1. An open-air museum as a mediator of environmental
awareness. The case studies of Fredriksdal and
Miljöverkstaden
Master’s Thesis
Department of Service Management
Lund University Campus Helsingborg
May 2013
Supervisor: Torleif Bramryd
Author: Konstantinos Arzanas

2. Abstract
There is an increasing interest regarding environmental preservation and the proper use of
natural resources. In this debate, a quite promising element that gains currently more and
more supporters is this of the ecosystem services approach which constructs a
contemporary way to look on environmental preservation and economic growth. For many
years, the official school curriculums characterized by a normative and factual approach
were the main channels of transmitting environmental knowledge (Öhman 2008;
Wickenberg et al 2008; Kola-Olusanya, 2005). However the last decades, a quite promising
source of environmental awareness is the practical orientation of the outdoor
environmental education conducted in open-air museums and similar localities (Kola-
Olusanya, 2005). This study attempted to identify the relation between the ecological
message of the conducted environmental educational processes and the ecosystem services
approach. The empirical focus of the study rested on the cases of Fredriksdal and
Miljöverkstaden which are two Swedish open-air museums which provide environmental
education opportunities. The main findings revealed the existence of a quite strong
sustainability discourse that includes principles from the green economy movement and
subsequently is highly related to the ecosystem services approach.
Key words: environmental education, ecosystem services, sustainability, ecological message,
outdoor environmental educational processes, green economy, ecosystem valuation, nature
commodification.

3. Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background.................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Aim and research questions.......................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Scope of the study......................................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Disposition..................................................................................................................................... 6
2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT CHARACTERISTICS OF (OUTDOOR) ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATION ............................................................................................................................................. 7
2.1 Defining environmental education................................................................................................ 7
2.2 Environmental, societal and economic aspects of environmental education .............................. 8
2.3 Evolutionary steps in educative processes.................................................................................... 9
2.3.1 The environmental education from a Swedish perspective................................................. 11
2.4 The outdoor approach in environmental education................................................................... 12
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK-LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................... 15
3.1 Unpacking the ecological message deriving from (outdoor) educational processes.................. 15
3.2 Ecosystem services – A modern way of looking at environmental conservation....................... 16
3.3 The controversial issue of economic valuation of ecosystem services....................................... 19
3.4 Concluding remarks and aiming within the research field.......................................................... 21
4. METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................................. 23
4.1 Qualitative study and multiple case study with exploratory design........................................... 23
4.2 The research context................................................................................................................... 24
4.3 Data collection methods ............................................................................................................. 25
4.3.1 Semi-structured interviews.................................................................................................. 25
4.3.1.1 Interviewing academics of environmental education................................................... 27
4.3.1.2 Interviewing employees in the localities....................................................................... 28
4.3.1.3 Interviewing municipality employees (environmental-technical office) ...................... 29
4.3.2 Documents ........................................................................................................................... 30
4.4 Data analysis................................................................................................................................ 31
4.5 Limitations................................................................................................................................... 32
5. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE CASE STUDY RESULTS .............................................................. 34
5.1 Environmental education and the city of Helsingborg................................................................ 34
5.1.1 Advocating the importance of environmental education.................................................... 35
5.1.2 Vision and communicated message..................................................................................... 36

4. 5.1.3 The driving forces................................................................................................................. 37
5.1.4 Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden as mediators of environmental education. ..................... 39
5.1.4.1 Educational targets in Fredriksdal................................................................................. 40
5.1.4.2 Educational targets in Miljöverkdstaden ...................................................................... 41
5.2 Conducted environmental educational processes...................................................................... 42
5.2.1 Characteristics of an effective environmental educational process.................................... 43
5.2.2 Theoretical vs practical approach......................................................................................... 44
5.2.3 Outdoor environmental educational processes................................................................... 45
5.2.4 Environmental educational processes at Fredriksdal........................................................... 47
5.2.5 Environmental educational processes at Miljöverkstaden .................................................. 49
5.3 Deriving ecological message........................................................................................................ 50
5.3.1 The deriving ecological message through the intended developments in the localities..... 54
5.4 Ecosystem services and their value aspects................................................................................ 56
5.4.1 Worthiness of natural benefits............................................................................................. 56
5.4.2 A financial discourse for environmental preservation......................................................... 58
5.4.3 Valuation of ecosystem services and the risk of commodification...................................... 59
6. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................... 61
7. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE LOCALITIES...................................................................................... 63
8. REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................... 66
Appendix 1: Interview guides................................................................................................................ 70
Appendix 2: Coding Matrix.................................................................................................................... 75

5. List of Figures
Figure 1: Alternative pathways to recapitulation of the resource-intensive stages of industrialization.
............................................................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 2: The overlapping cycles of sustainability................................................................................. 56
List of Tables
Table 1: Paradigms of environmental management within a spectrum of sustainability. ................... 16
Table 2: Interviewees ............................................................................................................................ 27
Table 3: Used documents...................................................................................................................... 31
Table 4: Paradigm choices..................................................................................................................... 53

6. 1
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Currently, humanity faces one of its most difficult challenges that is related to fundamental
preconditions of its existence. There is a global conflict between environmental preservation
and resource use which serves the constantly expanding human needs and wants. This
ecology balance conflict is translated to the contemporary debate between those “who wish
to protect and preserve the natural heritage of the Earth and those who are more concerned
with safeguarding economic opportunity and growth”. (Axelrod, 1994)
The traditional conservation discourse approached environmental preservation and
economic development as two separated and opposite terms. Additionally, the traditional
conservation movement had “failed to preserve biodiversity and habitat loss”. Thus, the
response to these deficiencies was the re-emergence of the ecosystem services as a quite
promising discourse into the international environmental and policy agenda. (Gommez-
Baggethun & Perez, 2011) By definition “ecosystem services are the conditions and
processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain
and fulfill human life.” (Daily, 1997). Thus basically, the term ecosystem services includes all
the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. Those benefits can be provisioning,
regulating or even no-material while beyond their description there is always an implication
that deals with their intrinsic value. This value is often translated to financial terms which
depict the profits that humanity gains from their existence or the calculated cost of their
potential loss. (Braat & Groot. 2012; Salles, 2011) Even though, the explicit recognition of
ecosystem services is a rather new phenomenon, the notion of natural ecosystems and its
significance for the society are connected to the first steps of human intelligence. The first
precise reference of ecosystem services in the modern era belongs to George Perkins March
and dates from 1864. Since then, a series of scholars contributed to the growth and
development of the ecosystem services approach which by the end of the 1970’s was
considered as important unit to study. (Mooney & Ehrlich, 1997) The discussion on
ecosystem services reached a height on 1997 when Costanza et al (1997) highlighted their
economic perspective with the attempt to evaluate the exact economic value of a specific
number of ecosystem services. Today, and after a small gap the ecosystem services

7. 2
approach seems to gain more and more supporters who apply it to look on environmental
preservation subjects.
Practically, the ecosystem services approach proposed a swift in the existing logic that puts
the preservation opposite to development, to a new logic that sees preservation as a
structural element for development. On this way, natural ecosystems were portrayed as
precious and necessary capital stocks that provide diverse goods and services to human
societies. (Folke, 2006; Gomez-Baggethun & Perez, 2011)
The growing popularity of the concept of ecosystem services made natural ecosystems a
common term in social debate. Undoubtedly, a quite efficient way to establish a deep
understanding about the value and the importance of natural ecosystems is the knowledge
deriving from education. More specifically, environmental education acquired gradually a
prominent position not only in the contemporary school curriculums but also into a range of
informal educative opportunities within the societies. (Ernst & Theimer, 2011; Kola-
Olusanya, 2005 & Fancovicova & Prokop, 2010)
One rather interesting way through which the environmental education is expressed, is the
informal/outdoor education within the context of natural parks, zoos or museums (Kola-
Olusanya, 2006). The educational processes in localities like these, are related to the concept
of ‘experience-based learning’ which according to many scholars make students to learn
better, while the first-hand experience with nature, helps in developing responsible
attitudes, and gain deep knowledge about the environment (Ballantyne & Packer, 2008;
Kola-Olusanya, 2006).
The series of conducted environmental educational processes are definitely supposed to
transmit a potential ecological message. The content of this ecological message can be
differentiating according to the aiming, to the quality or to the sort of ideological placement
of the mediator. Furthermore, the ecological message can be analyzed in terms of the
driving forces and the potential interests which are behind its sender or its manufacturer. As
Wals & Van der Leij (1997) indicate, in current reality environmental education can be
sponsored by a great number of different governmental or commercial sources, so the
ecological message may differ in terms of quality and targeting.

8. 3
Earlier research in the field of environmental education provides an adequate descriptive
picture of the contemporary environmental educational processes and evaluates their
results. But as Wals & Van der Leij (1997) criticize ”the world of environmental education
focuses too much on formulating the content and outcome of environmental education and
too little on the quality of the learning process”. Additionally, regarding the modern
preservation discourses, there is an increasing trend in adopting financial terminology in
order to construct the contemporary ecological message. There are a few researchers who
already tried to describe the value aspects of the natural benefits in societies. But since this
research field is quite new, there is still a lot of space for further investigation regarding how
and from where the contemporary ecological message is communicated, and to what extent
it is related with natural value aspects and the ecosystem services approach.
This thesis will attempt to assess the relationship between the ecological message that is
constructed through environmental educational processes and the approach of ecosystem
services. Firstly, it will focus on the qualitative investigation of the educational processes,
trying to identify the fundamental elements that construct the ecological message. This
procedure will help towards the understanding of the ecological message and then to the
effective classification of its notion according to sustainability discourse. The conducted
classification will reveal the value aspects of the ecological message and consequently its
relation to the ecosystem services approach.
The empirical focus of the study will rest on the cases of Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden
which are two Swedish open-air museums that provide environmental education
opportunities. Their function is consistent with the most contemporary educational
processes and their orientation deals with the aiming to transmit an ecological message to
the local society of Helsingborg, Sweden. Both of them are cooperating with the academia
and they are mostly funded by the municipality of Helsingborg which promotes and uses
their services in multiple ways.
1.2 Aim and research questions
The aim of the thesis is to identify the ecological message of the environmental educational
processes in two open-air localities, and to discuss its relation with the contemporary

9. 4
approach of ecosystem services. On the basis of fulfilling the aim the following research
questions are asked:
(RQ) What is the relation of open-air museums’ environmental educational processes and
their ecological message to the ecosystem services approach?
(Sq-a) How do the environmental educational processes look like in an open air museum?
(Sq-b) What is the ecological message of the environmental education processes in an open-
air museum?
(Sq-c) What are the value aspects of the ecological message in the local society?
The overarching research question (RQ) outlines the basic research target of the study. It
seeks to illustrate the relation between the ecological message of the conducted
environmental educational processes with the ecosystem services approach. The three sub-
questions try to shed light in three successive focus areas in order to fulfill the answering of
the overarching question. The first sub-question (Sq-a) aims at the revealing of the intrinsic
characteristics of the environmental educational processes which ultimately construct the
ecological message. The second sub-question (Sq-b) requires an understanding and a deep
investigation of the communicated ecological massage. This procedure will be conducted
with the help of a critical theoretical tool of weak and strong sustainability (table 1) that will
classify the ecological message between the opposite discourses of economic progress and
deep ecology. This classification will reveal the standpoint of the ecological message about
subjects like natural benefits, nature exploitation and environmental preservation. Finally
the third sub-question (Sq-c) is posed in order to expose which are the values that the
ecological message proposes for the society. Then, the proposed values will be compared to
the sustainable definition of value included in the ecosystem services approach in order to
evaluate the level of relation of the transmitted ecological message with the ecosystem
services approach.
1.3 Scope of the study
As economies across the world have become more service oriented, it is of highly
importance to study and understand all aspects of managing service (Thomson Reuters,
2012). During the last decades beyond the traditional financial services like retail,

10. 5
transportation, logistics, communication, etc., a great number of researchers include
education in the field of service industries and argue that it is crying out for serious and
further research (Larson 2009). Actually, the increasing demand for educational services is a
worldwide phenomenon that confers an economic interest next to the already existed
societal interest incorporated into education.
Environmental education is one among the many subjects which are communicated through
contemporary educational curriculums and processes. It adopts a series of discourses in
order to construct an ecological message and transmit knowledge to the society. One quite
promising approach is this of ecosystem services that highlights the benefits that people
obtain from ecosystems. Undoubtedly, this approach introduces a financial perspective plus
to the two mainstream environmental and societal discourses that were advocating
environmental issues and preservation. Already, the use of the word ‘services’ can be
controversial as it implies an anthropocentric and materialistic view in front of the values of
the nature, but according to many scholars it might be the only approach that can guarantee
the environmental preservation and simultaneously support the economic growth (Swart et
al 2007; Salles, 2011) that is requested by the existent hegemony of the neoliberal market
and enterprises.
Since this study tries to identify the ecological message of the environmental educational
processes, and discuss its relation with the ecosystem services approach, one can say that
there is a lot of space to consider the social constructiveness of certain discourses based on
the ideas of Foucault regarding the two conceptions of education: “education as
manipulation and education as communication” (Biesta 1998). Furthermore, it might be
plenty of space to assess the effectiveness of the tendency to evaluate natural benefits,
based on its results in the society (e.g. number of people with changed environmental
behavior). Instead, this thesis will pursue to describe the environmental educational
processes and identify the ecological message, in order to discuss its relation with the
ecosystem services approach and state its value aspects for the society.

11. 6
1.4 Disposition
At first, the introduction chapter (1) describes in detail the special background that intrigued
for the topic choice. Additionally, the aim and the research questions are presented. The
second chapter (2) includes a historical review of the development and the current
characteristics in the field of environmental education and especially its outdoor approach.
This chapter plays the role of a thematic background that promises to support the
understanding of the empirical case. Then, the third chapter (3) follows with the theoretical
framework-literature review. The theory section deals with concepts which are related to: a)
The notion of the message of the environmental educational processes, b) The ecosystem
services approach which is a contemporary way on looking natural preservation and c) The
controversial issue of talking about the environment on financial terms. The fourth chapter
(4) deals with the way that the empirical data were collected. There is a description of the
type of the study and the corresponding methods and techniques which were adopted.
Thereafter, the fifth chapter (5) presents the analysis and the discussion of the case study
results. Here the target is to depict the case study results and simultaneously analyze and
discuss on them in order to provide adequate answers to the research question and sub-
questions. The sixth chapter (6) includes the conclusions of the study, while the seventh
chapter (7) provides some recommendations for the localities. Those recommendations are
based on the conclusions and results of the conducted study and deal with the future of the
localities. Finally, the ninth chapter (9) contains the references from the used literature.

12. 7
2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT CHARACTERISTICS OF
(OUTDOOR) ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
2.1 Defining environmental education
In his effort to define the notion of environmental education Erdogan (2011) indicates the
development of environmentally literate individuals, and the building of responsible
environmental behaviors as the ultimate outcomes of environmental education.
Additionally, environmental education helps towards the development of an understanding
of the relation between human and his biophysical environment, whereas through its
multiple educational aspects, gives a meaning to organisms and goes beyond to give a
meaning to the nature as a whole. (Erdogan, 2011). At the same time, UNESCO (1978)
defines environmental education as a process of developing: “a world population that is
aware of and concerned about the total environment and its associated problems, and
which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivation and commitment to work individually
and collectively towards solutions of current problems and the preservation of new ones”.
While, the above statement becomes clearer through the specific goals of environmental
education stated at the Tbilisi Conference (1977): “a) Fostering clear awareness of and
concern about economic, social, political, and ecological independence in urban and rural
areas. b) Providing every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values,
attitudes, commitment and skills needed to protect and improve environment. c) Creating a
new pattern of behavior among individuals and group towards the environment.”.
One quite crucial element of environmental education is the quality and the level of the
embedded ecological message that is transmitted. Williams (2011) discusses the ways of
transmitting the concept of a green message without pushing ideas on people or turning
them away. An adequate response on that, could be the approach of Singh & Rahman (2012)
which points out that “the environmental message must be accessible and tailored to the
existing knowledge and interests of the target audience and it must also be clear,
uncomplicated and empowering” (Singh & Rahman, 2010).
An interesting debate that is raised by some critical approaches towards environmental
education deals with the query whether environmental education can be regarded as
successful when it only increases the level of knowledge and makes people to think
environmentally but not to act environmentally (Kemmis & Mutton, 2011). In the same

13. 8
pattern, Fancovicova & Prokop (2010) indicate that “environmental knowledge is an
essential precursor of attitude formation (Kaiser, Wolfing, & Fuhrer, 1999) but knowledge
and attitude usually have a weak link to behavior change” (Fancovicova & Prokop, 2010 in
Kollmuss & Agyeman 2002). However, at the end of their argumentation Fancovicova &
Prokop (2010) reveal that building positive attitudes towards the environment can at least
improve partly the effectiveness of nature protection programs and they point out that a
more experiential educative approach would be more beneficial in terms of behavioral
change and promoting action.
However, regardless the level of the transmitting ecological message and the specific
orientation of each method, environmental education is an integral part of contemporary
education and plays a significant role in developing attitudes and responsible actions of
current (adults) and future (children) citizens of the world. Whether it derived from a
popular movement to re-connect human with nature, or it emerged in response to growing
environmental concerns, it should not be approached as a trend but as an existing necessary
reality. As Duhn (2012) points out, the importance of engaging young children in
environmental learning has been recognized as a key factor for the construction of a life-long
disposition of care for environment.
2.2 Environmental, societal and economic aspects of environmental
education
Many scholars indicate a growing popularity in research about environmental education.
This could be characterized as the response of the academia towards the growing
environmental concerns that during the last decades led to a range of regulatory, policy and
educational efforts, aiming to address specific environmental issues (Ernst & Theimer. 2011).
Current environmental problems impel governments, conservation organizations and
international agencies to develop strategies in order to protect natural habitats. However, as
Prokop & Fancovicova (2010) argue, it is hardly possible to protect the nature without
increasing public awareness about the environment. Undoubtedly, one of the most effective
ways to built environmental awareness is the environmental education provided to younger
generations and adults as well. Current research indicates the multiple environmental
benefits and the conservation hope deriving from that process. For example, Barratt Hacking

14. 9
et al (2007) point out the aiming to transform children through environmental education to
“environmental stakeholders”. Since environmental stakeholder is defined as “anyone who
is or might be affected by a decision relating to environment” (Barratt Hacking et al, 2007),
the result of this procedure would be the creation of responsible individuals who are able to
take part in decision making discussions related to the future of the environment.
Additionally, Ballantyne & Packer (2009) emphasized that “active citizenship” is a significant
societal element that could be gained through a focus on environmental issues. On this way
and in order to highlight the relation between the notion of nature and society Wickenberg
et al (2008) summarize Nyden (1997) by indicating that “Societal activities are spontaneously
resulting in effects in nature at the same time as activities in nature not spontaneously are
resulting in effects in society”.
However, apart from the environmental conservation and societal benefits which are
related to the aiming of environmental education described above, it seems that there is a
range of economic reasons that push different organizations, governments and
administrative authorities to invest in environmental education. These economic driving
forces seek for the added value deriving from the “externalities” of the environment and its
ecosystems. Apparently, only a few studies investigated this field till now, so a further
research regarding the pure financial incentives that support the environmental education
seems to be needed.
2.3 Evolutionary steps in educative processes
Research indicates that over the last two centuries there were significant evolutionary steps
regarding educational practices. Those practices were highly affected by the new thinking
patterns and the new ways of knowing that emerged as parts of the parallel processes of
evolution of human consciousness and the major societal change in global level (Gidley
2011).
The model of mass public school education that developed during the industrial era made
formal education widely accessible, while during the pre-modern era, school education was
only available to the elite (Gidley, 2011). From then, the quantity of students followed an
upward trend regarding almost all the different disciplines and educational levels. As Bireaud

15. 10
(1994) argues, even regarding the higher education, the “new missions” to collect larger
number of students and give them diversified education, led to significant evolution of
pedagogical practices (Bireaud, 1994). Qualitatively, Gidley (2011) proposes three waves of
educational impulses since the beginning of the 20th
century that have been contributed to
the educational evolution. The first occurred on the early 20th
century and was expressed
through some imagination, aesthetic and creativity signals adopted in educational
approaches. The second is related to the dramatic consciousness changes triggered by a
series of “worldwide” events that occurred around 1970’s. Those were the student protests
in Paris in 1968, the 1969 Woodstock Peace Festival in the USA, and the youth peace
movement that rose against the Vietnam War. The “new age” movements of that period
began to swift the ideas about formal education and led to more alternative education
modes. The third wave of evolving education approaches was constructed by a plethora of
new-postformal or evolutionary pedagogies which have emerged particularly over the first
decade of the 21st
century (Gidley, 2011).
The pedagogical swift whether it was triggered by societal evolution or contemporary
demands of the business sector is characterized by a move from a focus on traditional
cognitive-based learning to a focus on a skill-based learning (Kass & Grandzol, 2012). While,
new emerged experiential methodologies were constructing knowledge and meaning from
real-life experience (Yardley, Teunissen & Dornan, 2012). Thus, the educational message was
broaden “beyond the simple information-processing model, based on mechanistic view of
the human being ,to a more holistic, creative, multifaceted, embodied and participatory
approach” (Gidley, 2011).
Almost the same evolutionary pattern can be distinguished within the field of environmental
education as well. Although the history of nature studies goes back to 1980s (McCrea, 2006)
and the history of nature education to 1920s (Erdogan, 2011), the roots of modern
environmental education can be sited in 1970 when the first Earth Day is described as the
culmination of the public awakening towards pollution and general environmental problems
(McCrea, 2006). The raise of environmental and societal consciousness during that period
and the simultaneous emergence of alternative educational pedagogies constructed an ideal
context for the transition from a conservative-factual environmental education era to the
foundation for the modern environmental education. The “experience-based learning”

16. 11
(Ballantyne & Packer, 2008) and the “free-choice/outdoor-informal environmental learning”
(Kola-Olusanya, 2005) are only some examples of the new emergent methodological tool-
box.
One quite significant turning point for environmental education worldwide is the tendency
that emerged after the Earth Summit of Rio in 1992. By then, environmental teaching has
changed from “the study of, in, and for the environment, to the expression learning for
sustainable development” (Wickenberg et al 2008). Within this swift from Environmental
Education (EE) to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Öhman (2008) indicates that
among the already existed teaching traditions of EE which were the fact-based, the
normative, and the pluralistic, only the pluralistic could be seen as a structural element of
the new-emerged approach. The reasoning of this was that the fact-based tradition could
not deal with the value aspects of environmental problems, the normative tradition was
found democratically problematic, and only the pluralistic was taking into account the value
dimensions and the different opinions within environmental discussion (Öhman 2008).
2.3.1 The environmental education from a Swedish perspective
Regarding the Swedish environmental education context, there are some similar
evolutionary characteristics too. Historically, the roots of environmental education in
Sweden are located in the early twentieth century, when the National School Plan was
introduced. Nature conservation and animal protection were among the basic objectives of
the Plan which was also concentrated on the social needs of the overwhelming rural-
agrarian Swedish society of that time. (Breiting & Wickenberg, 2010) Another fundamental
element that was incorporated in the Swedish environmental tradition was the concept of
outdoor life (friluftsliv *literally ‘free-air-life]) (Sandel & Öhman, 2010) which was already
very close to a sort outdoor education practices like excursions in the nature. During the late
1960s there was the rise of the new wave of Swedish environmentalism that was triggered
by the actions of a number of scientific experts who were inspired from a rather open-
minded and dynamic political system. Within a few years Sweden became one of the
pioneers of pollution prevention while it constructed a really strong environmental-friendly
reputation after the initiative to put environmental issues on the UN agenda (1970) and the
arrangement of the first major UN environmental meeting at the Stockholm Conference

17. 12
(1972). (Laesssoe & Öhman, 2010) This new wave of Swedish environmentalism was
escorted by new educational approaches which replaced the traditional views of the natural
environment as a focal point and the habits of teaching based only on pure facts. As
Karlsborn (2007) indicates in her thesis, the factual based model started to be challenged
more and more, and by the beginning of 1980s it was replaced by the so called ‘standardized
method’ which was introducing the reality-based education. (Karlsborn, 2007). Thus, in the
1980s and 1990s the outdoor education was a fundamental element of Swedish
environmental education and its main aiming was to stimulate outdoor experiences, care for
nature and behavioral change. These real-based outdoor methods are adopting even more
pluralistic approaches in the contemporary Swedish schools in order to pursue the increased
complexity of environmental and sustainability issues within the international educational
debate. (Bradley 1999; Schindler 1999 & Sund2008)
But generally, there is no doubt that the results of the Earth Summit of Rio in 1992, affected
the Swedish environmental educational processes to a great extend. A series of changes
took place, based on the adoption of the Agenda 21 which led to a more active role of
individuals in local level. The orientation shifted from ‘agony and catastrophe’ to ‘activity
deficit’ on environmental issues (Wickenberg et al 2008). This shift is mirrored through an
evolution of processes and forming of norms in the Swedish school system (Wickenberg et al
2008).
2.4 The outdoor approach in environmental education
Another crucial sector of inquiry deals with the type of the provided environmental
education and the place where the educational processes are conducted. The evolutionary
steps in the general field of education occurred during the last century, moved the focus
from knowing to doing (Datar et al, 2007), and from learning, to practice (Kass & Grandzol,
2012). This fact affected the approaches in environmental education as well. Thus, there was
a swift towards the new pedagogy category of “experience-based learning” (Ballantyne &
Packer, 2008). This advance in the educative methodology led to the emergence of the
“‘place-based learning’ approaches in environmental education and expanded the focus of
teaching beyond the classroom and outward to the surrounding place in which they are
offered” (Johnson et al, 2011). Consequently, contemporary environmental education

18. 13
research emphasizes the importance of learning experiences in the natural environment by
arguing that it increases the level of student motivation and achievement (Battersby, 1999).
This discussion adds great potential for further study in the sector of outdoor education
where academic research seems to be scarce.
According to Kola‐Olusanya (2005) the definitional spectrum of learning experiences can be
classified to three main categories. The direct experience that is characterized with an actual
physical contact, the indirect experience that is regulated and contrived, and the symbiotic
and vicarious experience that occurs in the absence of any actual or physical activity. A direct
experience can take place at a backyard of a house, at a neighborhood park, at a forest or a
ravine. During an indirect experience there could be a contact with creatures and plants
which are under human intervention and control. So an indirect experience can occur in a
zoo, in an open air museum, or in a house with domesticated or companion animals such as
cats, dogs and birds. Finally, the symbiotic and vicarious experiences deal with the learning
that is based on descriptions in television, internet, books and magazines. (Kola-Olusanya,
2005)
Meyers (2006) argues that “teaching requires the careful blending of theory and practice”
while “theory without practice is insufficient “and “practice unguided by theory is aimless”
(Meyers, R. B. 2006). The combination of these statements with the fact that learning can
happen only if the learner has a sort of relation with the learnt subject, leads to the
admission that firsthand experience of nature is one of the most significant ways to
understand the natural world and the problems or dilemmas deriving from the human
interaction with it. (Kola-Olusanya, 2005) Furthermore, there is a growing body of research
that indicates that environmental experience in childhood develops environmental concern
and makes children to learn better (Barratt-Hacking et al, 2007; Kola-Olusanya, 2005).
Typically, an environmental experience is related to a place, and many scholars highlight the
importance of the sense of the place in environmental education as it fosters pro-
environmental behavior, attitudes and emotions. The pedagogies of place can lead to ‘place
attachment’ or ‘place rootedness’ that are related to a sense of personal concern for each
place (Kudryavtsev et al, 2011).

19. 14
The above discourses lead to the emergence of terms like outdoor, free-choice and informal
education. The settings where these educational methods are conducted are locations
(other than schools) where adults and children go alone or in groups. These places if they are
not pristine and natural can be socially mediated and stimulated by the needs and interest of
the learners. They adopt an educational approach quite different from the formal curriculum
which is based on the interaction between human and environment. (Kola-Olusanya, 2005).
One very common example of such a locality could be a nature center or park whose main
purpose is “to provide opportunities for healthy outdoor recreation, and serve as informal
setting of education”. Places like this provide their visitors with the great opportunity to
have a direct experience with more pristine environments, to learn about natural systems,
the flora and the fauna of each area. This procedure may increase the awareness of how
nature is threatened by human activity, while it develops a respect and a personal
connection with the natural surroundings. Another potential locality providing
environmental education or even environmental experience is a museum. A typical indoor or
an outdoor museum can be a place where people may gain environmental knowledge
through an engaging personal or group experience. Contemporary museums adopt diverse
exhibition and learning methods in order to facilitate participatory and interactive
experience, and promote lifelong learning. (Kola-Olusanya, 2005)

20. 15
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK-LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Understanding the ecological message of (outdoor) educational
processes
Each educational process is supposed to have some results. On this way, Singh & Rahman
(2012) identify the objectives of a well structured environmental education program as
“awareness creation, knowledge accumulation, positive attitude inculcation, problem solving
skills acquisition and citizen participation” (Singh & Rahman, 2012). Those practical
implications are significant elements of environmental education processes and many
academic articles investigate their role and their potential. Certainly, the results of the
environmental educational process are part of the broad ecological message but before
investigating the results, there is space for further studying of the foundations and the
fundamental orientation that motivate the principles and the agents of environmental
education. Typically, the ecological message can be quite broad, so a critical approach is
needed in order to categorize it among the spectrum of different ideologies and point of
views which exist regarding the environmental subjects. Colby (1991) proposes five
fundamental paradigms of environmental management and human-nature relationships.
Those are described within a spectrum of moving from weak to strong sustainability (Table
1). The two edges are describing the “primordial dichotomy” of “frontier economics” versus
“deep ecology”, while in between, paradigms like “environmental protection”, “resource
management” and “eco-development” are evolving. The progression from weak to strong
sustainability involves an increasing integration of economic, ecological and social systems
into the principles of decision making and organization and human societies. (Colby, 1991)
This critical theoretical approach will help to understand and investigate the deep meaning
of the ecological message provided by environmental education. Furthermore it will help to
evaluate the content and criticize the aiming of their agents.

21. 16
Table 1: Paradigms of environmental management within a spectrum of sustainability. Colby (1990)
3.2 Ecosystem services – A modern way of looking at environmental
conservation
There is clear evidence both in academic research and in real life that during the last decades
the agents of ecological messages try to connect the conservation with some economic
benefits in their discourses. As Gomez-Baggethun & Perez (2011) argue, there is a “dominant
ontological position in western cultures that conceives humans as being separated from the
environment, and nature conservation as a concession from economic development”
(Gomez-Baggethun & Perez, 2011). This approach sees conservation and economics into
separate policy spheres and consequently decreases public interest in environmental and
biodiversity conservation. The response to this fact was the emergence of the ecosystem
services approach which is “proposed as a strategy for moving away from the logic of
‘conservation versus development’ towards the logic of ‘conservation for development’”
(Folke, 2006). While from the ecosystem services point of view, the conservation of
ecological systems is a necessary prerequisite for long-term economic sustainability.
(Gomez-Baggethun & Perez, 2011). There is no doubt that the ecosystem services approach

22. 17
might be a part of the ecological message of environmental education, and there is a big
potential in investigating their direct and indirect benefits to the society, their distribution
and their evaluation.
The term of ecosystem services includes all the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems.
Those can be provisioning, regulating and recreational or other services. Provisional services
deal with food, clean water and raw material. Regulating services imply the natural
regulation of floods, droughts and in some cases transmitted diseases. While the last group
of ecosystem services includes recreational, spiritual, non-material and supporting services
such as soil formation and nutrient cycling. (Salles, 2011) Among the fundamental elements
in the notion of ecosystem services is the subsequent message of managing economic
development under the concept of sustainable development, the bridging between nature
and social science, and the acknowledgment of environmental pollution and resource
scarcity issues. The major aiming of ecosystem services is to demonstrate the significance of
biodiversity and to rationalize that a potential biodiversity decline affects ecosystem
functions which support critical services for human well-being. (Braat & Groot. 2012)
Baggethun et al (2009) locate the origins of the modern history of ecosystem services in the
late 1970’s. Then, there was a first effort for the utilitarian framing of beneficial ecosystem
functions as services in order to increase public interest in biodiversity conservation. The
evolving during the 1980’s provided some implications of managing economic development
under the concept of sustainable development. And in the 1990’s there was the creation of a
new integrating discipline called ‘ecological economics’ that strengthened the ties between
the economy and the natural environment. (Braat & Groot. 2012).
During the last two decades, it became quite common for environmental scientists to argue
for the conservation of biodiversity by employing political and economic approaches. They
acknowledge that their main audience includes urban citizens who might have limited
background of ecological subjects. Thus, they use the ecosystem services approach as a
‘common language’ and as an effective message-transmitting tool. In other words through
the ecosystem services approach the ecosystems are translated into ‘natural capital stocks’
that provide diverse goods and services for human societies (Bagethun & Perez, 2011). More
specifically, the ecosystem services are examined in relation to their benefits that are related

23. 18
to three different economic categories, the goods the services and the cultural benefits. As
goods are defined the products obtained from ecosystems either for direct consumption or
as industrial inputs. The services refer to recreational benefits or certain ecological
regulatory functions. And finally, the cultural benefits are related to scientific knowledge,
heritage and feelings. (Salles, 2011)
Practically, the ecosystem services approach plays a crucial role at the implementation of the
green economy principles which are promoted from the United Nations Environmental
Program (UNEP). Green economy for UNEP is “one that results in improved human well-
being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological
scarcities” (UNEP 2011). This approach seeks to solve the fundamental conflict between
environmental preservation and resource use that was described at the introduction of this
paper. More specifically, it argues that the economic growth can coexist with sustainability
(Ten Brink et al 2012) as the economic growth can be decoupled from the environmental
degradation.
Historically, it has been proven that any potential increase at the level of development is
related with higher environmental risks and damages (Figure 1, environmental Kuznets
curve). The UNEP proposes the adoption of the ecosystem services approach which in
cooperation with some advanced eco-efficient technologies can avoid the resource-intensive
stages of industrialization. This scheme leads to the tunneling in the environmental Kuznets
curve (Figure 1, environmental Kuznets curve) and it is highly proposed to the new-emerged
global industrial powers. (Swart et al 2007)
Figure 1: Alternative pathways to recapitulation of the resource-intensive stages of industrialization.
Retrieved from Swart et al (2007) based on Munasinghe (1999)

24. 19
In other words, supporters of the green economy movement as well as official
representatives of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) argue that using the
ecosystem services approach, humanity can decouple the economic growth from the
environmental harms. Through the tunneling (or leapfrogging) which is depicted in the
above figure (Figure 1) the economy has the opportunity to reach higher levels of
development and skip the drawbacks that by definition accompany economic growth and
industrialization. Such drawbacks stigmatized the environment during the industrial
revolution and continue to threat different ecosystems around the world. Consequently,
ecosystem services seem to construct a really promising strategy that will allow the
coexistence of development and environmental preservation.
3.3 The controversial issue of economic valuation of ecosystem services
Actually, one quite controversial discussion is this of the economic valuation of ecosystem
services which many times opens the debate of monetizing the nature. Salles (2011) defines
ecosystem services as conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems and their
biological constituents allow and sustain human life. According to that there are definitely
many reasons to consider that ecosystem services have both utilitarian and intrinsic values.
Additionally, during the last decade many “environmental scientists have advocated the
economic valuation of ecosystem services as a pragmatic short-term strategy to
communicate the value of biodiversity in a language that reflects dominant political and
economic views” (Gomez-Baggethun & Perez, 2011). Based on that, some countries such as
Sweden are introducing methods like the “green GDP accounting” that entail treating
ecosystem services as a stock (Alexander et al, 1997). While, existing schemes in the public
dialogue like “PES Payment for Ecosystem Services” (Spangeberg & Settele, 2010) promote
the monetized concept of ecosystem services. Contrary to those, there is a range of
discourses indicating that economic valuation is likely to lead to the commodification of
ecosystem services with potentially counterproductive effects for biodiversity conservation
and equity of access to ecosystem benefits (Gomez-Baggethun & Perez, 2011). This
controversy has a prominent position in the public debate and undoubtedly constructs an
interesting context for further research.

25. 20
The emergence of this debate brings the need of a further investigation of the multiple
aspects of value in the core of discussion. Values are norms that allow judging if something is
good, beautiful, true or moral in an individual or collective level. While the analysis of value
can adopt objectivist approaches that tend to create an universal hierarchy among things, or
subjectivist ones that relate the value to its relatively desirability (Salles, 2011). Regarding
the valuation of ecosystem services there are two dominant approaches, the ecological
valuation that cares mostly about the environment, and the economic valuation which puts
human needs first (Spangenberg & Settele, 2010). Salles (2011) argues that the concepts and
methods of valuating ecosystems have progressively emerged having their roots in the core
of the economic theory of value. According to that, things should be valued based on their
utility or scarcity. However, this totally anthropocentric approach raise some queries,
because humans are only one among the many species in an ecosystem and the values they
place on it may differ significantly from the maintenance values of the ecosystem itself
(Farber et al, 2002).
The increasing efforts of contemporary science and policy to value ecosystem services in
monetary terms lead to the concept of commodification of nature. This refers to the
expansion of market trade to the field of nature which was previously a non-marketed area
(Gomez-Baggethun & Perez, 2011). And as expected, that fact arises several lines of
criticism. Firstly, there is a series of ethical reasons pointing out that some things ought not
to be for sale. It also includes mystification notions as it transforms a symbolic value into an
objective and quantifiable relationship. Additionally, there are a few problems involved in
the treatment of things that are not produced by humans as commodities. Finally,
commodification addresses equity issues in the distribution of natural benefits, because
since something is transformed into commodity it can be accessed only by those having
purchasing power (Gomez-Baggethun & Perez, 2011).
Consequently, the subject of whether valuation/monetization of ecosystem services can be
detached from commodification processes, seems to be a key query. To address that, many
scholars indicate a mandatory distinction between goods/services and commodities (Gomez-
Baggethun & Perez, 2011), while others point out the necessity to refer to the Aristotelian
discourse that first distinguished the difference between value in use and value in exchange

26. 21
(Farber et al, 2002). Though, the ethical, mental and educational background of each society
plays a significant role in the way it views and treats its environment.
However, it should be admitted that nowadays the evaluation concept turns to be quite
effective and successful. More specifically, the economic discourse on ecosystem services
already holds a prominent position among the majority of the most well-known educational
institution, while more and more people start to use it in their everyday discussions.
Furthermore, the ‘evaluated’ ecosystem services place nature as a realistic value in the
‘econosphere’ (economic sphere). That means that the environment is converted into equity
and the right to pollute is available on the stock exchange. There is no doubt that these facts
escalate further the controversy and the ethical debate, but on the other hand many
scholars indicate that this approach might be the latest weapons to defend the environment.
And that because this evolving turns environmental preservation to a contemporary
financial subject and moves it beyond the interest only of activists and NGOs, while it pushes
towards a more effective legislation of environment preservation.
3.4 Concluding remarks and aiming within the research field
The conducted literature review revealed that there is a growing academic interest regarding
the functional aspects of environmental education. This interest includes the investigation of
the fundamental principles of environmental education and its significance for the society.
There are already many of researchers who tried to provide a detailed description of the
contemporary environmental education processes and evaluate their effectiveness in terms
of their impacts and results.
Additionally, it becomes obvious that contemporary ecologists tend to use more and more
financial terminology in order to advocate the need of environmental preservation and
construct an accessible and modern ecological message. This phenomenon of integrating
economic discourses in the ecological message can be described effectively through the
approach of ecosystem services. While till now, the valuation of the human benefits deriving
from nature was examined by several researchers who argued for its advantages as well as
for some of its challenges which are related to the debate of a commodified nature.

27. 22
This study will attempt to make a further step in the investigation of environmental
education processes by recognizing how and to what extend the ecological message of an
open air museum, is related to the ecosystem services approach. Though, it will try to
describe qualitatively the environmental educational processes in order to identify the
ecological message of them. The ecological message will be classified according to a critical
theory of weak and strong sustainability (table 1 Colby 1999), and based on this evaluation
there will be an effort to discuss the level of relation between the ecological message and
the value aspects which are incorporated in the ecosystem services approach.

28. 23
4. METHODOLOGY
4.1 Qualitative study and multiple case study with exploratory design
As mentioned above, this study aims to identify the relation between the ecological message
of environmental educational processes, and the approach of ecosystem services. This target
requires a thorough investigation of the environmental educational processes and the
ecological message itself. In other words, it attempts to build a holistic picture about the
processes that construct the ecological message and not to evaluate the results of those
processes in the society. Thus, the study will adopt a qualitative methodological approach
which by definition tends to be concerned with words rather than numbers (Bryman, 2001).
Only if the study would be orientated in the results of the environmental education (e.g.
number of people with changed environmental behavior) a quantitative approach could be a
potential method to chose.
More specifically, Bryman (2001) indicates that the qualitative research focuses on the
interpretation of the social word (Interpretivism) and approaches the social context as a
“result” constructed by individuals (Constructionism). According to these only a qualitative
approach can investigate the deeper meaning and the ecological discourse of the conducted
environmental educational processes which of course are constructed by individuals.
Additionally, the study adopts an inductive approach and this fact implies that any observed
similarity between the ecological message in the two localities can be considered as general
valid (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2009). Although it will not be possible to draw general
conclusions about the ecological message in all the open-air museums, the inductive
approach will still provide the possibility to point out general valid connections.
Since the study attempts to describe a relationship through the building of a holistic picture
of the contemporary environmental educational processes, a multiple case study of two
organizations which provide environmental educational opportunities is appropriate.
Contrary to the view of Dryer & Wilkins (1991) (in Bryman, 2001) for multiple case studies,
here the focus is orientated to the specific context with no any tendency to contrast or
compare the cases. Consequently, the study adopts an exploratory research design which
will contribute in the field where research seems to be scarce.

29. 24
4.2 The research context
Fredriksdal is an open air museum in the city of Helsingborg. It extends over an area of
360.000 square meters very close to the city center, and it includes a number of buildings,
gardens and animals aiming to communicate the cultural heritage as well as the
characteristics of the flora and the fauna of Scania. It also hosts temporary exhibitions and
events which are related to traditional and environmental aspects of the area. One of the
main target groups regarding its visitors, are students and children with families who have
the opportunity to gain a firsthand experience of the traditional habits and of the original
natural landscape of their region. Fredriksdal attracts also tourists and provides guided tours
whose basic orientation is educational as well.
Miljöverkstaden is the “environmental workshop” of the city of Helsingborg. It could be
characterized as an alternative interactive open-air museum where city inhabitants have the
opportunity to gain sensory experiences which are linked to knowledge and understanding
of the environment. Almost every student of the city visits Miljöverkstaden between 3 or 4
times before finishing the basic education, in order to elaborate on the potential of a
healthier city environment in terms of public transportation, waste management, water and
energy consumption and many others. Additionally, since the last one and a half years,
Miljöverkstaden is a part of a program of the municipality according to which every single
employee of the municipality is supposed to visit the locality for an environmental
educational seminar.
The reason why Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden were chosen as the two cases of this study
is that they both offer environmental educational opportunities. More specifically, they
adopt contemporary outdoor and informal environmental educational processes in order to
promote the experiential learning about the environment. They include environmental,
societal and economic aspects in their discourses, while they are definitely transmitting an
ecological message to the local community. These facts make them two extremely
interesting cases in order to investigate how the ecological message of environmental
educational processes is related to the approach of ecosystem services.

30. 25
4.3 Data collection methods
Before entering the empirical field and starting the data collection, some introductory
discussions with representatives of Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden where conducted. Those
discussions accompanied with a guided tour in both localities, provided an initial
understanding of the two cases and allowed a first contact with the educational processes
which are adopted. This was followed by a discussion with a professor of environmental
studies, and a thorough literature review on concepts such as environmental education,
outdoor education, ecosystem services, valuation of ecosystems and others. The main
purpose of these initiatives was the gaining of a general understanding of the subject that
proved crucial during the data collection and the analysis procedure.
The two adopted methods in collecting the empirical material are personal interviews and
documents. The qualitative nature of the research and the need for a deep understanding of
the content of the ecological message of educational processes, make personal interviews a
suitable research technique for the study. As Smith (2010) indicates, queries about how
people think and feel about certain issues and experiences cannot be answered through the
use of structured questionnaires but only through personal interviews. Moreover interviews
are those which promise to yield rich insight into the opinions of people (May, 2001).
According to Bryman (2001) researchers of social phenomena who conduct interviews, are
used to employ also another method in order to achieve greater confidence in findings and
to accomplish the so called triangulated knowledge. Thus, in this study, the second source of
data is a variety of documents that provide knowledge about the vision, the function, and
the historical evolution of the localities, as well as they describe specific educational
processes and the multiple engagements with environmental education.
4.3.1 Semi-structured interviews
Semi-structured interviews were chosen to be the primary data collection method. “These
type of interviews are said to allow people to answer more on their own terms than the
standardized interview permits, but still provide a greater structure of compatibility” (May,
2001). Smith (2010) argues that semi-structured interviews give the opportunity to “explore
issues in much more depth than it is possible through structured questionnaires”. And
although the interviewer is freer to probe beyond the answers (May, 2001), Smith (2010)

31. 26
guaranties that the voice and thoughts of the interviewee are those to be heard, rather that
the opinion of the interviewer.
As Bryman (2001) point out, according to a semi-structured interview manner, the
interviewer has a list of questions often refer to as an interview guide. In this study three
different interview guides were constructed which had the purpose to control and lead the
interview process in line with the relevant research fields. Thus, all the related concepts
described in the theoretical part were waved into the interview guides in order to reveal
their practical implication. Consequently, the biggest part of the interview was dedicated to
the theory-driven questions which were aiming to make the implicit knowledge of the
interviewees, more explicit (Flick, 2006).
As it can become obvious from the fact of the existence of three different interview guides
(appendix 1) the needs of the research, led to the emergence of three different interview
groups. These were the group of academics and professors of environmental studies, the
group of the employees in the localities, and the group of the employees at the technical
and environmental office of the municipality.
During the first stage of the informants’ selection a purposive sampling strategy was
adopted. As Bryman (2001) certifies, this strategy is able to establish a good correspondence
between research questions and sampling. So the criterion of selecting was a potential
relation with the environmental educational processes conducted in the localities or a deep
knowledge in the field of environmental education. The first contact info derived from the
social and academic network of the supervising team of the author of the thesis. Secondly,
and when the first interviews were already conducted a snowball sampling technique
(Bryman, 2001) was used for approaching other interviewees especially within the localities.
More specifically the first interviewees were asked to recommend some of their colleagues
after the end of each interview. This procedure led to the overall selection of the necessary
number of 13 interviewees presented in table below (table 2).

32. 27
Title Length of interview
recording
Number of transcript
pages
Sinikka Neuhaus
Dean of department of education at Lund University
52 min 11
Per Wickenberg
Professor at Lund University
1h 17 min 15
Thorbjörn Laike
Associate Professor at Lund University
49 min 9
Klas Nyberg
Director/teacher in Miljöverkstaden
41 min 9
Ingemar Nyman
Teacher in Miljöverkstaden
55 min 10
Annika Jonasson
Teacher in Miljöverkstaden
48 min 11
Karin Hjelmér
Teacher in Fredriksdal
52 min 10
Jakob Sandberg
Scientist/botanist at Fredriksdal
54 min 11
Charlotte Alheim
Responsible for guiding at Fredriksdal
44 min 8
Linnea Folkesson
Environmental strategist at Miljöbyrå of Helsingborg
1 h 10 min 14
Sofia Mattsson
Environmental strategist at Miljöbyrå of Helsingborg
1 h 5 min 14
Widar Narvelo
City Ecologist at the technical office of Helsingborg
1h 2 min 12
Fredrik Bengtsson
Ecologist at the technical office of Helsingborg
57 min 9
Table 2: Interviewees
Each interviewee was invited for the interview through an e-mail that was accompanied with
an attached file with a brief description of the study. All the interviews were took place at
the respondents’ offices or close by the office in a common area. Additionally, each
interview started with a brief presentation of the research aiming, and each interviewee was
asked for his or her consent in recording the interview.
4.3.1.1 Interviewing academics of environmental education
The choice of 3 academics engaged with environmental education studies and research, as
expected, proved quite beneficial for the evolution and the academic consistency of the
research. Among others, they verified essential definitions of used concepts and they
provided insights about contemporary environmental educational processes and discourses.

33. 28
The posed questions targeted to elicit data related to the current environmental education
methodology, and the existing trends that affect the contemporary ecological discourse. For
this reason nine different thematic fields were included within the used interview guide.
These were related to: a) personal background, b) type of engagement with environmental
education, c) driving forces behind environmental education, d) contemporary
environmental educational processes, f) the outdoor perspective, g) the modern ecological
message, h) the ecosystem services approach, i) the debate of valuation of ecosystem
services, and j) their personal opinion about the future of environmental education.
After the first interview the questions and follow up question were re-examined. While,
there has been some necessary changes in order to meliorate the understanding and the
flow of the interview.
4.3.1.2 Interviewing employees in the localities
People who are working for Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden are regarded as the core
respondents for the aim of the study. They are teachers, guides, course and exhibition
developers who conduct the environmental educational processes and transmit the
ecological message. They had a catalytic contribution towards the understanding of the role,
the vision and the functional aspects of the localities.
The questions to them were targeting to investigate the aiming behind the educational
processes, and to understand the notion of the ecological message. The interview guide
maintained the nine thematic fields, but this time the followed up questions were
concentrated mostly to the conducted environmental educational processes and to the
characteristics of their ecological message. More specifically, the interview guide attempted
to shed light on the thematic areas of: a) role of the interviewee in the locality, b) type of
engagement with environmental education, c) discourses of environmental education, d)
conducted environmental educational processes, f) the outdoor activities in the locality, g)
the ecological message, h) the engagement with ecosystem services approach, i) the debate
of valuation of ecosystem services, and j) their personal opinion about the future of the
locality within the city context.

34. 29
Despite the existence of the interview guide, in the majority of the interviews, the discussion
led to further and wider descriptions that revealed the targeting of the adopted educational
methodology, and personal insights of the interviewees.
4.3.1.3 Interviewing municipality employees (environmental-technical office)
One rather interesting group of respondents, at the effort to identify the notion of the
ecological message of the two localities, was this of the municipality employees. More
specifically, they are people who work for the municipality of Helsingborg and their main
aiming is to elaborate on ideas and implement practices which will lead to a more
sustainable future for the city of Helsingborg. They cooperate extensively with the localities
of Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden and their actions reveal the interest of the municipality
to invest on environmental education.
The conducted interviews with them had the orientation to discuss the driving forces behind
the interest of the municipality for environmental education and to what extent these forces
were taking part in the construction of the ecological message. Furthermore, there were
questions trying to clarify how the city authorities valuate the nature and if there are
financial approached in this valuation. Consequently, the interview guide was mostly
focused on the above fields while its specific thematic areas were: a) position of the
interviewee in the municipality, b) experience with environmental education, c) significance
of environmental education, d) ideal environmental educational processes, f) the outdoor
approach, g) the ideal ecological message, h) awareness of the ecosystem services approach,
i) the debate of valuation of ecosystem services, and j) their personal opinion about the
environmental future of the city.
Sometimes, and especially during the first interview it was needed to provide further
explanation about the definition of two academic concepts in order to avoid
misunderstandings. After that there were some necessary changes as well as some essential
definitions were provided from the beginning.

35. 30
4.3.2 Documents
As it was already mentioned, before entering the empirical field and start the data
collection, some introductory discussions were conducted in both localities. More
specifically, there were two arranged meetings, one in Fredriksdal and the other in
Miljöverkstaden. Apart from the interesting information that derived from the discussion
with the representatives, the author was provided with a series of documents related to the
localities. These were official documents such as annual reports, mission statements,
advertisements (Bryman, 2001), maps, and guides which were shaping an initial
understanding for the role and the function of each locality. Even if those documents “have
not been produced for the purpose of social research” (Bryman, 2001), they were extremely
useful complements offering a further understanding of the cases. Actually, they provided
essential “pre-knowledge” that supported the interview procedure and upgraded the level
of communication between the interviewer and the interviewee. The details of these
documents are presented in the table below (table 3).
Document Source of
document
Content Language Nr. of
pages
Scenario 2035: A colorful
and forward-looking city!
Municipality of
Helsingborg
Strategic plan that defines the
objectives/priorities of the city till
2035.
Swedish 19
Environment Programme
for the city of Helsingborg
2011-2015 / Energy
Strategy 2035
Municipality of
Helsingborg
Short guide of a five year
environmental policy program. /
Description of the strategic
energy plan of the city till 2035.
English 38/32
Water and environmental
quality in Jordbodalen-
Gåsebäcken
Municipality of
Helsingborg
Quality research and future
potential of an implemented
environmental project.
Swedish 25
Miljöverkstaden:
Education and program
school year 2012/2013
Miljöverkstaden The mission of the organization
and description of a series of
offered programs and events.
Swedish 31
ICLEI Case study of
Helsingborg, January
2013
Miljöverkstaden
Municipality of
Helsingborg
The role of Miljöverkstaden in
environmental education and
participation for sustainability.
English 8
Fredriksdal museum and
gardens. Schoolprogram
2013.
Fredriksdal School guide regarding the
different programs and events
that offered during the year.
Swedish 18

36. 31
Fredriksdal museum and
gardens: Summary of
operations 2012
Fredriksdal Description of the initial
targeting. Implemented actions
and partial evaluation of results.
Swedish 12
Annual report 2012 Fredriksdal Evaluation of the year in terms of
number of visitors, goal achieving
and mission of the organization.
Swedish 5
Table 3: Used documents
4.4 Data analysis
All the audio files from the interviews were completely transcribed in the exact wording. As
Smith (2010) argues content analysis can be used to analyze sources of text including sound
recordings. Since, coding “is a crucial stage in the process of doing content analysis”
(Bryman, 2001) thematic coding was chosen as the most appropriate for this study. The main
reason for this choice can be summarized in the fact that the initial aiming of the study is to
conduct an analysis based on the theoretical approaches raised in the literature review
(thematic analysis), thus thematic coding is the one appropriate (Given, 2008).
For convenience and efficiency reasons, a matrix (appendix 2) with core themes that were
anticipated to be founded was developed. Given that the empirical data for analysis were
collected through semi-structured interviews, “some themes will be anticipated in the data
set because those concepts were explicitly included in the data collection” (Given, 2008). For
this reason many of the codes are highly related to the literature review.
The practical coding of the transcribed interviews was divided into two stages. At first a
series of relevant statements and paragraphs were labeled according to the initial themes.
After that the labeled abstracts were placed to the relevant box of the coding matrix.
Although, “at this stage of the analysis the coding categories are more heuristic than
analytic” (Given, 2008), some necessary adjustments at the themes and sub-themes were
made.
The main target of the analysis was to depict the case study results and simultaneously
discuss on them in order to provide adequate answers to the research question and sub-
questions. Structurally, the analysis part follows the core thematic areas as they were
developed and emerged during the theoretical search. The empirical findings are presented
through specific quotes and the following discussion analyzes critically the facts according to
the needs of the study.

37. 32
4.5 Limitations
As it was already stated the study adopts a thematic analysis that tends to connect the
empirical findings with the initially formulated theoretical approach. That fact may arise
some limitations regarding the openness of the study towards new emerging findings. This
limitation and the risk to conduct an analysis only influenced by existing theories and
findings, could be overcame through an open stance towards the interpretations of the
respondents, and a careful elaboration of new emergent themes from spontaneous answers.
Both measures were adopted in the current study in order to overcome this potential
limitation.
While there was a significant effort to construct an interview guide that could guarantee the
neutrality from the side of the interviewer, the risk of subjectivity may remain due to the
existence of a range of follow up questions which raised spontaneously and along with the
flow of the discussion. Nevertheless, the expression of personal opinions or judgments that
could influence the interview was avoided from the side of the interviewer.
Another limitation could be related to the ‘language matter’. All the interviews were
conducted in the English language but English was neither the mother language to the
interviewees nor to the interviewer. Fortunately, both sides were proficient in English and
there was a proper communication during the whole process.
Finally, there is no doubt that the achievement of quality in social research is highly related
to the characteristic of trustworthiness. In other words two of the most prominent criteria in
evaluating social research are reliability and validity, while generally, validity presumes
reliability (Bryman, 2008). By definition reliability refers to the degree to which research
findings are similar to previous studies or can be similar to future ones. For this reason
reliability is more related quantitative research which is mostly concerned with stable or
repeated measurements. (Bryman, 2008). In the current qualitative research which deals
with personal opinions of different people and their interpretation from the author, validity
and reliability are difficult to assess. However, some specific measurements were taken in
order to enhance trustworthiness. Among them, particular attention was given at the
construction and the coherence of the interview guides as well as the clarification of vague
responses with follow up questions. Also there was a detailed description of every part of

38. 33
the research process, while there was a cautious attitude in making general statements on
the empirical findings. (Flick, 2006)

39. 34
5. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE CASE STUDY RESULTS
5.1 Environmental education and the city of Helsingborg
There is no doubt that Helsingborg can be included in the list of the most active and
successful cities of Sweden regarding environmental preservation and sustainability. This
characteristic is almost a tradition for the city which was famous for its pioneering methods
in waste management already from the 80’s. In 2009, it was awarded from the
environmental magazine Miljöaktuellt as the most sustainable city in the country, while
currently, it is one of the twelve Swedish municipalities which are taking part in the
international action for biodiversity (ICLAY). On that way, Widar Narvelo one of the
respondents who is the city ecologist of Helsingborg pointed out the tendency of local
politicians to highlight the ‘environmental achievements’ of the city in their discussions:
“Our politicians are very eager to talk about Miljöbyrå, Miljöverkstaden and the
other things we do in Helsingborg when they are in other cities or they are
traveling abroad.”
Historically, one quite crucial period regarding the environmental debate among the city
stakeholders encountered in the late 80’s when the high levels of pollution in the Baltic Sea
led to big environmental problems. More specifically in 1988 a big number of seals were
found dead at the coastline of Helsingborg, the reason was unknown and bathing was not
recommended. It was that year when a local newspaper organized a demonstration for
environmental problems where 10.000 of citizens took part. (Narvelo, interview 2013).
According to the respondent Klas Nyberg who is the director of Miljöverkstaden, that
situation led to a noticeable incensement of interest for the environment with multiple
results at different levels of the social life:
“*…+ the social discussion made politicians here to thought and encourage more
school education towards the environmental direction.”
That period was significant for Miljöverkstaden as well, whose foundation was held in 1989.
Since then, it is engaged with the provision of environmental education to the students and
the citizens of Helsingborg. Its function is accompanied by the open-air museum of
Fredriksdal which apart from its remarkable recreational offerings, is also well-known for its
educative purposes. Both have multiple contributions to the local community but mainly
they can be characterized as essential tools of providing environmental education and
awareness.

40. 35
5.1.1 Advocating the importance of environmental education
Supporting the argument of Prokop & Fancovicova (2010) that it is hardly possible to protect
the nature without increasing public awareness about the environment, Per Wickenberg a
respondent and a professor in Lund University noted:
“In my view environmental education in a broader sense *…+ is of vital
importance, vital importance, otherwise we have no future. If we are not taking
care of the society, the nature and the resources in it, the threats are very big.”
In an effort to make a further step and connect environmental education with the potential
of action towards preserving the environment, Sofia Mattsson who is an environmental
strategist in the environmental office (Miljöbyrå), remarked:
“Absolutely! Environmental education is one of the most important things to
have. But it’s not the only important thing. Because I mean education -- If
education would be everything, no one would smoke today. *…+ So you have to
find the other motivating stuff that goes along, like inspiration.”
That fact is highlighted further by Thörnbjörn Leike, an associate professor of environmental
psychology in Lund University who pointed out during the interview that within the research
field:
“We understood that it’s not only a question about environmental education and
cognition, it’s also about the emotional relation. *…+ If you have a more positive
relation towards the nature, you seem to be more aware of your own behavior,
to behave in a more environmental way.”
As it was indicated in the theoretical part, there is no doubt that environmental education
has to be considered as a key factor for nature preservation as well as for the existence of
contemporary societies (Duhn, 2012). It is also quite interesting that the respondents
revealed another feature that deals with the need of something further, or something
deeper regarding environmental education. This discourse can be connected to the
“effectiveness discussion” that is expressed through the query whether environmental
education can be regarded as successful if it only make people to think but not to act
environmentally (Kemmis & Mutton, 2011). This vital connection between the
environmental awareness deriving from education and the tendency to act environmentally

41. 36
seems to be a high priority for the authorities of the city of Helsingborg. Sofia Mattsson
indicated that:
“The goal is to make every person employed here in Helsingborg stad (city), to be
a good example, that we do the best, that we don’t create so much garbage, that
we save energy and so on”
This statement describes the orientation of the city aiming and justifies the initiative of the
municipality to offer to all its employees, environmental education seminars that are
conducted in the locality of Miljöverkstaden. Actually, this project concerns more than 7000
people and undoubtedly reveals the level of significance of an effective environmental
education according to the city authorities.
5.1.2 Vision and communicated message
One really remarkable fact that became clear during the interview process is that the vast
majority of employees who were interviewed in the two localities and in the municipality,
were aware of the vision of the city of Helsingborg and many of them described in detail the
objectives included in this. It seems that the vision is derived and transmitted from the
administrative authority level and it is expressed clearly through many official documents of
the municipality:
Helsingborg shall be Sweden’s most attractive city for people and companies”
(retrieved from the environment program for the city of Helsingborg 2011-2015,
p.4)
In order to achieve this vision the city adopts a long term environmental work where
different environmental programs are applied. Linnea Folkesson who is an environmental
strategist in Miljöbyrå stated:
“We have environmental programs that are running for 5 years *…+ in order to
achieve the city’s objectives and vision that reaches until 2035. *…+ We want to
become a sustainable city, this is our vision and it’s more long-term”
Currently, it is the Environmental Program 2011-2015 which is running and it is totally
aligned with some of the 16 national environmental objectives which were decided by the
Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) in 1999 (Narvelo, interview 2013). The six basic areas which
are prioritized in the current program are orientated towards inspiration and collaboration, a

42. 37
sustainable transport system, a sustainable energy system, a healthier Helsingborg,
sustainable planning and care, and clean water (Retrieved from the environment program
for the city of Helsingborg 2011-2015).
While on the basis of fulfilling those objectives the long term vision of the city is:
By the year 2035 Helsingborg will be a vibrant, energy-neutral, attractive city
that exists in harmony with people and balance with nature. (Retrieved from the
environment program for the city of Helsingborg 2011-2015, p.4)
According to those, it should be admitted that the environmental discussion in the city of
Helsingborg is characterized by clear and specific goals, instead of broad and sometimes
disorientated discourses that characterize urban environmental programs in a global level.
The core message deals with environmental preservation and sustainable development,
while it is communicated through official documents as a clear vision with specific
objectives.
5.1.3 The driving forces
The noteworthy practical and theoretical engagement of the municipality of Helsingborg
with preservation issues and environmental education triggered some follow up questions
which would revealed the inner driving forces of this tendency expressed thought different
initiatives. Linnea Folkesson pointed out the luck of the city to have some really engaged
employees that proved to be the leaders of some pioneering projects and changes:
“I think that there are a lot of aspects that come together in a good way and I
would say there is a -- There is always one or two people that they will ‘burn’ for
a question -- the leaders of the issue that they will engage a lot of people. And we
have been very lucky to have those people in Fredriksdal and in Miljöverkstaden
that they developed the organizations into well functioning and into part of the
society.”
On the same pattern, Widar Narvelo stressed the role of some politicians:
“There have been a couple of very engaged officers and sometimes some
politicians as well. During the 90’s we had a politician very engaged with
environmental issues. He started some projects that are still ongoing, like
creating new wetlands.”

43. 38
Those statements point out the catalytic role of the leader (Willner & Willner, 1965) and the
significant contribution of some individuals who promote developments according to their
personal vision or dream. Since those individuals can share their endeavor and work as team
players the results can be excellent.
When the respondents had the opportunity to describe the incentives of the municipality as
mainly environmental, societal, or economic, most of them chose to downplay the economic
interest at least as an initiative reason. However, some others talked about the economic
aspects in terms of the ecosystem services approach. For instance, Linnea Folkesson
highlighted the timeless interest of the municipality regarding societal and environmental
questions, but she excluded the economic paragon from the initial driving forces by saying
that when they started 20 years ago, there was no real financial pressure (Folkesson,
interview 2013).
And Fredrik Bengtsson who is an ecologist at the technical office of Helsingborg city
observed:
“I think that economic had not yet become a main driving force. *…+ But
right now we are trying to work on these ecosystem services *…+ and to try
to estimate the economic benefits from these ecosystem services.”
However, one other fact that reveals a subconscious tendency towards an economic
orientation is the obvious effort of the municipality to brand Helsingborg as a green
city. Linnea Folkesson an environmental strategist of the municipality argues:
“That’s our main objective to work with communicating Helsingborg as a
green city, as an environmental city. And we do that because there should
be an attractive city for companies, for inhabitants, for tourists, a lot of
different aspects. And it’s also for branding the city, it’s always good to
have a brand -- we are the environmental city!”
Here someone can identify a clear connection between the environmental preservation and
the economic benefits. The effort to brand the city as green, includes financial incentives and
it is related to the tension of the municipality to attract new-investments and growth.
As it was observed, the main reaction of the respondents was to justify and connect the
environmental engagement of the municipality mostly to pure environmental or societal

44. 39
reasons, although, a deeper study of the answers revealed not only the existence of the
economic point of view but also the awareness regarding the economic and valuation
discourse of the nature via the approach of ecosystem services or through the financial
return that is promised by an eco-friendly brand. These findings certify the existence of the
environmental, the economical and the societal as the three elements which work as driving
forces and push towards the engagement with environmental preservation. (Prokop &
Fancovicova 2010; Ballantyne & Packer 2009) The responses revealed an interrelation
among them and it is obvious that all the three perspectives affect the decision processes
within the municipality.
5.1.4 Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden as mediators of environmental education.
The practical engagement of the municipality of Helsingborg with environmental
preservation which was discussed above is expressed mainly through the function of
Fredriksdal and Miljöverkstaden. Both localities have their own big history and they are
independent in terms of purposes and roles, but they are cooperating to a great extent
with the municipality which is their main funder. This cooperation is a successive
evolution that was supported from many successful results during the last decades. As
Linnea Folkesson argued:
“*…+ Environmental education is a very important aspect of the education in
Helsingborg, and especially since we have these very good locations
Miljöverkstaden and Fredriksdal which have ongoing projects for more than
20 years.”
The open air museum of Fredriksdal that was established on 1918, is under a
municipality ownership while it was donated to the city. Its educational purposes were
developed during the years but they were already included in the initial vision since
among the wishes of the donator was the founding of an open-air museum presenting
the biodiversity of Scania. Jacob Sandsberg who works as a botanist in Fredriksdal
pointed out:
“I think environmental education was included in the beginning as well as
developed during the years. *…+ Because there were such wishes from the

45. 40
donator to be developed as a botanical garden *…+ and it happened in the
30’s when they shortly developed educational tools.”
At the case of Miljöverkstaden, environmental education was a fundamental part of the
initial vision as well. As Annika Jonasson stated:
“I think it (environmental education) was the aim from the beginning, to let
children know about their world they are living and also the little area they are
living.”
Both localities have multiple contributions to the local community and attempt to transmit a
variety of messages. Those are based on three core discourses: the environmental, the
societal and the economic discourse. All three discourses are fundamental elements of the
conducted educational processes (Sandberg, Hjelmer, interview 2013).
5.1.4.1 Educational targets in Fredriksdal
As it was declared by Jacob Sandberg and Karin Hjelmer who is also a teacher in Fredriksdal,
some of the main communicated messages in Fredriksdal are the integration of people and
time, the interdependence between human and nature and the significance of the
environment. More specifically, Karin Hjelmer said:
“We always think yesterday-today-tomorrow. *…+ We start with the historical,
but then today, how to use it today and tomorrow perhaps.”
Additionally the existent clear discussion about the interdependence between human and
nature targets to stress the negative impact of societies to the nature. It looks at the past
and tries to provide relevant tools and ideas which can be adopted in order to solve
contemporary problems (Sandberg, interview 2013).
Parallel to these, Charlotte Alheim who is responsible for the guiding in Fredriksdal stressed
that learning about the nature in a funny way, hopefully may increase the awareness of the
environment.
“*…+ they learn-- well it is education-- we make it easy for them and the aim is to
give them good time, but they should learn something also, it should be happy
learning *…+ what I hope it could give is that it could give some respect for the
nature.”

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Regarding the societal contribution of Fredriksdal, all the respondents employed in the
locality agreed on the fact that Fredriksdal is a peaceful place very close to the city center
that provides recreation and experience learning opportunities. Moreover, they expressed
positively towards the use of economic discourses in the effort to preserve the nature, and
pointed out the ‘attractiveness’ of ecosystem services approach and some queries as well.
Jacob Sandberg said:
“*…+ well ecosystem services is a very attractive way of thinking. Sometimes it is
good to put values on things but sometimes it is maybe a way to make it simpler
than it is.”
5.1.4.2 Educational targets in Miljöverkdstaden
The core message that is transmitted from Miljöverkstaden deals with the subject of
sustainability and tries to provide an understanding as well as to promote a close relation to
the environment. Annika Jonasson a teacher in Miljöverkstaden mentioned:
“I think sustainability is really important to think about, what to use and use it in
a good way.”
While, Ingeman Nyman who is another teacher in Miljöverkstaden remarked:
“The message could be to the schools and to the local community that the local
environment is so important for our future ,…+ so we have to understand it and
have a close relationship with it.
Furthermore, the societal contribution to the local community is identified as the deep
experiential knowledge and the provided educational opportunities to different groups of
city inhabitants, such as students and municipality employees. In Miljöverkdstaden each
visitor has the opportunity to gain an understanding of different phenomena. While the
main adopted methods are targeting to experiential and not only factual knowledge (Nyman,
interview 2013). This pioneering approach of environmental education turns the locality into
a crucial environmental stakeholder of the city of Helsingborg and into a close partner of the
municipality which uses it for the environmental education of the municipality employees
(Nyberg, interview 2013).
Finally, regarding the use of any economic discourse within the educational processes the
respondents expressed both the positive and the negative aspects of that fact. More
specifically, Ingeman Nyman said: