Doris Carson

I am a human geographer with an interest in the future of small villages and communities in sparsely populated northern peripheries. My research focuses primarily on three broad streams: 1) the processes that hinder or facilitate a transition from ‘extractive’ to ‘attractive’ industries (particularly tourism); 2) the role of mobile and temporary populations in stimulating innovation; and 3) the interplay between urbanisation, mobility and socio-economic change in sparsely populated areas.

I completed my PhD in 2011 at James Cook University (Australia), examining the dynamics of regional tourism innovation systems in remote resource peripheries. I was then a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre for Regional Engagement at the University of South Australia (2011-2014). I came to Umeå in 2014 to work on a project about tourism and lifestyle related mobilities in northern Sweden and their contributions to innovation capacity in small rural communities (as part of the project “Mobilising the Rural: Post-productivism and the New Economy”).

Since 2016, I have been involved in a number of research projects funded by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS:

• “Cities of the North: Urbanisation, mobilities and new development opportunities for sparsely populated hinterlands” (2016-ongoing): This project examines the dynamic migration and mobility relationships between rapidly growing cities in northern peripheries and their sparsely populated rural hinterlands. The project is interested in identifying how communities in the hinterland can benefit and capitalise on population and economic growth in their regional cities, or what factors may stifle such development opportunities. The research program is built around international comparisons, focusing on northern Sweden, the Northern Territory of Australia, and other northern or Arctic peripheries in Europe and North America.

• “Modelling the demographic future of small villages in sparsely populated areas” (led by Dean Carson, 2016-ongoing): This project uses agent based modelling, combining secondary register data with qualitative fieldwork data (and what we call ‘dirt research’), to understand potential demographic development pathways of small villages in the inland north of Sweden.

• “Mobilities, micro-urbanisation and changing settlement patterns in the sparsely populated north” (led by Linda Lundmark, 2016-ongoing): This project examines the changes in mobility and migration patterns to and within northern Sweden. It seeks to identify how different mobilities have impacted on population distribution, micro-urbanisation (i.e. urbanisation within rural and sparsely populated municipalities), and the functional and relational hierarchies of settlements in the sparsely populated north.

• “Climate Change and the Double Amplification of Arctic Tourism: Challenges and potential solutions for tourism and sustainable development in an Arctic context” (led by Dieter Müller, 2018-ongoing): This project examines the evolution of ‘Arctic tourism’ in northern Sweden, with a particular focus on how different government, industry and community stakeholders at local and regional levels have tackled the challenges and opportunities related to tourism, globalisation, climate change, land use conflicts and socio-cultural change.

I have written both empirical and theoretical review articles in a range of journals and books related to tourism, human geography, and economic development in sparsely populated areas – you can access my profile on Google Scholar for further details. I have also co-edited several collaborative volumes, including:

• Koster, R. L., & Carson, D. A. (Eds.). (2019). Perspectives on Rural Tourism Geographies: Case Studies from Developed Nations on the Exotic, the Fringe and the Boring Bits in Between. Cham: Springer.
• Carson, D. A., Brouder, P., & de la Barre, S. (2017). Communities and New Development Paths in the Sparsely Populated North. Special Issue in Journal of Rural and Community Development, 12(2-3).  
• Robinson, G. M., & Carson, D. A. (Eds.). (2015). Handbook on the Globalisation of Agriculture. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• Carson, D. A., Carson, D. B., & Lundmark, L. (2014). Tourism and Mobilities in Sparsely Populated Areas. Special issue in Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality & Tourism, 14(4).

Teaching and research supervision

I have taught the following courses between 2011-2018:

• Destinations & Regional Development (Master level)
• Tourism (Master level)
• Research Design & Methodology (Master level)
• Qualitative research methods (Master level)
• Master’s thesis in Human Geography (Master level)
• Tourism Destination Systems (Master level)
• Tourism Planning (Bachelor level)
• Consumer Behaviour in Tourism (Bachelor level)

I am also involved in supervising Master’s students and PhD candidates. I welcome thesis proposals in the fields of:

• Rural/remote/peripheral/Arctic tourism
• City-hinterland relationships with regard to mobility (migration, labour, migration), regional development, and policy planning
• Local vs. regional innovation systems in peripheral areas
• Temporary populations and economic development in peripheral areas
• Local-level case studies of rural community development