Project Successfully Developed Living in the Landscape (LiLa) Summer School Model
The Living in the Landscape (LiLa) Summer School: Hybrid Development Project (2023–2025) has successfully achieved its objectives in creating a multidisciplinary, culturally grounded, and socially sustainable model for international collaboration in higher education across the Nordic region.
The initiative brought together the University of Lapland (Finland), Nord University (Norway), and Umeå University (Sweden), in collaboration with regional museums and external partners from the University of the West of Scotland and the University of the Highlands and Islands.
LiLa addresses environmental, social, cultural, and economic challenges in the North and the Arctic by integrating arts, natural sciences, and humanities to support education for sustainability. The project set out to establish a hybrid, place-based summer school model that uses arts-based and multimethod research approaches to explore Nordic and Arctic landscapes and promote sustainable ways of living.
The annual programme combined online seminars, fieldwork in alternating Nordic locations, and hybrid exhibitions and publications. Digital tools strengthened accessibility and collaboration, while regional museums contributed local expertise, collections, and archives as learning environments. Engagement with local communities was central to understanding cultural and environmental contexts and to supporting small-scale sustainability initiatives.
Between 2023 and 2025, LiLa organised three summer schools in Sweden, Finland, and Norway, involving students and scholars from partner institutions. The project developed the concept, content, and pedagogy of arts-based landscape studies for integration into university curricula, creating a framework and a model for cross-sectoral collaboration. The hybrid structure enhanced pedagogical coherence and provided a foundation for future educational development in Nordic and Arctic contexts.
Project dissemination included art exhibitions and exhibition catalogues, a handbook and presentations at international conferences, contributing to wider knowledge exchange within the UArctic network and beyond.
The project received funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers via the Nordplus programme.
The project is part of the activities of the Thematic Network on Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design (ASAD).
Read more from the project website.