Participatory Landscape Planning Research Articles

Landscape features shape people’s perception of ecosystem service supply areas

Landscapes have typically been produced by varied, diverse, and long-term interactions between people and nature. However, most landscape planning and ecosystem service mapping approaches focus on the biophysical aspects of landscapes rather the social. Spatial representations of people’s perceptions, mental models, and local knowledge of ecosystem services can be created using participatory mapping. This study uses participatory mapping to identify how peoples’ perceptions of provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem service supply areas coincide or mismatch with the landscapes features of two Mediterranean river basin areas in north-eastern Catalonia, Spain. We found that the random forest and geographically weighted regression techniques are able to strongly associate landscape features with stakeholders’ perceptions of ecosystem supply areas. These results demonstrate that the stakeholders associate various geographic elements with different types of ecosystem service supply areas. Visible geographical features, such as a reservoir, mountains, wetlands, showed great importance in the perception of supply areas of ecosystem services, compared to ecological or biophysical indicators, when mapping and spatially associating certain benefits to ecosystem services supply areas. These findings reveal that, often, the ecological processes and dynamics of functioning of ecosystems are invisible and not fully understood. We argue that integrating these aspects into participatory landscape planning, policies and practice can make the invisible visible and, consequently, increase the understanding for a more targeted and effective management. This could allow stakeholders to better understand the ecological processes behind the visible geographic features of the landscape, fostering a shared knowledge and better environmental management outcomes.

Do Traditional Livestock Systems Fit into Contemporary Landscapes? Integrating Social Perceptions and Values on Landscape Change

European traditional cultural landscapes are increasingly modified by rural abandonment and urban growth processes. Acknowledged as of High Nature Value for providing multiple ecosystem services while contributing to human well-being, the future of these social-ecological systems is uncertain. Here we aim to (1) explore dominant land use and cover (LULC) changes linked to extensive livestock farming across an urban-rural gradient defined by a large city (Madrid) over the last three decades; (2) identify and classify the main driving forces shaping these landscape trajectories and; (3) acknowledge the main landscape values for promoting landscape stewardship under participatory governance frameworks. For doing so, we combine mapping analyses (CORINE Land cover) with stakeholder perceptions and positions. Our results show a dual process of progressive abandonment of agroecosystems linked to traditional livestock farming and an ever-increasing urban growth over the last three decades as the most important driving forces. The growing urban sprawl in areas close to Madrid begins to be perceived as problematic for interviewees. The decline of extensive livestock farming in detriment of tourism, particularly evident in rural areas far from Madrid, is perceived as a threat to the cultural heritage and traditions of rural people. This decline is also perceived as a worrying increase of wildfire risk. Stakeholders stressed the need of valuing extensive livestock farming to prevent rural-urban migration, dynamizing rural economies, conserving landscapes and traditions while producing food-quality products. Interviewees advocated for science-based, stakeholder-inclusive and participatory landscape planning and co-management, leading to more context-specific, regionalized policymaking.

Integrating sense of place into participatory landscape planning: merging mapping surveys and geodesign workshops

ABSTRACT This article explores the potential of integrating sense of place into participatory landscape planning processes. In an illustrative case study, spatial information on sense of place assessed through a participatory mapping survey from local citizens is integrated into a geodesign workshop at the Lahn river, Germany, with local stakeholders and planning administration representatives. Results show that sense of place information (1) has been considered interesting and relevant for the planning process by the majority of workshop participants, (2) revealed areas in the landscape that participants did not expect to be meaningful, and (3) spurred discussion on the potential meanings of the places and areas. We recommend planners to consider options for eliciting and integrating sense of place in future participatory landscape planning to reveal citizens’ unknown people-place relationships for the use in actual deliberation and negations.

Assessing Land Use and Land Cover Change and Farmers’ Perceptions of Deforestation and Land Degradation in South-West Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa

Deforestation and land degradation remain two major economic and environmental threats in Côte d’Ivoire. This study assessed land use and land cover (LULC) change and farmers’ perceptions of the drivers and effects of deforestation and land degradation in south-western Côte d’Ivoire. We used remotely sensed data to determine LULC change trends, and a household survey to collect farmers’ perceptions of deforestation and land degradation. A total of 411 households were interviewed using a structured questionnaire and the focus group discussions involved 25 farmers. Landsat image analysis reported a drastic LULC change and a conversion of forestlands into agriculture from 1987 to 2015 at a rate of 1.44%/year and 3.44%/year for dense forests and degraded forests, respectively. The household survey revealed that the major causes of deforestation perceived by farmers included population growth (79.3%), extensive agriculture (72.9%), migration (54.2%) and logging (47.7%). Land degradation evolved, from a shortened fallow period (46.7%) and an inappropriate application of inputs (31.4%). The perceived major effects linked to deforestation encompassed land degradation (70.6%), loss of biodiversity (63.8%), global warming (56.9%) and loss of livelihood assets (54.3%). Therefore, this study recommends participatory landscape planning, reforestation and capacity building of stakeholders for sustainable intensification of the production systems to reduce LULC challenges for enhanced productive and protective functions of remaining forests.

Quantifying perceived landscape desirability in human settlements: the case of four communities in Cape Coast, Ghana

Through their natural, aesthetic and cultural attributes, landscapes serve a range of human needs. The perception and value placed on these attributes and services confer desirability on a given landscape. Landscape desirability refers to the extent of acceptability or preferability of the perceived state and functioning of a given landscape in relation to serving the landscape needs of its human inhabitants. This paper presents the idea of, and an approach for quantifying landscape desirability using four communities in Cape Coast, Ghana. A landscape desirability index was derived from four factors (attractivity, wellbeing, dignity, and eco-resilience) based on scores assigned by respondents to three sub-components of each of the four factors. The results show that all the communities scored their landscapes moderately on attractivity, wellbeing, dignity, and eco-resilience, as well as overall landscape desirability. Bare surfaces and contribution to flood and erosion mitigation were a major consideration in respondents’ scores of the sub-components of the factors. Nature and beauty (sub-components of attractivity) and sub-components of eco-resilience contributed considerably to the low desirability indices for the communities. This suggests the need to focus on these components in efforts to enhance landscape desirability. The findings suggest a need for wider studies to capture residents’ perceptions of their landscapes as an input into participatory landscape planning, transformation and management in Ghana. The quantitative approach applied can easily be adapted and replicated across communities and spatial scales to provide a comparable basis for sustainable landscape transformation in human settlements.

Participativeness, indigenous peoples and landscape planning: theoretical questions

Landscape planning provides for the preservation and development of natural and sociocultural potentials of the territory. Its integrative feature is most important. Landscape planning organizes and coordinates the spatial development of society. Cultural landscape, being a scientific category, combines material and symbolic spaces, life strategies, and resources of the territory. In Russia, the cultural landscape approach, which most fully reflects the participativeness principle, was first applied in landscape planning of the Irkutsk Region territories where the Evenk community lives. Land management led by the Committee of the North in the 1920-1930s became its precursor. Indigenous peoples and Russian old residents in Siberia has a close material and spiritual connection with the territory, which contributes to the preservation of ethnic identity and historical memory. Modern studies of these issues in anthropology and landscape planning have poor contact with each other. The participatory landscape planning based on the cultural landscape approach has some overlapping with the studies in fields of cultural anthropology, ethnoecology and ethnic expertise. It ensures recognition of formal and informal self-governance structures of the indigenous peoples in Siberia and expands tools and practices of landscape planning through integration of cultural and anthropological as well as humanitarian and geographical research.

Politicising the landscape: a theoretical contribution towards the development of participation in landscape planning

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we engage with the topic of public participation in landscape planning. Academic discussions and policy rhetoric tend to build on a conceptualisation of landscape as a democratic entity, yet practices of participatory landscape planning often fall short of these ideals. Most scholars approach this rhetoric-practice gap from procedural and normative positions, defining what makes a successful participatory process. We take an alternative approach, scrutinising the role of landscape planning theory in participatory shortcomings, and reveal how poor substantive theorisation of ‘the political’ nature of landscapes contributes to the difficulties in realising participatory ideals. We engage theoretically with the political dimension, conceptualising and explaining the implications that differences, conflicts and power relations have for participation in landscape planning, that is, politicising the landscape. This theoretical engagement helps bring about a much-needed realignment of substantive theory, procedural theory and practice for developing participation in landscape planning.

Influence of visibility of wind farms on noise annoyance – A laboratory experiment with audio-visual simulations

Noise annoyance reactions in the population due to wind farms are related to visual as well as noise-related impacts of the farms. Improved understanding of these effects may support the planning of better accepted wind farms. Recently, tools for visualization and auralization of wind farms have been developed that allow mutually studying audio-visual effects on annoyance. The objective of this study was to investigate the audio-visual effects of different wind turbine noise situations on short-term noise annoyance in a psychophysical laboratory experiment, considering serial position effects (simple order and differential carryover effects). A set of 24 audio-visual situations covering a range of acoustical characteristics (sound pressure level, periodic amplitude modulation) and visual settings (landscape with visible wind turbine, landscape only, grey background) was created. The factorial design of the experiment allowed separating audio-visual effects from serial position effects on noise annoyance. Both visual and acoustical characteristics were found to affect noise annoyance, besides the participants’ attitude towards wind farms. Sound pressure level and amplitude modulation increased annoyance, the presence of a visualized landscape decreased annoyance, and the visibility of a wind turbine increased annoyance. While simple order effects could be eliminated by counterbalancing, the initial visual setting strongly affected the annoyance ratings of the subsequent settings. Due to this differential carryover effect, visual effects could be assessed reliably only as long as the participants saw the initial visual setting. Therefore, the presentation order of audio-visual stimuli should be carefully considered in experimental studies and in participatory landscape planning.

Does landscape related expertise influence the visual perception of landscape photographs? Implications for participatory landscape planning and management

Does expertise in landscape related issues influence the way landscapes are observed? In an eye tracking experiment 21 landscape experts and 21 laymen were asked to observe 74 landscape photographs, each for 10s. Experts seemed to make significantly more fixations and saccades, had a longer scan path and a larger visual span than the laymen. As a consequence, in the same amount of time, experts visually explored the landscape photographs to a wider extent and in a more global and holistic fashion. This is probably due to the presence of expertise, which seemed to enhance efficient information extraction, enabling experts to interpret and understand the landscapes more easily. In contrast, the laymen's visual exploration of the landscapes was considerably more restricted as they spent significantly more time and attention to singular objects, in particular to buildings. This behaviour may be a result of the lack of expertise, which makes longer fixation times necessary to understand the meaning of the composing landscape elements. A slower information processing leaves less time to visually explore the landscape photograph and hampers laymen to observe the landscape as a whole. Consequently, experts and laymen may not perceive the same features in a landscape and might not even see the same landscape. This conclusion is important for participatory landscape management in which experts and laymen are asked to visually assess landscapes. The often diverging assessments of both groups could partially be explained by their literally different view on landscapes, on which their judgement is based.

PARTICIPATORY LANDSCAPE PLANNING: THE CASE OF THE WESTVAARDERSPLASSEN IN THE NETHERLANDS

Although it has been recognised that a stakeholder approach is important in effective landscape planning, a lack of objective methods which include stakeholder opinions in planning projects exists. In this paper we describe a new experimental method for creating landscape planning maps based on stakeholder opinions. During interviews, stakeholders are asked to rate the suitability of individual landscape elements and to visualise their ideal landscape plan. The results of the interview are then used to create a new landscape plan for the area. This method is illustrated by means of a case study in the Netherlands in which four stakeholders were included: the municipality, an agricultural organisation, the water board and a nature conservation organisation. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was performed in order to determine the robustness of the proposed method. Changing weights given to the individual stakeholders did not have a significant influence on the resulting landscape plan, indicating that this is a promising method for participatory landscape planning.

Tool or Toy? Virtual Globes in Landscape Planning

Virtual globes, i.e., geobrowsers that integrate multi-scale and temporal data from various sources and are based on a globe metaphor, have developed into serious tools that practitioners and various stakeholders in landscape and community planning have started using. Although these tools originate from Geographic Information Systems (GIS), they have become a different, potentially interactive and public tool set, with their own specific limitations and new opportunities. Expectations regarding their utility as planning and community engagement tools are high, but are tempered by both technical limitations and ethical issues [1,2]. Two grassroots campaigns and a collaborative visioning process, the Kimberley Climate Adaptation Project case study (British Columbia), illustrate and broaden our understanding of the potential benefits and limitations associated with the use of virtual globes in participatory planning initiatives. Based on observations, questionnaires and in-depth interviews with stakeholders and community members using an interactive 3D model of regional climate change vulnerabilities, potential impacts, and possible adaptation and mitigation scenarios in Kimberley, the benefits and limitations of virtual globes as a tool for participatory landscape planning are discussed. The findings suggest that virtual globes can facilitate access to geospatial information, raise awareness, and provide a more representative virtual landscape than static visualizations. However, landscape is not equally representative at all scales, and not all types of users seem to benefit equally from the tool. The risks of misinterpretation can be managed by integrating the application and interpretation of virtual globes into face-to-face planning processes.

Which is the Appropriate 3D Visualization Type for Participatory Landscape Planning Workshops? A Portfolio of Their Effectiveness

Communication and information are central aspects in participatory spatial planning. This study analyzes the effectiveness of current 3D landscape visualizations in communicating the required spatial information. The focus was on measuring 3D visualizations' effectiveness in participatory planning processes according to the level of various supporting functions for, for example, information processing or achieving the objectives of different planning phases. The effectiveness of abstract and realistic 3D visualization types was tested in case studies using qualitative social – empirical research methods. In order to provide a systematic overview of the results, a portfolio analysis was carried out. The benefit of the visualization types for different planning tasks and their quality of representing the required planning content were evaluated. The results show that the different strengths of both abstract and realistic 3D visualization types are required in participatory workshops. They are especially efficient at motivating stakeholders and enlarging the information base. However, until now they have proved to be less suitable for the development of new ideas and decision making. In particular, the realistic visualization type was ranked as very attractive for the purpose of evaluation, but the representation of the required spatial information needed enhancement. On the basis of the portfolio, focusing further research on optimizing the 3D visualization types for analysis and evaluation tasks is suggested.

CLUB NEUROLOGIE-MEDECINE INTERNE

Most local authorities in rural Mexico lack relevant resource data at appropriate scales to develop community plans, even though planning and development decisions are made largely at this level of government. Many resource planning studies have been conducted in less developed areas of Mexico, but these are of limited applicability to economies in rapid transition facing tremendous internal developmental pressure, such as in the state of Jalisco. In order to assist such local rural communities in Mexico achieve a sustainable balance, a landscape planning process which includes community engagement, supplemented with landscape analyses, classification, mapping as well as various qualitative research methods, is described and analyzed. A site analysis across the case municipality of Tapalpa identified major landscape units, and environmental and socio-economic issues, which were grouped into major themes. Following interviews with community members, a participatory workshop charrette was conducted, where local and institutional stakeholders discussed issues uncovered during the interviews and landscape analysis. A final set of sustainable development recommendations and visualizations demonstrating potential outcomes was assembled for legislation and implementation. This study showed that community engagement through the use of participatory landscape planning is an effective means of informing and impacting local policy related to sustainable community development in rural Mexico. Furthermore, it demonstrates the lack of planning in landscapes outside of major population centers, and the limited utility of existing policies which lack appropriate scale and applicability to rural areas.

Participatory landscape planning and sustainable community development: Methodological observations from a case study in rural Mexico

Most local authorities in rural Mexico lack relevant resource data at appropriate scales to develop community plans, even though planning and development decisions are made largely at this level of government. Many resource planning studies have been conducted in less developed areas of Mexico, but these are of limited applicability to economies in rapid transition facing tremendous internal developmental pressure, such as in the state of Jalisco. In order to assist such local rural communities in Mexico achieve a sustainable balance, a landscape planning process which includes community engagement, supplemented with landscape analyses, classification, mapping as well as various qualitative research methods, is described and analyzed. A site analysis across the case municipality of Tapalpa identified major landscape units, and environmental and socio-economic issues, which were grouped into major themes. Following interviews with community members, a participatory workshop charrette was conducted, where local and institutional stakeholders discussed issues uncovered during the interviews and landscape analysis. A final set of sustainable development recommendations and visualizations demonstrating potential outcomes was assembled for legislation and implementation. This study showed that community engagement through the use of participatory landscape planning is an effective means of informing and impacting local policy related to sustainable community development in rural Mexico. Furthermore, it demonstrates the lack of planning in landscapes outside of major population centers, and the limited utility of existing policies which lack appropriate scale and applicability to rural areas.

Beyond the visual dimension: Using ideal type narratives to analyse people's assessments of landscape scenarios

In this study it was investigated how local stakeholders in a Swiss mountain area assess visual and non-visual aspects of different landscape scenarios, taking into account their values and assumptions. For this analysis, a procedure was developed that involves a novel tool in landscape research, ideal type narratives. Three scenarios of agricultural and conservation policy developments were drawn up for the year 2030, and their assumed landscape consequences for the study area were visualised using computer-aided photo-editing. The scenarios were rated by stakeholders both in terms of their visual and non-visual consequences, and discussed in a group meeting. The results suggest that most stakeholders prefer a highly structured cultural landscape, similar to the landscape prevalent in the area before the onset of agricultural mechanisation. Stakeholders are, however, not willing to pay the social, economic and cultural costs that restoring such a landscape would entail; in an overall assessment they prefer a Business as Usual scenario that assumes a future life situation similar to the present one. The results and procedure presented in this paper have practical implications for participatory landscape planning, as a better knowledge of stakeholders’ values and assumptions helps minimise misunderstandings both among stakeholders and between stakeholders and researchers.

Assessing psycho-social effects of participatory landscape planning

Participation has become an important issue in landscape planning. Within the relevant literature, an increasing number of authors emphasise the meaning of psycho-social effects such as the building of trust and engagement for planning projects. Yet, empirical studies examining psycho-social effects of participatory techniques in landscape planning are still an exception and are often conceptually and methodologically limited. The present paper addresses these gaps by adapting a mixed method design consisting of repeated measurement ( n = 35) and qualitative interviews ( n = 11). In the course of a municipal Landscape Development Concept (LDC) in Switzerland, short-term effects were assessed regarding participants’ (a) trust in other persons involved, (b) confidence in the outcomes of the LDC, and (c) intention to participate. Significant changes were found on trust in involved persons and on the confidence in the general benefit of the LDC. The intention to participate did not change significantly. Information events had no significant effect on participants, whereas workshops had a significant effect on participants’ trust. Trust of workshop attendees decreased during the planning process, which may partly represent a shift from enthusiastic expectations to a more realistic view, and must not be regarded as a negative outcome, since it prevents participants from serious frustration. The paper concludes that a long-term participation strategy, providing different participatory arenas and settings, is essential in order to comprehensively affect all dimensions of trust and to foster engagement.