Abstract
Land use conflicts can present major obstacles to sustainable land management. An accurate understanding of their actor constellations and conflict lines is therefore crucial in developing tools for successful landscape governance. In this context, actors from cities and actors from rural areas are often seen as typical opponents. Hence, the objective of this paper is to analyze the extent to which empirical conflict lines indeed run between urban and rural actors. We applied qualitative text analysis to examine 124 land use conflicts in the urban–rural fringe of Schwerin, Germany, which were identified through semistructured interviews with key land use actors in the region. Results showed that actors from the city and the rural fringe were on opposing sides in almost half of the conflicts. However, they were also frequently in conflict among themselves, and many actor constellations involved actors from other regions or administrative levels. In conclusion, the narrative of the urban–rural dichotomy appears in the empirical data but does not appropriately convey the complexity of the actual conflict lines. The findings of this paper therefore emphasize that it is important to empirically identify the actor constellations in land use conflicts rather than rely on preconceived ideas about typical conflict lines.
Highlights
Landscapes are subject to diverse pressures and demands (i.e., [1,2,3,4]) that often lead to conflicts among land use actors
The results showed that the presumed dichotomy between urban and rural areas is reflected in the empirical data only to a limited extent
The majority of conflicts did not involve an urban–rural conflict line; this finding emphasizes that the overall picture is more diverse than the urban-versus-rural narrative suggests
Summary
Landscapes are subject to diverse pressures and demands (i.e., [1,2,3,4]) that often lead to conflicts among land use actors. A thorough understanding of land use conflicts is needed; only with accurate knowledge of the conflict parties and their positions and interests can we hope to balance manifold land use demands. City dwellers are said to demand rural land uses such as food or energy production, nature conservation, or resource extraction, while inhabitants of rural areas supposedly lament the negative externalities or consequences of these land uses. This narrative is prominent within general societal discourse and mass media. There is recent literature on urban–rural conflicts in China (i.e., Yu et al on risk factors [11] and Yu et al on causes [12] of urban–rural conflict, Shan et al on risk management in urban–rural conflict [13]), and urban–rural conflicts have been part of water conflicts in India [14] and Morocco [15], as well as in environmental policy in the United States [16] and urbanization expansion in Ethiopia [17]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
