European Landscape Convention Research Articles

Characterisation and mapping of landscape types, a case study from Norway

The European Landscape Convention emphasises the human perception of landscapes in its definition of the landscape, and promotes citizen participation in landscape management processes. On the other hand, landscape definitions adopted by the natural scientific tradition of landscape research, emphasises a material understanding of the landscape, with a more descriptive focus that includes landscape mapping. We discuss the inherent conflict between the ELC definition and propose that the ELC and natural scientific landscape definitions can be made complementary by considering landscape research as a two-phase process. The landscapes are typified, characterised and mapped in accordance with the natural science-based material landscape tradition in the first phase, and stakeholders of all kinds can be invited into an open process of landscape evaluation and development of management strategies and policies in a second phase of landscape analysis. We exemplify how the first phase in this two-phase process can be carried out, giving an overview of the system for landscape typification and characterisation developed for Nordland County, Norway as part of the Nature in Norway (NiN) system for typification and description of nature’s variation. The role of such a system in landscape research is briefly outlined and plans for further development of the system into a landscape classification system intended for mapping of landscapes in all of Norway, are presented.

International Documents on Landscape Restoration

In the theory and practice of cultural monuments protection, including garden art monuments and landscape protection, it has been often referred to international conventions and other international documents relating to this protection. Necessary condition for these documents to be adequately used in the practice is the precise understanding of their legal nature and a question arising therefrom, if and to what extent and to whom are those documents binding.The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis of the international documents relating to the landscape restoration. Following the analysis, the authors explore the scope and way of transposition of these documents and obligation arising therefrom into the Czech legal order. In the general part the authors analyse knowledge of the current jurisprudence on treaties and other international documents. They focus on the issue of the legal force of such documents, both on the international and national level. In the following part the authors deal with international documents on landscape restoration, explain legal nature of those documents and explicate whether the documents are formally legally binding or whether they may have other practical effects. The legally binding international treaties on the landscape protection include in particular the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Paris, 1972) and the European Landscape Convention (Florence, 2000). As regard legally non-binding acts of international non-governmental organizations, the paper discusses the charters of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the Venice Charter of 1964 and the Florence Charter of 1981. Mentioned is also the Athens Charter (1933), respectively the New Athens Charter of 1998 dealing with the landscape in terms of the principles of urban planning.

Progress in indicators to assess agricultural landscape valuation: how and what is measured at different levels of governance

Landscape is defined by the European Landscape Convention as “an area perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors”. Many efforts have been devoted in addressing the core concepts on which this definition roots: perception and interaction of men and nature, but when coming to large (continental) scale assessments, the latter prevail on the former.This paper aims at presenting a framework for a measurable landscape awareness indicator as a key link to the public demand for a specific type of landscape: the agricultural landscape. This is a necessary effort to complement more physically based assessments, which include as well the impact of human activities on landscapes.The analysis is carried out at different levels of governance: EU and regional, using an example from the Alentejo region in Portugal and EU wide databases, and addresses conceptual and practical questions: what type of societal landscape awareness can be monitored and by whom (e.g., individuals, specific social groups, society as a whole); what are the landscape dimensions that should be assessed; what are the limitations imposed by data-related constraints. By applying the methodology to build composite indicators to map landscape societal awareness, the paper shows the regional and local meaning of indicator approaches developed at European level, presents developments for downscaling to regional level, while introducing the social component to support sound policy development for European rural landscapes.

Landscape Democracy, Three Sets of Values, and the Connoisseur Method

The European Landscape Convention has brought up the question of democracy in relation to landscape transformation, but without a clear definition of democracy. This paper conceptualises democracy in relation to three main sets of values related to self-determination, co-determination and respect for argument. It examines various methods that have been used to try to make landscape decisions more democratic. In the last part of the paper the connoisseur method is introduced. This method emphasises stakeholder participation in deliberative processes with a particular focus on place-based knowledge. It has been used in Sweden as a means of involving local stakeholders in the democratic process of defining goals and objectives of their landscapes. In the conclusion, this method is recommended despite its dependence on favourable conditions, particularly continuity and commitment, and a few suggestions about possible improvements are presented.

Expert and novice group differences in eye movements when assessing biodiversity of harvested forests

The European Landscape Convention encourages everyone to be part of the management and perception of the landscape. In Swedish forestry today, however, it is experts in biodiversity who are responsible for the management policies used when planning tree retention as a biodiversity conservation strategy. This gives the forest a certain structure, but it is uncertain whether this structure is felt to represent the same biodiversity when assessed by novices rather than biodiversity experts. Using eye tracking and subjective assessment scales, the present study investigates whether biodiversity expertise has an effect on biodiversity rating and its certainty, fixation durations, and dwell times in the field layer in the foreground when assessing images of recently logged forest that has some degree of tree retention. The results show no significant difference in the assessments of the images between the two groups; however, the certainty assessments and the eye-tracking data suggest that there are differences in strategies and behaviour. The findings have implications for the interpretation of self-reported data corresponding to measured behaviour when judging the biodiversity of a forest landscape. The study suggest that there could be differences between user groups that previous studies miss out on, and that eye tracking as a method could help detect these differences.

Rural landscape and cultural routes: a multicriteria spatial classification method tested on an Italian case study

Europe is characterised by a rich net of itineraries that during the Middle Ages were taken by pilgrims head toward the holy places of Christianity. In Italy the main pilgrimage route is the <em>Via Francigena</em> (t<em>he road that comes from France</em>), which starts from Canterbury and arrives in Rome, running through Europe for about 1800 km. Municipalities and local associations are focused on purposes and actions aimed at the promotion of those routes, rich in history and spirituality. Also for the European Union the enhancement of those itineraries, nowadays used both by pilgrims and tourists, is crucial, as shown by the various projects aimed at the identification of tools for the development of sustainable cultural tourism. It is important to understand how landscape, that according to the European Landscape Convention reflects the <em>sense of places</em> and represents the image of their history, has evolved along those roads, and to analyse the relationships between the built and natural environments, since they maintain a remarkable symbolic connection between places and peoples over time and history. This study focuses on the Italian section of the <em>Via Francigena</em> that crosses the Emilia-Romagna region, in the province of Piacenza. A land classification method is proposed, with the aim to take into account different indicators: land zoning provided by regional laws, elements of relevant historical and natural value, urban elements, type of agriculture. The analyses are carried out on suitable buffers around the path, thus allowing to create landscape profiles. As nature is a key element for the spirituality character of these pilgrimage routes, the classification process takes into account both protected and other valuable natural elements, besides agricultural activities. The outcomes can be useful to define tools aimed to help pilgrims and tourists to understand the surrounding places along their walk, as well as to lend support to rural and urban planning and integrated local development and landscape enhancement projects.

New Challenges for Managing Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas: An Exploratory Study of the European Landscape Convention in Sweden

“Sustainable tourism” has emerged as the dominant paradigm for managing visitor use in protected areas. An important consequence of this approach is that management tends to focus on issues inside protected-area boundaries. Recently, broader landscape-oriented approaches have gained attention (e.g., the European Landscape Convention [ELC]). These strategies strive to achieve sustainable landscape protection and often identify tourism as a key development strategy. Using Sweden as an example, this article explores the intersection of the landscape concept—as articulated in the ELC—with the contemporary notion of sustainable tourism management in protected areas. This exploratory study was conducted using qualitative research methods. While study participants reported strong potential in landscape-oriented approaches, they also identified key challenges including “institutional negotiation and conflict” and “confusion and uncertainty about the landscape concept.” The article concludes by addressing the implications for enhancing sustainable tourism management through adoption of landscape-oriented approaches.

Coastal land degradation and character assessment of Southern Black Sea landscape

The developing economies have negatively affected sustainability of natural resources. Increasing environmental pollution, global climate change and deforestation are some examples for such effects. Therefore, some leading countries seek for a solution to overcome these problems. Within this frame, “European Landscape Convention” which is also signed by Turkey, foresees to describe and characterize of landscapes in Pan-European level by applying protection and promotion principals for management and planning the landscapes in a sustainable way. Thus, there is an urgent need to describe and characterize our available national landscapes in any scale and resolution. In this study, landscape character assessment for the city center of Rize and adjacent rural vicinity was investigated. The study area is famous for cultivation of industrial plant “CameliaSinensis” and evidently under severe usage as agricultural fields. The results of the study revealed that the area can be described by 5 different landscape characters and 544 landscape units. Spatial analysis carried out in precisely built geo-database showed that the area is under influence of two main vegetation types which are tea plantation areas and coppice cover. Moreover, the study area is highly fragmented due to triple effects; “urbanization”, “inheritance law” and “natural land cover alteration”.

Suitability of discrete choice experiments for landscape management under the European Landscape Convention

Abstract Landscapes throughout the world are increasingly being altered as a result of human actions and natural processes, therefore necessitating urgent management. Acknowledging this situation, the European Landscape Convention (ELC) was approved in 2000 with the explicit objective of protecting, managing and planning European landscapes. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence on the suitability of the Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) methodology for valuing multidimensional landscapes under the ELC. An application in the Basque Country, Spain, serves as an example to illustrate that the DCE methodology may be suitable for supporting the aims of the ELC because: (i) it is a tool for public consultation; (ii) it offers an insight into the relative attractiveness of key landscape attributes, such as native forests and farming activities; and (iii) it provides policy-makers with quantitative information on the public preferences for potential future landscape protection, management and planning programmes. The results highlight the important role that the conservation of native forests and the promotion of organic farming may play in the management of European landscapes, which in turn is found to be strongly culturally dependent.

Perception and use of landscape concepts in the procedure of Environmental Impact Assessment: Case study—Switzerland and Romania

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) defines landscape as “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors”. Because all aspects linked to landscape are evaluated during the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) procedure, we assessed the Swiss and Romanian experts’ perception and EIA reports regarding the landscape concept. Therefore, we analysed Swiss and Romanian experts’ perception of landscape, we evaluated concepts and methods used in environmental impact reports to assess landscape characteristics and functions, and how the ELC's aim and objectives are reflected by the EIA reports.The Canonical Correspondence Analysis performed to evaluate the experts’ perception of landscape integration in the EIA procedure showed a significant relationship among pattern of answers and experts’ professional background. Moreover, there is a significant difference between Swiss and Romanian expert's perception. Longer experience in the field and a higher level of education indicates higher awareness of landscape characteristics and properties, which demonstrates that alongside with the initial training, there is a need for developing a coherent long-life learning systems having landscape analysis as a focus.The ELC is familiar to nearly 86% of the Romanian Environmental Impact Assessment actors and nearly 29% of the Swiss experts. By contrast, most of the Romanian EIA reports analysed do not employ many concepts of the ELC, while most of the Swiss environmental reports incorporate objectives of landscape protection consistent with the Convention.Our study relies on the comparative investigation of representative case studies of Environmental Impact Assessment reports for industry, local infrastructures, tourism facilities, and wind farm projects, as well on tracking how the European Landscape Convention is reflected by the EIA reports. We found that EIA reports from both countries evaluate the visual landscape, thus, achieving subjective assessment of landscape aesthetics without focusing on social and ecological sub-systems. Quantitative elements of landscape analysis are mostly absent and it is challenging to evaluate whether environmental assessments are consistent among European Landscape Convention countries.To overcome the abstract way of evaluation of project's impact on landscape through EIA procedure, an improved landscape analysis procedure is needed and we propose developing technical guidelines, under the European Landscape Convention umbrella, in order to enhance landscape management.

European landscape convention

European landscape convention

Public participation in landscape planning: Effective methods for implementing the European Landscape Convention in Norway

Public participation in landscape planning and management has received increased attention across Europe since the European Landscape Convention (ELC) came into force in 2004. The ELC has now been ratified by many countries, which have been working on its implementation for up to several years. In this article, we study experiences from public participation in five different planning processes in Norway, and we assess the methods used according to a set of evaluation criteria developed in a European context: Scope, Representativeness, Timing, Comfort and Convenience, and Influence. Subsequently we identify ten singular methods as being particularly effective in terms of contributing significantly to increasing scores of Scope, Representativeness, and Comfort and convenience, i.e. the criteria most influenced by the methods chosen. All ten methods identified contribute to increase scores on one or two evaluation criteria, which underlines the importance of combining different methods to achieve effective participation within the restricted framework of a concrete spatial planning process. In an international perspective it seems most fruitful to apply a set of both dominantly verbal methods as practiced in Norway and somewhat more visual approaches used in other countries. This would also acknowledge basic differences among theoretical understandings of landscape and follow a recent scientific development of the concept of landscape.

Los paisajes culturales patrimonio mundial como herramientas de gestión territorial. El caso de la Serra de Tramuntana de Mallorca

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Historical oblique aerial photographs as a powerful tool for communicating landscape changes

This paper reports on a potential new form of data generation and data display to be used for communicating landscape change at local scales, utilizing a huge collection of oblique aerial photographs held by the Royal Library in Copenhagen. The collection contains local scale imagery covering all parts of Denmark recorded between 1930 and 1990 and thus has the potential to illustrate the changes which took place in the rural landscape as a whole after the Second World War, in ways which are suited for use at local scales. Taking into account that landscape change normally happens at a slow rate relative to the perceptive scale of humans, with fine grained changes taking place continuously in local settings, images of this kind present themselves as a way for the general public to become aware of changes which might otherwise be overlooked. To a still more urbanized population where most people do not have an every-day experience with rural landscape change, the images may be a starting point for a renewed engagement with landscapes, not just perceived as a scenery, but rather as a process of interaction with the environment. In order to inform a wider range of people, in competition with other types of information, the imagery provides a point of reference – a single farm or landscape known to the users – which people without specific training in landscape research can relate to. The use of a crowdsourcing approach in data generation on a webgis application means that the broader public is both involved in the creation of the data and in the discussion about the changes observed, which become visible when comparing old aerial photographs to the present landscape. In combination with the very local nature of the aerial photographs, this opens up the possibility that the images could serve as a communicational bridge between “abstract” scientific knowledge about landscape change (e.g. change in hedgerow density per year) and the local landscapes where people are living. As such, the approach described in this paper may contribute to the objectives set out in the European landscape convention to facilitate an increased understanding of landscape issues among the public through a democratic learning process. The article concludes, that this approach has a huge potential, although some difficulties exist, relating to the challenge of maintaining a focus on the landscape when using a form of communication which is dialogue-based and relatively unstructured compared to approaches embedded within conventional learning environments.

Social Evaluation Approaches in Landscape Projects

Landscape is a crucial component of world heritage and, in the last few years, landscape projects have played a vital role in the development of sustainable scenarios. As reported in the European Landscape Convention, landscape means an area, as perceived by people, of which the character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors. Therefore, in landscape planning and assessment, the community is necessarily involved. In order to improve the effectiveness of a project for landscape enhancement, this study suggests strategies for an integrated project, taking into account the numerous, heterogeneous variables involved. A landscape project, therefore, is a complex project that requires structured valuation stages, open to the community dimension. The qualitative, intergenerational, and inclusive characteristics of landscapes suggest that the limits of traditional economic analysis should be exceeded by adopting new assessment methods. With this aim in mind, this paper proposes social evaluation approaches, which operate by combining deliberative processes with total economic and multidimensional approaches. In this paper, we present: (1) a brief overview of the main features and issues concerning landscape projects; (2) strategies for integrated projects in landscape enhancement; and (3) social approaches in landscape assessment that account for complexity and social inclusion.

The Degree of Landscape Openness as a Manifestation of Cultural Metamorphose

Abstract The issues of aesthetic assessment of landscapes has now become important due to the need of rational and balanced cultural landscape management and the implementation of the provisions of the European Landscape Convention. The aim of this article is to show the methodology of the assessment and interpretation of the degree of the current openness of the cultural landscape of Poland as an effect of a historical process. The chronological analysis made it possible to single out stages of opening/enclosing of the landscapes of Poland with reference to crucial natural, historical and cultural factors. The degree of landscape openness may be treated as a synthetic indicator of the natural and cultural environment evolution. When a landscape type is viewed as a result of natural and anthropogenic processes, the analysis of proportions between the surface of natural and cultural elements becomes of prime importance. In the historical times, the process of landscape enclosing was not unidirectional. Four stages of transformation of cultural landscapes in Poland have been distinguished. These stages are characterized by differences of the landscape openness. It can be interpreted as the result of cultural metamorphosis.

“This is what we did last time”. Uncertainty over landscape analysis and its procurement in the Swedish road planning process

In some European countries, landscape analysis has long been used in support of large-scale planning or major projects such as new trunk roads and mainline rail routes, in line with both the UN's Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment and the European Landscape Convention. Some countries, however, lack a regulatory framework for what should be analysed, how a landscape analysis should be conducted, or even how it should be procured. Sweden is one such country. The research project on which this article is based uses in-depth interviews with twelve key Swedish officials to consider landscape analysis issues in the planning and procurement of road and railway infrastructure. The findings point to the fact that skilled transport planners are not entirely comfortable with the current situation, and the way landscape analysis is handled in daily planning practice varies enormously. For example, nearly all the respondents believe that the way formal landscape analyses are procured is important, not least to ensure quality, yet at the same time they are rarely commissioned separately, even when this is explicitly stipulated by the regulations. There is no generally accepted notion of what ‘landscape’ might be, and the terms in which respondents describe the landscape do not correspond to the official landscape terminology as set down in the ELC.

Comparative assessment of public opinion on the landscape quality of two biosphere reserves in Europe.

The European Landscape Convention (2000) obligates European Union countries to identify and implement landscape quality objectives (LQOs) understood as the specification of public expectations and preferences concerning the landscape of a given area, expressed by competent public authorities. The convention emphasizes the important role of local community representatives in this field. In Poland, the implementation of the LQO concept was first undertaken in two regions with radically different landscape characteristics: (1) the West Polesie Biosphere Reserve and (2) the selected protected areas of the Roztocze–Solska Forest, nominated to the rank of a biosphere reserve. The first stage of the presented study was the recognition of public opinion on the quality of key features of landscape, based on a questionnaire (n = 470). The primary objective of the study was to provide an answer to the following questions: (1) Whether similar social expectations regarding landscape quality exist in spite of radically different landscape characteristics of the regions investigated (landscape quality is understood as spatial arrangement, scenic beauty, and lack of environmental pollution); (2) which landscape features are considered to be most preservation worthy by the representatives of both local communities; and (3) What processes or development impacts pose the greatest threat to the landscape quality of both regions according to the public opinion? The conducted comparative assessment revealed that it is possible to define a set of features fundamental to the quality of both areas and that representatives of local communities pointed out the same threats to the natural and cultural values of both regions investigated.

Space, pressures and the management of the greek landscape

Landscapes are the result of the interaction of natural and human factors, with many dimensions; they are part of natural and cultural heritage and an important component of the quality of life. Greece has heterogeneous and mixed landscapes issuing from both geomorphology and the impact of complex human systems. Despite the existence of many and early legislative efforts, Greece has a relatively poor history of spatial planning and landscape has been particularly neglected. The adoption of the European Landscape Convention (ELC) in 2010 provides an updated strategic context for integrating landscape in spatial planning. In this article, we seek to contribute to the discussion of landscape policies and the inclusion of the landscape level in the spatial planning national framework. We identify the dominant landscape types by categorizing landscapes at the national scale with reference to the (combined) presence of three different components: geomorphology, land cover and coasts/islands. Then, we investigate the most important processes of change for each type and link these processes with spatial planning policy. The identification of these dynamics sheds light on current and future trajectories of the changes of Greek landscapes, thus providing challenges for its management in the context of the ELC. The case study concerns the regional level; we focus on Attica, Thessaly, Epirus and the Cyclades and identify the principal characteristics according to the proposed landscape typology.

Perceived landscape values and public participation in a road-planning process – a case study in Sweden

The European Landscape Convention indicates that assessment of different dimensions that exist in landscapes should be taken into account in planning. In this study, we first investigated ecological, cultural and social values as perceived by the local people in a highway-planning process in Sweden. Next, we explored which factors influenced the local people's participation in the road-planning process. We used questionnaires, planning documents and the Theory of Planned Behavior to investigate the relations between different factors and local people's participation in the planning process. The results showed that people presumed the ecological values in the landscape to be adversely affected by the new road, while the social values would remain the same. Landowners had heard of the participatory-process, but few participated. Those who lived within 300 m of the road were more active in the planning process than people living further away. The findings suggest that people living within a few hundred metres of the road should be treated as key stakeholders in the planning process. The involvement of other stakeholders, and when in the public participation process stakeholders should be involved, is also discussed.