The Border and the Bordered

The parish of Gryt in central Södermanland, Sweden, constitutes the area of investigation in an ongoing research project The Parish Gryt — Landscape and Community in an Ecosystem Perspective (Figure 1). An ecosystem approach is being employed in this study, in order to analyse the parish community’s ecological relation with its territory over time. the intention is to study the human community as a part of the ecosystem, and thus to reveal aspects of its sustainability and adaptation in regards to carrying capacity in the parish. As a first step in this project, the border of the conceived system — i.e. the border of the parish — was examined.