Abstract
The vacation home is a distinct feature of modern societies in Europe, particularly in Nordic realm. The mass development of vacation homes in Denmark can be traced back to the 1950s and vacation-home tourism is still a predominant type of leisure activities today. The spatial development and use patterns of vacation homes are highly relevant to environmental sustainability. Unlike the spatial planning for urban areas where the urban environmental problamatique has been highly recognized and theories of sustainable urban development and planning relatively fully developed, vacation home has been a missing component in sustainable spatial development and planning both in theories and practice. Moreover, spatial planning for urban areas and vacation homes cannot be separated as they mutually influence each other. Against this background, the paper is concerned with how and to what extent concerns on sustainability of vacation homes is integrated into the spatial planning in the Danish context.
The lack of ontological and theoretical debates on the environmental sustainability of vacation homes will be reflected upon before investigating the Danish case. A deep realist approach is adopted to explore the ontological meanings of vacation homes as (1) a leisure activity where the relationship between leisure and sustainability will be discussed, as (2) part of total housing consumption where the use of vacation homes is conceived as a reflection of urban-based intellectual value and a rebound effect of sustainable urban development, i.e. compact city, and as (3) mobility where the meaning of vacation homes will be discussed under the notions of mobile society and multiple place-attachment. This exploration will identify the relevance of these meanings to environmental sustainability and show the complex circumstances of spatial planning for sustainable vacation homes. Followed by a brief overview of the facts of vacation home development in Denmark, the rest of the paper will be devoted to the review of the historical development of planning and other policies in respect of vacation homes to analyze how spatial planning has responded to the environmental consequences of vacation homes in this complexity. By doing so, the paper contributes to the debates on spatial planning for housing, urban and rural sustainability.
The lack of ontological and theoretical debates on the environmental sustainability of vacation homes will be reflected upon before investigating the Danish case. A deep realist approach is adopted to explore the ontological meanings of vacation homes as (1) a leisure activity where the relationship between leisure and sustainability will be discussed, as (2) part of total housing consumption where the use of vacation homes is conceived as a reflection of urban-based intellectual value and a rebound effect of sustainable urban development, i.e. compact city, and as (3) mobility where the meaning of vacation homes will be discussed under the notions of mobile society and multiple place-attachment. This exploration will identify the relevance of these meanings to environmental sustainability and show the complex circumstances of spatial planning for sustainable vacation homes. Followed by a brief overview of the facts of vacation home development in Denmark, the rest of the paper will be devoted to the review of the historical development of planning and other policies in respect of vacation homes to analyze how spatial planning has responded to the environmental consequences of vacation homes in this complexity. By doing so, the paper contributes to the debates on spatial planning for housing, urban and rural sustainability.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Conference of European Network for Housing Research |
| Publication date | 2014 |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
| Event | ENHR: Beyond Globalisation: Remaking Housing Policy in a Complex World - Edinburgh, United Kingdom Duration: 1 Jul 2014 → 4 Jul 2014 |
Conference
| Conference | ENHR |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Edinburgh |
| Period | 01/07/2014 → 04/07/2014 |