Unraveling Urban-Rural Sustainable Contradictions

While Norway has a vast amount of land in relation to its population, the ongoing development of land in rural mountainous and coastal areas is having an impact on nature. Strategies for implementing densification in cities must also consider the impact on rural areas. Within this research we address the contradictory imbalance of the consumption of nature for leisure/urban escapism with that of the conservation of nature in rural areas. Rural areas are often viewed as an escape from the urban chaos and within Norway fall under a right to have access to nature. This right to nature is primarily viewed from a social-cultural perspective – and associated with the umbrella term of ‘cabin culture’. The cabin culture concept unintentionally creates a tension between an environmental sensitivity to natural landscape and the consumption of nature resources to support urban values of comfort and connectivity. There is a potential for a negative environmental rebound effect when urban dwellers compensate themselves for reduced urban space by extending the size of their dwellings through second homes in rural areas. This work highlight ways in which land is being consumed by visitors who are not just residents but also by urban escapists. The paper’s main contribution is to illuminate often overlooked aspects of sustainable solutions in cities on rural areas and the disconnect on how urban planning is impacting the rural.