Themes in our research

CRT's research focuses on regional and local development trends and conditions, often from a rural-peripheral perspective.

Over 30 years of research, a range of knowledge themes have emerged:

  • Business development in sectors of major importance for rural/peripheral areas: tourism, arts and crafts, agriculture, crafts and industry.
  • Resources of places: businesses, labour, education, youth, civil society engagement, nature and landscapes, and how innovation and knowledge move in and out of places.
    • In addition, we often have a special focus on the importance of mobility and translocal connections in the development of places.

    Local and Regional Transition

    We are inthe process of building a shared professional research field with a focus ongreen transition from a place perspective.

    Inparticular, we focus on how “small places” are affected by and can affect “bigchanges”, for example the transition to renewable forms of energy, thedevelopment of sustainable forms of production and consumption, as well as newtechnologies and their societal contexts

    Wehave a special focus on the social and business aspects of transitionprocesses. For example, the capacity of small municipalities to navigate and coordinatelocal transformation processes and the capacity of local business to create newgreen development paths. Or how small communities ensure inclusive civicprocesses while they themselves gain influence on their own development amonglarge development actors.

    Tourism

    Tourismresearch has always been a large focus at CRT, and over the years we have built up knowledge in various fields, both within tourism research itself, but also research fields that are close to tourism, such as economy, recreation, physical planning and local development to mention but a few.

    There are close links between our tourism research and the part of CRT that work on analysis and tourism modeling.

    Our knowledge within tourism covers:

    • The tourism industry and its importance for business and local development
    • Tourism economies and tourism labour markets
    • Circular economy and the transformative potential of tourism
    • Recreational and outdoor tourism aspects and site development
    • Coastal-marine based tourism

    Site development from a translocal perspective

    In this field too, over the years we have worked with several perspectives that illuminate and understand places as characterized by their external and internal connections.

    Our research in the various fields often has a policy perspective.

    Our research deals with, for example:

    • Trans and multi-local population movements, part-time populations and their involvement in local areas
    • Trans- and multi-local knowledge processes and how they are linked to the innovation conditions of places
    • Transitions among young adults     with a focus on mobility and education

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    Our experts

    At CRT, we have been researching regional development for more than 30 years, and our team represents a wide range of specialized competencies.

    Selected projects