The Garden of Grief: Location-based and activity-based grief communities for men aged 50+
The Garden of Grief aims to develop, test and investigate new forms of grief communities for men over the age of 50 who have lost a loved one. The project takes the cemetery as its starting point, as a special place where grief can be lived with, alleviated and shared through action, practice and community.
Men over the age of 50 who are grieving constitute a vulnerable group with an increased risk of loneliness, unhappiness and serious health consequences following loss. At the same time, practical experience shows that many men in this age group do not find traditional, conversation-based grief support groups relevant or attractive and therefore often choose not to participate in them. The Garden of Grief addresses this challenge by developing a supplement to existing grief services, where physical, location-based and activity-based practices are the focal point.
The project is based on grief theory, which understands grief as a condition of life that often requires a fundamental reorientation in life rather than something to be ‘gotten over.’ In this context, the project examines the cemetery as a meaningful place where the relationship with the deceased can be maintained through action, rituals and local practices, and where nature, materiality and atmosphere play a central role. The project also focuses on the cultural practices that can play a role in how people live with and in grief.
Through co-creation processes, concrete concepts for cemetery-based grief communities are developed that can be anchored and continued in practice. The project combines basic scientific theory development with practice-oriented research and concept development and aims both to create new knowledge about grief, place and social practice and to develop sustainable and scalable grief services for a target group that today often lacks relevant support.
The project uses a qualitative, practice-oriented and participant-involving method based on video ethnography, participant observation and interviews. The method combines research and practice through a co-creation setup, where researchers, practitioners and participants develop knowledge together. The analysis focuses on bodily, place-bound and social practices in the encounter with grief. The project works iteratively, so that insights are continuously translated into concrete concepts. Methodologically, the project is anchored in a post-praxeological ethnomethodology and a situated approach to grief and practice.
- Preparation and ethical approval: Establishment of collaboration, ethical approval, data management and preparation of fieldwork.
- Knowledge mapping and common professional foundation: Knowledge about grief practices is collected and shared with a view to creating a common basis for further work.
- Co-creation and idea development: Workshops focusing on the development of prototypes for activity-based grief communities.
- Development of prototypes: Design of specific concepts and activities.
- Testing in practice: Implementation of pilot grief communities.
- Fieldwork: Observations, interviews and video ethnography at the pilot grief communities.
- Analysis and knowledge gathering: Analysis of empirical data in the project group with a focus on grief, place and practice.
- Knowledge production: Summary of empirical results, theoretical processing and development of new concepts and methods.
- Dissemination and anchoring: Preparation of manuals for grief communities in the cemetery, publications and dissemination material for professional environments and the public.
- Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics (NorS), University of Copenhagen
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), University of Copenhagen
- Helsingør Diocese
- The Danish National Center for Grief
- Forum for Men's Health
Researchers
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Due, Brian Lystgaard | Professor | +4535335929 | |
| Fogh, Jens | PhD Fellow | +4535329227 |
Funding
The project is funded by Velux Foundation (project number: VEL74785)
Project period: 1 January 2026 - 31 December 2028
Principal investigator: Brian Lystgaard Due
External researchers
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Køster, Allan | Senior lecturer, Danish National Center for Grief |
| Johannessen, Christine Tind | Project employee, Helsingør Diocese |