(EN) Guest blog from Catharina Nilsson and Fredriksdal museum and gardens, Helsingborg
Taking work outdoors at Fredriksdal in Helsingborg
Image credits: Catharina Nilsson
Imagine for a moment a satellite office with 36 hectares of birdsong, greenery and cultural heritage. An inspiring coworking space where people from different organizations can work side by side in the fresh air. A place that promotes health, well-being, creativity and collaboration. This is my vision.
My name is Catharina Nilsson and I work at a local open-air museum called Fredriksdal museum and gardens, situated in the city of Helsingborg in Sweden. The museum is located in the middle of the city and it holds parks, gardens, historical buildings as well as a farm with animals and land.
Last September we did a pilot at Fredriksdal, offering people the chance to test outdoor office work in our green environments. This was made possible thanks to collaboration with two local companies called Superlab and Nola, who lent us their newly produced Work Desk, a new product in their Urban Office series. The response from the public was incredible. People who had never visited Fredriksdal before noticed us and we saw that there was indeed an interest in outdoor office work from our premises.
After the successful pilot, we secured municipal funding in order to implement and upscale the idea of outdoor offices. The funds are being used to invest in five different types of workstations, some stationary and some portable, with a total of 15 outdoor offices.
During this summer's large city expo H22, from June 7th to July 1st, the people in Helsingborg will be able to try out the outdoor offices for free. Then, from the 1st of August, organizations and companies will have the possibility to sign up for subscriptions, letting their employees work from Fredriksdal. The idea is to facilitate and enable more people in Helsingborg to bring their work outside. Existing research tells us that there are many health benefits to be gained by doing so, including a reduction of stress levels and an improved immune system. Research also shows that our general well-being, creativity as well as collaboration get a boost when we are in nature.
Thus far, I do not know any heritage visitor attractions that have tried to use its premises to facilitate outdoor office work for its local community. However, based on the interest and research above, I believe in the idea and that it can be applied not just in my city, but also at other locations, such as other open-air museums, botanical gardens or green heritage visitor attractions. This concept would give heritage sites the possibility to engage with their local community on a new level, whilst at the same time promoting sustainable work life. Furthermore, it would provide a new stream of visitors for the sites in question. Last year's pilot at Fredriksdal showed us that outdoor offices could become a springboard that enables more people to discover and explore the cultural and natural heritage that resides within our premises. Consequently, it is a win win concept.
