Chair: Ninna Mörner, editor Baltic Worlds
Speaker: Paulina Rytkönen, associate professor in economic history and senior lecturer in business administration at Södertörn University
Discussants:
Johan Hegardt, associate professor in archaeology at Uppsala University; Marie Kvarnström, senior researcher at the Swedish Biodiversity Center at SLU;
Tommy Larsson Segerlind, senior lecturer in business administration at Södertörn University;
Håkan Túnon, senior researcher at the Swedish Biodiversity Center at SLU, and
Christian Widholm, historian and lecturer in Tourism Studies at Södertörn University. (TBC)

Contact: Ninna Mörner ninna.morner@sh.se
Please download: Baltic Worlds Special Section 2019:2, pp 37-89 External link, opens in new window.

The Special Section “Life in the Archipelago” in Baltic Worlds (2019:2 guest editors Paulina Rytkönen and Nadir Kinossian) deals with a number of questions related to the livelihoods of people, economic conditions, challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs located on the archipelagoes and islands of the Baltic Sea Region. While some local conditions, problems, and challenges are shared by all rural, remote, and peripheral areas, the BRS archipelagos and islands have their own unique characteristics. The theme discusses how to make a living in the archipelago and in best using the resources that the environment in the archipelago provides, while also protecting and securing the nature and ecosystems in the areas against exploitation.

On the seminar some of the contributing authors to the special section will present their articles and suggest research areas to further investigate. The seminar will focus on the dialogue on how to conduct research beneficial for the sustainability of the BSR. Questions that will be discussed are such as the following identified gaps;

- The absence of a concept for the archipelago. In policy making areas are classified as either rural or urban. The peripheral aspect is often left out in the contextualization of the archipelago.

- The challenge of sustainability from different angles. How to preserve the uniqueness in the archipelago and yet make it profitable to develop business out of this uniqueness. The need to include history and narratives as resources worth protecting, apart from ecological ones. How to respond to environmental changes such as the growing lack of water reservoirs.

- How to better understand the opportunities for creating new development paths in peripherical regions. The need to explore conditions for cooperation between actors that can establish joint solutions to common problem. How to deal with hinders such as the contradicting legislation for entrepreneurs in the archipelago.

The special section in Baltic Worlds was in large an outcome of the project “Archipelago Business Development”, financed by the Central Baltic Programme 2014-2020. The project was a collaboration between ENTER Forum Södertörn University and Novia, Åbo University.