factory Northvolt in Skellefteå municipality. The Northvolt case qualify as a polycrisis in itself given the magnitude of varied investments (economic, social and environmental), and at different scales, that have been made to start the battery production in this municipality in the Swedish north. We start with a round of presentation with the participants ongoing research that relates to the subject and then engage in a dialogue. The main question the scholars will discuss together is what critical lessons we can learn from the recent development happening in the community/region from 2017 until today? The purpose is further to promote reflection and eventually also to avoid similar processes happening again in the near and distant future.
Models for transformations: From collaboration to societal and energy transitions
Karin Edberg, Stefan Jonsson and Victoria Wiberg, Linköping University.
Magdalena Sjöberg, universitetslektor, Department of Sociology, Örebro University and Department of Social work.
Gireesh Nair, Associate professor, Department of Applied Physics and Electronics,
The session is chaired by Daniel Andersson, Professor at Department of Language Studies.
Separate abstracts
Karin Edberg, Stefan Jonsson and Victoria Wiberg
Title: Societal Transformations (Linköping University): Exploring possibilities for collaboration to address the polycrisis
Societal Transformations is one out of four recently inaugurated profile areas at Linköping University. The initiative sets out a multidisciplinary knowledge agenda with different theoretical and methodological perspectives capturing changes across ecological, social, cultural, technological, and economic domains, and across spatial scales. Research on as well as for transformations is explicitly addressed. The focus is on four areas crucial for future societal development: environmental and climate change, migration, digitalization and democracy as well as environmental technology and production systems.
The vision is to act as a hub and a cultivator for innovative and ground-breaking research that analyses and contributes to sustainable development and produces actionable knowledge. We aim to explore new research avenues, train students, and develop cutting-edge research of relevance for global sustainability agendas beyond 2030. To effectively address common concerns such as the polycrisis, and to develop the profile area, we would like to explore different alleys of cooperation within and beyond academia.
Magdalena Sjöberg
Title: How to plan and build a social sustainable society in a small community undergoing the green societal transition
The green societal transition is often presented as a solution to global polycrises—climate change, geopolitical dependencies, and the goals of Agenda 2030. However, its social dimension is frequently overlooked, with emerging critiques pointing to patterns of green colonialism, particularly in rural, resource-rich regions. Husum, a small single-industry town in northern Sweden, offers a unique case where social sustainability is placed at the center of the green societal transition. Aim: explore if and how “Collaborative planning” that gather all main stakeholders (industry, municipality, civic society, residents) in a co-creative process guided by program theory and Activist research (AvR), can be a tool for creating an inclusive and attractive Husum? And if so, what are its merits and limitations? Methods: through documents, interviews, observations and Living labs, jointly mapping up: the stakeholders common Goal with the GT and planning interventions, Who(m) will do What, When and How will planning interventions be implemented and What desirable results are each planning interventions supposed to lead to, and for Which social group(s)? Findings: Consultocracy, green colonialism and social paralysis by the complexity of the polycrisis and hegemonic power structures were limitations for a socially sustainable transformation. Program theory and AvR provides planning tools for a socially sustainable green societal transition. Klondike-fever worked both as a merit and as a limitation.
Gireesh Nair
Title: Positive Energy Districts – An approach for energy transition and climate neutrality targets
Analysing energy solutions at district level rather than for individual buildings is increasingly relevant for urban development stakeholders. District-scale concepts, such as the positive energy district (PED), have emerged to drive the energy transition and sustainable urban development, expanding on building-based concepts, which widens the scope and considers interactions between energy systems. In 2018, EU launched the programme “Positive energy districts and neighbourhoods for sustainable urban development” with an aim to support the planning, deployment and replication of 100 Positive energy districts (PEDs). This is an ambitious target considering the various challenges on implementing PEDs.
The presentation provides an overview on the latest discourse on PEDs. A multi-dimensional self-assessment matrix and scoring system to assess PED projects' that may help align PED projects with broader sustainability goals will be presented.
Zia Farooq, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.
Guillaume Morel, Post-doctoral researcher Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics (USBE)
This session brings together two research perspectives on disease outbreaks: one focusing on the climate-driven spread of Aedes-borne viruses such as dengue and chikungunya in Europe, and the other on the and the other on the unequal macroeconomic burden of epidemics. Through modeling and data analysis, the presentations explore how the frequency and intensity of outbreaks are increasing, and how early, targeted interventions can mitigate both health and economic consequences. The session highlights Europe’s transition toward endemicity of Aedes-borne viral diseases and discusses implications for future preparedness.
Separate abstracts
Zia Farooq
Title: Climate-driven escalation of autochthonous dengue and chikungunya outbreaks in Europe
The rapid spread of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) poses a significant public health threat in Europe due to its ability to transmit tropical diseases like dengue and chikungunya, facilitating and accelerating the region's transition toward endemicity. We conducted a time-to-event survival analysis to investigate the period between establishment of Ae. albopictus and autochthonous dengue and chikungunya outbreaks in the European Union (EU). Our study incorporated data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on regional Ae. albopictus establishment and subsequent dengue and chikungunya outbreaks from 1990 to 2024. Our primary outcome measured time from Ae. albopictus establishment until an arboviral outbreak, accounting for land use types, demographic and socioeconomic factors, imported cases, and climatic variables. To address recurrent outbreaks, we applied the Andersen-Gill extension of the Cox proportional hazards model. Between 1990 and 2024, the interval from the regional establishment of Ae. albopictus to the first outbreak, has decreased from 25 to less than five years. Similarly, the interval from the first to the second outbreak decreased from 12 years to less than a year. Our analysis indicates that increasingly favorable climatic conditions play a significant role in this trend. A 1°C rise in mean summer temperature was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.55 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.30 − 1.85), p < 0.001, after controlling for healthcare expenditure and imported cases. Outbreaks occurred more rapidly in warmer regions compared to cooler ones (p-value = 0.088), a trend expected to intensify under extreme climate change scenarios, with projections suggesting a five-fold increase in outbreaks by the mid-21st century. Europe is moving from sporadic Aedes-borne disease outbreaks to an endemic state. Our findings underscore the urgent need for strong control measures, better surveillance, and early warning systems to mitigate the risk of disease endemicity.
Guillaume Morel
Title: Essential, non-essential, and the economics of outbreaks
This paper develops a two-sector DSGE model integrated with a disaggregated SIRS framework to study the economic impact of pandemics. Our model introduces two representative agents, each associated with a sector, and incorporates reinfection dynamics. We distinguish between essential and non-essential sectors, allowing for differentiated labor supply, consumption, and investment across sectors. Targeted interventions such as vaccination, personal protective equipment (PPE), and mandated closures are modeled and financed through taxation and debt. We find that during an unmitigated pandemic, essential sectors suffer a disproportionate economic and health burden due to higher exposure risk. However, targeted policy interventions can help offset these imbalances. PPE oriented toward essential sectors delay infection peaks, while mandated closures impose severe economic costs primarily on non-essential sectors. Our analysis highlights the role of preparedness: both the intensity and timing of interventions shape outcomes. We emphasize that early policies can reduce both health and economic losses.
Jon Moen, Professor at Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience and Jonas Westin, Associate professor at Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics.
What defines a sustainable future? Are there several futures, and what criteria should be the basis for evaluating them? In this panel discussion, researchers from different disciplines are gathered to discuss possible future scenarios, and the framework conditions needed to make them a reality. We will explore different paths – technological, economical, ecological, and social – and will invite the audience to participate actively. We hope to sketch a space for sustainable futures and the paths that may lead to them. The session will start with and introduction, followed by a panel discussion. We will then invite the audience to explore the space for sustainable futures with us.
Dorothee Bohn, Postdoctoral fellow at Department of Geography, Carina Keskitalo, Professor at Department of Geography. Additional presenters: Ulf Vannebäck, Associate professor at Department of Law; James Brown, Associate professor at Umeå School of Architecture.
Anthropogenic environmental change is increasingly felt in every region around the world. In northern areas climate change is progressing at an even faster pace than at more southern locations, resulting in large challenges as shifts between freezing and thawing conditions increase even during winter, and previously extreme weather situations become ever more common. On national and sub-national levels, climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness frameworks have increased substantially, but actual plan implementation proceeds slowly and incrementally. This session aims to discuss path dependencies in governance such as planning, building and other management frameworks and practices in relation to climate change and disaster management. We take our departure in the understanding that most societal processes remain oriented towards a status quo – an understanding that has so far been workable in a specific setting – and highlight the risks of sticking to set understandings under changing contexts, in particular that of climate change. We welcome contributions from various disciplines and hope to work towards a special issue in a journal.
Separate abstracts
Dorothee Bohn and Carina Keskitalo
Title: Path dependence in planning legislation and policy in relation to climate change adaptation: the risk of uninsurability
Habitation around the world has historically focused on water, and cities as well as towns regularly emerged by the coast or by watercourses. As a result, the built environment is today at large risk due to climate change. As planning development has to a high extent historically focused on enabling development, much of planning legislation and policy has not adjusted to this reality but can instead be seen as impacted by multiple external influences such as extreme events, court cases and insurance conflicts. This article highlights court cases and controversies around flooding in northern Finland, with the aim to illustrate both how path dependencies as major identified features in the planning system are maintained, and how possibilities for change are discussed, not the least in relation to risks for insurability.
Ulf Vannebäck
Titel: Fastighetsägarens ansvar för klimatanpassningar – principer, regler och proportionalitet
Pågående och framtida klimatförändringar medför växande utmaningar i fråga om anpassningar till ökade nederbördsmängder och höjda vattennivåer. Markfrågor, markanvändning och planering spelar en central roll när anpassningar behöver göras och det blir främst stat, kommun och enskilda fastighetsägare som, inom sitt ansvarsområde, har att hantera de frågor och problem som uppstår eller potentiellt kan uppstå. Nuvarande reglering löser inte ansvarsfördelningsfrågor fullt ut vilket också pekats på i offentliga utredningar. I den senaste utredningen, Bättre förutsättningar för klimatanpassning, SOU 2025:51, lyfts fastighetsägarens roll fram och det föreslås att ett betydligt större ekonomiskt ansvar för klimatanpassningsåtgärder ska läggas på enskilda fastighetsägare. I artikeln kommer det utökade ansvar som utredningen föreslår att vägas främst mot den kommunalrättsliga likställighetspinprincipen men även självkostnadsprincipen och den grundläggande legalitetsprincipen kommer att behandlas. På ett övergripande plan lyfts också frågor om proportionalitet där skadan/kostnaden för enskild ställs mot fördelen/vinsten för det allmänna.
James Brown
Title: Metamodernism and architectural thought: teaching architectural theory in the polycrisis
Architects have a unique responsibility and opportunity to address the challenges of the polycrisis. We are responsible for designing healthy living environments that shelter from an increasingly unpredictable and hostile climate. We can provide fast and scalable solutions to humanitarian and political crises. With good design, we can help reduce carbon emissions from the construction and operation of buildings. Students of architecture – being educated today for practice that stretches far beyond our current horizon – can and must engage with planetary imaginaries to address the polycrisis. How can we prepare architecture students for this future, which is, in all probability, going to be less secure than today? This paper will explore how teaching at Umeå School of Architecture engages with the emergent theoretical frameworks of the Metamodern episteme, the post-postmodern era since 2000 defined by war, climate change, depletion of natural resources, growing inequality, and erosion of democratic systems