Our Landscapes (Vores Landskaber), Denmark: Creating collective agency for landscape transformation
At a glance
Denmark stands on the brink of the largest transformation of its landscapes in over a century. Decisions about land use, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, and climate adaptation are accelerating—and what happens now will shape everyday life far beyond 2050.
Our Landscapes (Vores Landskaber) was created to respond to this moment. Its purpose is simple and ambitious: to cultivate collective local agency so that the people who live in these landscapes can actively shape their futures. Rather than seeing landscape transformation as something done to communities, the initiative invites people to become co-creators of change—resetting the relationship between people, land, and nature so that all life can thrive.
The initiative has been catalysed by Akademiet for Social Innovation, System Shift, Human by Nature and Reos Partners and is developing a platform for local landscape transformation, rooted in transformative scenario processes that help communities imagine possible futures, work through tensions, and begin acting together in the face of climate change.
What’s happening on the ground
With support from the Beyond 1.5 Transformation Hub, Our Landscapes has focused on building the foundations for this work.
In late 2025, around 35 participants—citizens, local and national organizations, researchers, and facilitators—came together for a two-day learning workshop at Himmelbjerggården. Much of the work took place outdoors. People gathered in circles, built scenarios using natural materials, and told stories about everyday life in future landscapes.
Rather than starting with policies or positions, participants were invited to step into the future. What does a good life look like here in 2050? How might food, energy, nature, and community needs coexist and be supported by our landscapes? What feels certain—and what remains deeply uncertain?
What we’re learning
Several early learnings are emerging:
Language opens—or closes—possibility. To engage local countryside communities, the work must speak to lived experience. Framing the work as an opportunity to shape the future of your own landscape resonates far more than abstract climate narratives, or technical lingo. Local messengers and facilitators are essential.
Scenario-building creates shared ground. Telling stories about possible futures allows people to connect across different positions and interests. Shared narratives can emerge without forcing consensus.
Facing climate reality requires care. Asking people to project themselves into the future helps them engage honestly with climate change, including uncertainty and loss. This only works when there is a strong, authentic “container” that can hold difficult emotions as well as hope.
Local agency must be cultivated. Across scenarios, local ownership was central. Participants expressed a desire not just to take part, but to convene and facilitate similar processes themselves—pointing to the need for an accessible toolbox that local actors can use.
Conflict is part of transformation. Working with local tensions—around land, wellbeing, livelihoods, and values—is essential to unlocking energy transitions, climate adaptation, and rewilding. Avoiding conflict only delays change.
A question that surfaced repeatedly was simple but profound: what does a good life look like in this place, in a climate-changed future?
Context and potential
While this work is at an early stage, support from the Beyond 1.5 Transformation Hub played a decisive catalytic role. The time-limited support enabled the design and testing of a first, critical phase of a longer-term process, generating early insights and laying the groundwork for the full deployment of the methodology in subsequent stages.
There is also a wider tension: national landscape agreements are moving quickly, while meaningful local engagement takes time. Our Landscapes do not claim to resolve this tension—but to make it visible and workable.
The team is clear that what has been created is conditions: new relationships, shared language, confidence, and a sense of possibility that can support longer-term change.
What is next
The next phase of Our Landscapes focuses on:
Running 2–5 place-based local processes
Codifying the methodology into a practical toolbox for local facilitators
Strengthening strategic partnerships: with philanthropic partners to secure longer-term funding for continuity and learning; and possible co-conveners and delivery partners to scale up the process
The longer-term ambition is for Denmark to become a living learning space for landscape transformation—showing how local collective agency can complement national policies rather than being sidelined by them.
Our Landscapes is not about scaling a single model. It is about enabling many places to shape their own futures—grounded in shared narratives, local stewardship, and the courage to imagine life beyond 1.5°C.
