Attitudes Toward Rural Landscape Change in England

Abstract

Rural landscapes in many parts of the world no longer exist solely for agricultural production and therefore face change to accommodate various socio-economic demands. Hence, there is a need to improve our understanding of public attitudes—in particular, their openness—toward such change. This article discusses predictors of openness to landscape change in rural areas based on the results of an online survey conducted to develop attitudinal measurement scales for landscape change and rural landscape in England. Landscape change in rural areas was not welcomed by the respondents mainly due to their high level of affirmative attitudes to rural landscapes. However, the study suggests that there is a possibility, especially among younger cohorts, that increasing levels of education will lead to greater openness to landscape change.