Governance in rural landscapes

Abstract

Participation and governance are mostly connected to urban settings with their particular challenges of multiple ethnic communities, derelict urban fabric, and dysfunctional socio-economic systems. However, rural areas are affected by governance approaches and national and international funding institutions such as the European Union tend to require governance structures as prerequisites for development schemes. In most cases, these strategies and approaches are limited to social and economic fields with very little relation to the rural landscape. The article focuses on the discussion of governance-based approaches to rural landscapes and the author explains why landscape-related schemes such as Integrated Coastal Zone Management approaches tend to ignore the multiple character of rural landscapes. The material used includes a critical evaluation of the use of governance-based approaches in landscape policy and will refer to a case study from Integrated Coastal Zone Management on the Baltic coast of Germany.