The Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, KVL (http://www.sl.kvl.dk/?lang=en&), in collaboration with the European Urban Forestry Research and Information Centre (EUFORIC, www.sl.kvl.dk/euforic) will organise an international course on ‘Communication in Urbanised Forestry and Green-space Management’. This course will take place in Noedebo north of Copenhagen, during November 27 – December 1, 2006.
Focus
If you are a person planning and managing woodland, parks, nature areas and other green-space in an urban setting, you will have to deal with a wide range of stakeholders and interests on a daily basis. In order to meet the demands of urban societies, and to keep ‘green’ issues on the political agenda, sound strategies and tools for communication are needed. This international course deals with some of the main elements of communication in natural resource management, based on the state-of-art of research and practice.
Target groups
The course is set up for policy-makers, higher-level managers, and communication and marketing officers working within forestry administrations, municipal park organisations, nature conservation and other green-space organisations, as well as for researchers and PhD-students interested in the theme.
Themes
The course introduces some essential theories and tools within the following communication themes:
Forestry and green-space management serving urbanised societies: How has urbanisation impacted forestry and green-space management? What are the contributions of forestry and green-space management to the quality of urban life and urban environment? What are the specific challenges planners and managers are facing in an urban context?
Media relations: How are fruitful relationships with different news media developed? Which are the best ways to get one’s message across? How do the media look at forestry and green-space management and what stories are interesting to them?
Politics and lobbying: Who are the important political actors? Should foresters and green-space managers become actively involved in influencing political decisions? If so, how can lobbying be done effectively and ethically?
Marketing and branding: How do we market the benefits of forestry and urban green-space management to the wider public, to business and to politicians? What marketing tools, including branding, can be applied? How do forests and green become part of city marketing?
Communicating with the public: What are the benefits and consequences of public involvement? What key elements exist of successful communication with the public? What instruments and approaches can be used in the specific cases of forestry and green-space management?
Learning and interaction
The course consists of an intensive programme of introductory lectures and interactive group work based on real-life cases. It is taught by leading international experts from the domains of forest and green-space science, policy and lobbying, media and marketing, and public involvement, among which Chris Baines (UK, media); Mr. Patrick Quist (Sweden, marketing and branding), Evelien Verbi(Netherlands, lobbying), Tove Enggrob Boon (Denmark, public involvement) and Niels Elers Koch (Denmark, science-policy interface). By working with them and your colleagues, you will:
Update your professional knowledge and skills
Obtain hands-on experience with theories and methods through cases, participants sharing their experiences, and study of the course reader
Get direct access to advice from some of the leading international experts
Be able to develop your personal network
Further information and registration
Full information about the course and online registration is available from:
http://www.sl.kvl.dk/KurserOgEfteruddannelse/Kurser/CommunicationInUrbanisedForestry.aspx?lang=en&
Deadline for registration is September 15th, 2006.
Kind regards,
Cecil Konijnendijk, course coordinator