Discussion
This review of research on immigration, greenspace and society shows that the borders between themes and especially between countries seem difficult to cross and international learning processes and cooperation of researchers across countries and approaches are scarce. Of course, crossing borders is a difficult move, especially as in most countries this research field is just emerging and national empirical data are still developing. However, crossing borders can illuminate common problems, such as the challenges of nature organisations in reaching out to immigrants. This is needed as the number of immigrants continues to grow in most Northwest European countries (Extra & Gorter, 2008) and societal attention is increasing. Moreover, results of the reviewed studies show the relevance of studying relations between greenspace, immigration and society, as immigrants are in various countries under-represented in recreational use of greenspace and they show differences in recreational behaviour and perceptions of greenspace. Furthermore, nature organisations face various challenges in improving social inclusion, and societal constructions of greenspace have promoted the ‘othering’ of immigrants. Moreover, greenspace can potentially enhance social cohesion and social integration. In the next paragraphs knowledge gaps and promising future research directions will be discussed.