Nora Fagerholm
Associate Professor
ncfage@utu.fi +358 29 450 4131 +358 40 708 0642 Vesilinnantie 5 Turku Office: Room 431b ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5020-0746 |
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
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)
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.
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.
- 3D Geovisualizations and Participatory Land-Use Planning – Planners’ Perspectives from Finland (2025)
- Planning Theory and Practice
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Applying multispecies justice in nature-based solutions and urban sustainability planning: Tensions and prospects (2025)
- npj Urban Sustainability
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Balancing landscape values and tourism choices : Integrating participatory mapping and the IPBES Values Typology (2025)
- AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Exploring values, rules, and knowledge around traditional hunting in a rapidly developing society (2025)
- People and Nature
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The characterisation and future sustainability of a rural landscape: using integrated approaches for temporal heritage landscape analysis in Northwest Spain (2025)
- Landscape Ecology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Why do people visit or avoid public green spaces? Insights from an online map-based survey in Bochum, Germany (2025)
- Ecosystems and People
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Bridging senses of place and mobilities scholarships to inform social-ecological systems governance : A research agenda (2024)
- Applied Geography
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Extracting sensory experiences and cultural ecosystem services from actively crowdsourced descriptions of everyday lived landscapes (2024)
- Ecosystems and People
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Key factors to enhance efficacy of 3D digital environments for transformative landscape and urban planning (2024)
- Landscape and Urban Planning
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - Perceptions on and impacts of environmental changes under multiple stressors: a case study from two communities in northern Fennoscandia (2024)
- Regional Environmental Change
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Predicting context-sensitive urban green space quality to support urban green infrastructure planning (2024)
- Landscape and Urban Planning
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Revisiting the sustainability science research agenda (2024)
- Sustainability Science
(B1 Other refereed article (e.g., editorial, letter, comment) in a scientific journal) - Using Public Participation GIS to Assess Effects of Industrial Zones on Risk and Landscape Perception: A Case Study of Tehran Oil Refinery, Iran (2024)
- Earth
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - 3D visualisations for communicative urban and landscape planning: What systematic mapping of academic literature can tell us of their potential? (2023)
- Landscape and Urban Planning
(A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal ) - A methodological framework for analyzing PPGIS data collected in 3D (2023)
- International Journal of Digital Earth
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Disconnection from nature: Expanding our understanding of human-nature relations (2023)
- People and Nature
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maptionnaire (2023) Evaluating Participatory Mapping Software Kyttä Marketta, Fagerholm Nora, Hausner Vera Helene, Broberg Anna
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Self-assessment in student's learning and developing teaching in geoinformatics - case of Geoportti self-assessment tool (2023)
- Journal of Geography in Higher Education
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Shortcuts in urban green spaces: An analysis of incidental nature experiences associated with active mobility trips (2023)
- Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Utilization and implementation of PPGIS in land use planning and decision-making from the perspective of organizations (2023)
- Land Use Policy
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)