Abstract
Landscape is increasingly characterized by a multifaced nature. In scientific literature and landscape governance, new landscape definitions are often coined to explain new meanings and to define specific intervention strategies and tools. The present study purposes a framework for the identification of hybrid landscapes as support for land-use planners, which aim to guarantee development opportunities as well as natural heritage preservation and valorization. “Marginal lands” were identified starting from EU Directives and scientific approaches, by means of multicriteria analysis. Different scenarios were built: (1) no-change; (2) energy crops; (3) green infrastructures. An ecosystem services approach, via landscape metrics analysis, was used to compare the possible effects of scenarios. About 20% of the study area, an internal area of the southern Apennines, was identified as suitable for land-use change in a medium-short time, and scenarios of land-use changes show a better condition, in terms of fragmentation, than as a current asset. Results showed the strategic role and potentialities of marginal lands, as a trade-off between nature conservation and development issues, suggesting new opportunities for green infrastructures and a renewable energies chain. The study allowed for deepening the close connection among landscape planning approaches, land use change scenarios building and environmental assessment, focused on the ex-ante evaluation stage.
Highlights
Most of the European landscape cannot be understood as places [1,2,3] with specific and defined spatial, functional and perceptive features; there are areas with closed interaction between urban and rural functions, or with problems of fragmentation, abandonment, pollution or a low level of productivity
The present study proposes a framework for identification of specific marginal lands in Southern Italy which is scenario-based and landscape metrics based, in order to support land-use and landscape planning activities to achieve sustainable development opportunities, in contexts with socio-economic difficulties but with still high environmental values
The marginal areas present a multiplicity of negative factors, which together contribute to determining a low level of development; the peripheral areas with poor agriculture present a low level of agricultural productivity, due to their eccentric position with respect to the urban and infrastructural systems, rather than due to physical-environmental problems
Summary
Most of the European landscape cannot be understood as places [1,2,3] with specific and defined spatial, functional and perceptive features; there are areas with closed interaction between urban and rural functions, or with problems of fragmentation, abandonment, pollution or a low level of productivity. The different names given to the new forms of spatial configurations imply new meanings and involve the need for specific management and planning approaches, mostly linked to their intrinsic characteristics and value These new landscape types were seen only as problems, as conditions of disadvantage to be remedied; the most recent theories, are considering them as opportunities, as new frontiers to guarantee development and sustainability. Lands with inherent disadvantages or lands marginalized by natural and/or artificial forces, but which have great potential for transformation, the so-called “marginal lands” have been extensively investigated and discussed by scientists They were described generally as areas that are underused [8], difficult to cultivate [9], with low economic value [10], Limbo lands or lands with uncertain status [8,11], degraded lands [12] and lands with varied developmental potential [13,14]
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