Louise is a social anthropologist from Denmark working within the field of sustainable rural development. At Nordregio, she works with a range of topics related to the development of rural areas in the Nordic and Arctic context such as green transition, digitalisation and rural policy. Louise is a member of the secretariat for the Nordic thematic group for Green and Inclusive Rural Development.
Academic qualifications
MSc in Anthropology with the specialization Medical Anthropology and Glocal Ethnography, Aarhus University, Denmark
BSc in Anthropology with supplementary subject in Religion, Politics and Society, Aarhus University, Denmark
Languages
Danish
English
Swedish
Norwegian (working knowledge)
Louise Ormstrup Vestergård‘s spatial story
Years ago, when growing up, I spent a great deal of time in the family summerhouse at Limfjorden in a rural part of Denmark — picking blackberries, running in the forest and walking along the stone covered beach usually accompanied by a persisting hard Western wind. And as a result, I spent a great deal of time heating in front of the stove.
Years later, I found myself sitting in a temple in a small village in the Himalayas. I was participating in the preparations for a big Buddhist holiday coming up. My task was to help make a special kind of traditional cookie that would be distributed to all the guests coming from nearby villages. On the walls were the colourful pictures of for me unknown spirits, gods and demons and suddenly from the far corner of the temple, where the village teenage boys where gathered, the sound of Rihanna would fill the room from a telephone speaker. Something nobody but me seemed to notice.
Years later again, I was doing fieldwork for my master thesis in anthropology on the Faroe Islands. This time I found myself on a mountainside participating in gathering sheep for butchering and trying not to panic when I was given the responsibility to push a small group of sheep down towards the others. I managed and when all the sheep where gathered the prize was served: pancakes with brown sugar.
These are a few of the experiences that led me to where I am today: a social anthropologist working within the field of sustainable rural development.
Related Research Projects
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Ongoing
- Local ownership in transitions towards sustainable energy systems (ELO)
- Nordic cooperation for Agenda 2030 implementation at the local level
- Fulfilling the Transformative Potential of Nature-Based Solutions (Transform-IntegrateNBS)
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Finished
- Urban-rural flows of seasonal tourists – local planning challenges and strategies
- Health care and care with distance-spanning technologies, e-health and digitalisation
- Rural housing dilemmas: De-population and empty houses, as well as lack of housing
- Digitalisation in rural and sparsely populated areas – joint Nordic-Baltic learning
- Carbon Neutral Islands
- The Sustainable Hub to Engage in Rural Policies with Actors (SHERPA)
- Food self-sufficiency in Nordic island societies: the current situation and the way forward
- Nordic Sustainable Cities – Export Efforts
- Nordic Food Environments and Behavior Change for Better Diets
- SeMPER-Arctic – Sense Making, Place attachment and Extended networks as sources of Resilience in the Arctic
Related Publications
- Urban–rural flows from seasonal tourism and second homes: Planning challenges and strategies in the Nordics
- Digital Health Care and Social Care – Regional development impacts in the Nordic countries
- Rural perspectives on digital innovation: Experiences from small enterprises in the Nordic countries and Latvia
- Rural housing challenges in the Nordic region
- Compact cities trigger high use of second homes in the Nordic Region
- Food self-sufficiency in five Nordic island societies
- The missing multiplier
- Selvforsyning af fødevarer i fem nordiske øsamfund
- Breaking the downward spiral: Improving rural housing markets in the Nordic Region
- Policy Brief: Rural perspectives on digital innovation
- Enabling vulnerable youth in rural areas not in education, employment or training
- Strengthening Nordic cooperation on remote work and multilocality
- Policy tools for sustainable and healthy eating – Enabling a food transition in the Nordic countries
- Digitalisation: A blessing or a curse for sustainable tourism?
- Digital transformation in the rural manufacturing sector
- The digital revolution in the bioeconomy
- The digital divide: Knowledge and skills
Related News
- Self-sufficiency of food production in five Nordic islands
- SHERPA project working towards sustainable multi-actor platforms
- The long-term vision for rural areas
- 30 Nov-1 Dec: Long-term vision for rural areas, SHERPA
- A pressing problem: Are the rural housing markets frozen?
- Small rural businesses taking the leap
- Urban–rural flows from seasonal tourism and second homes: New report published
- 1 July Almedalen: Increasing mental health problems and school drop-outs amongst rural youth
- Seasonal tourists and second homes boost local economies, but challenge local service planning
- Can local ownership facilitate the transition towards greener energy systems? Highly topical research project maps out possibilities and challenges
- Making Europe – and especially rural areas – climate neutral
- Locally produced energy: Solar energy on the rooftops in Nacka and a windmill park in Bornholm
- Decade of action: Localising the global goals in the Nordic countries and beyond
- Combining carrots and sticks: How to nudge the Nordics towards sustainable and healthy eating habits
- Our food choices are not rational – do we need a sugar tax, meat tax and subsidies on fruit and vegetables to make us eat better?
Related Events
- ARENA: Remote work – What does it mean for people, places and planning?
- The missing multiplier
- Nordregio at the Finnish Rural Parliament 2021
- Hvordan kan digitalisering bidrage til at indfri FN’s verdensmål på Færøerne og i Grønland?
- A Webinar Series: Rural perspectives on digital innovation
- Webinar: How does second homes and seasonal tourism affect Nordic municipalities?
- Holiday places you want to come home to
Related Maps
- Households’ access to basic broadband in 2018
- Broadband speed availability and coverage
- Household coverage of NGA broadband 2018
- Household access to broadband 100Mbps
- Community Impact by second home users in 2018
- Second Homes in 2010-2017
- Second Homes in 2017
- Finnish medical record service (Omakanta) users, as a share of total population, in 2018