Peter Schantz

Peter Gösta Schantz, born on 28 April 1954 in Stockholm, Sweden, graduated as doctor in medical sciences at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 1986, became professor in human movement sciences at Mid-Sweden University in Östersund, Jämtland, in 2008, and professor in human biology, including the multidisciplinary field of movement, health and environment, at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, GIH, in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2013.[1]

Professor Peter Schantz, 2010

The route and the depots for the 1500 km long ski tour along the Swedish mountain range that was a part of the research expedition TranTre in 1978.

A sculpture of a gymnastic position, by Peter Linde, was in 1988 placed where the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute was located between 1813 and 1944. It is nowadays the location of Sergels torg in Stockholm, Sweden.

Schantz was recruited as PhD student by his teacher, professor Per-Olof Åstrand at the Karolinska Institute. He got the basic training as researcher within the field of exercise physiology, primarily studying the adaptation in human skeletal muscle with physical training and detraining. In order to study whether muscle fibre type transformation, from fast to slow, could occur, studies of 1500 km ski touring along the Swedish mountain range (Fjällmarsch TranTre, in 1978; which he initiated, organized and participated in [2]) and 800 km sledge pulling in the arctic parts of Scandinavia (The 1982 Minnesota Lappland Expedition, organized by Concordia College, Minnesota, USA) were included in his doctoral thesis Plasticity of human skeletal muscle from 1986.[3]

In 2002 he proposed that the dogma formulated by the gymnasiarch Per Henrik Ling in the 19th century, “human movements should be based on the laws of the human organism” should have the following addendum: “and be executed in forms and under conditions that comply with the ecosystem and a sustainable development.”[4] He had by that time already expanded his research interests into the multidisciplinary field of physical activity, public health and sustainable development. An initial focus on issues related to outdoor life recreation in periurban green areas is mirrored in the books The National Urban Park – An Experiment in Sustainable Development (2002), The European City and Green Space (2006), Forests, Trees and Human Health (2011).,[5] and Why Large Cities Need Large Parks. Large Parks in Large Cities (2021).[6]

His current research focus is on exercise physiology and active transportation.[7] This has led him to suggest a public health recommendation of 6000 transport steps, five days a week, in order to gain optimal health effects. [8] With the aim of understanding how route environmental variables affect the wellbeing during walking or cycling, he coined the term: environmental unwellbeing[9][10]

Schantz was involved as expert at the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (2009–2013), and was advisor for WHO in the development of the WHO Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for cycling and walking.[11]

Schantz has taken several initiatives in the cultural sphere. One of them is the sculpture at the place where the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics, created by Per Henrik Ling, was placed in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1813 and 1944.

He was also one of the initiators of a process leading to the establishment of the first national urban park in Sweden, i.e. the one in Greater Stockholm.[12]

In 2016 he was awarded the prize of Samfundet S:t Erik.