Perceptions Of Landscape Change Research Articles

Citizens' Perceptions of Landscape Changes and Their Driving Forces: Evidence from Poland.

The main aim of our studies was to explore the driving forces of landscape change and their impact on the landscape as perceived by citizens in our study. We use quantitative tools for unravelling processes of landscape change over time and a qualitative tool aimed at capturing people’s perceptions about those changes. We use the two municipalities of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Kąty Wrocławskie as illustrative examples of urban and urban–rural municipalities in two time periods, 2006–2021 and 2012–2018, in Poland. We apply a three-stage approach: (1) to identify the main landscape changes based on land-cover data, (2) to characterize those changes with the use of orthophoto maps and (3) to identify the driving forces of landscape changes with the use of an online survey and interviews. The results show a large agreement between the perceived and actual level of changes. We identified key landscape change processes in both municipalities, and we conclude that citizens’ perceptions concerning those processes in both municipalities differed depending on the context, the level of changes, and the way this process was planned and implemented. In both municipalities, the respondents pointed out political driving forces of landscape change as key underlying drivers. Future landscape planning should consider citizens’ approaches towards landscape change to achieve better societal approval and improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.

How stable are visions for protected area management? Stakeholder perspectives before and during a pandemic

Abstract Envisioning processes enable protected area managers to chart a course for future management to reach desired goals, but unexpected changes that could affect future visions are not usually considered. The global COVID‐19 pandemic provided an opportunity to explore changes in stakeholder visions, the values that underpin the visions, and their perceptions of landscape changes and the underlying drivers (e.g. climate change, mass tourism and demographic trends). Through a mixed‐methods approach in this post‐evaluation study, we gathered comparative data on these issues from stakeholders in the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park, Spain, between July 2019 (pre‐pandemic) and October 2020 (mid‐pandemic). Our qualitative analysis demonstrates that pre‐pandemic, differences in visions for protected area management were largely spurred by different perceptions of drivers of change, rather than differences in values or perceived landscape changes, which were similar across different vision themes. One year later, in the midst of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the majority of stakeholders reported that their values, visions and perceptions of drivers did not change despite this large‐scale disturbance. Of the 20%–30% of stakeholders that did report changes, visions generally shifted towards greater prioritization of biodiversity and nature conservation as a result of heightened perceptions of the impacts of drivers of change associated with an increase in the numbers of park visitors. These drivers included mass tourism, mountain recreation, lack of environmental awareness, and change in values and traditions. Our findings reinforce the importance of adaptive and inclusive management of protected areas, including enhancing transparency and communications regarding factors driving change in the landscape, and integration of local and traditional knowledge and stakeholder perceptions of changes and drivers. Furthermore, management plans integrating stakeholder values have the potential to stay relevant even in the face of wildcard events such as a pandemic. To enhance the relevancy of visions and scenarios in conservation and land‐use planning, scenario planning methodologies should more strongly consider different potential disturbances and how drivers of change in the near and far future can be affected by wildcard events such as a pandemic.

The influence of place identity on perceptions of landscape change: Exploring evidence from rural land consolidation projects in Eastern China

China’s land use policies have largely discounted the significance of the relationship between landscape changes and residents’ geographical cognition. Rapid urbanization has generated the double pressures of ensuring the protection of farmland and meeting rising demands for urban construction land. The propulsion of top-down rural land consolidation (RLC) projects by the Chinese government has been unprecedented in recent years. In the context of RLC, local governments have focused on the expansion of areas of cultivated land and on generating new construction land quotas. However, perceptions of the changes that large-scale RLC projects bring to rural landscapes among local residents, whose place-based identities (often referred to as place identity) are forged through lifelong associations with these landscapes, have received little attention. Consequently, we explored how place identity influences rural residents’ perceptions of landscape changes in RLC areas in Eastern China, which has undergone rapid urban expansion and dramatic changes in its rural landscapes. We developed a structural equation model to analyse the effects of place identity, the intensity of RLC projects, and their quality on perceptions of landscape changes. A stratified sampling approach was used to collect data, and a good fit was found between the model and the sample data. The results of the model indicated that place identity, in conjunction with the quality of RLC projects, play a significant mediating role in relation to perceptions of positive landscape changes. Intensive RLC projects may induce positive perceptions of landscape changes. However, the quality of such projects may also be evaluated as being poor, which partially undermines the former effect. Positive evaluations of the quality of a RLC project can contribute to strengthening residents’ positive perceptions of landscape changes, which are significantly enhanced through the mediating effect of place identity. We discuss and interpret these findings by incorporating them in China’s governance system in relation particularly to land-use planning and rural revitalization.

Multidimensional analysis of landscape dynamics in a Central African forest‐savannah mosaic

AbstractMost landscape cover assessments for conservation programmes rely largely on remote sensing analyses. These analyses, however, neglect how people inhabiting protected zones perceive and structure land cover. Using socio‐ecological systems (SES) analysis in a forest‐savannah mosaic on the Congo Basin forest edge (Democratic Republic of Congo), we investigated how human practices, landscape perceptions and land use patterns affected forest cover. We conducted remote sensing analysis using a Sentinel‐2 satellite image and 187 GPS landmarks, producing a land cover map with 11 classes. Our results yielded an 81.85% correspondence with additional 164 GPS landmarks, a robust score in tropical areas. We conducted 40 individual interviews, eighteen focus group discussion workshops and nine months of participant observation of human practices to identify 19 land units and elaborate a granular SES system structuring the landscape. Integrating local knowledge and practices with general ecological and agronomic processes, we developed a landscape dynamics model revealing progressive forest colonisation of savannahs. Our methods demonstrate that a forest‐edge landscape cover evaluation through remote sensing and local knowledge can contribute to finer‐grained assessment of land cover and ecosystem services. This assessment can assist conservation efforts by considering local populations' practices on and perceptions of landscape change.

Survey of Community Livelihoods and Landscape Change along the Nzhelele and Levuvhu River Catchments in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Landscape-change studies have attracted increasing interest because of their importance to land management and the sustainable livelihoods of rural communities. However, empirical studies on landscape change and its drivers are often poorly understood, particularly, in small rural communities in developing countries such as South Africa. The present study surveyed local community livelihoods and perceptions of landscape change in the Nzhelele and Levuvhu river catchments in Limpopo Province, South Africa. These areas have experienced land reform and are also characterized by environmental degradation, poverty, inequality and environmental justice concerns among other issues. Land-cover maps derived from Landsat satellite imagery were used for purposes of correlating and validating the survey data findings and results. The survey results showed that education levels, working status and marital status have statistically significant effects on community livelihoods (indicated by levels of income, p < 0.05). Maize, fruits and vegetables are the main cultivated crop varieties in the study area, and these crops are mainly used for subsistence to meet household self-consumption requirements. Moreover, local community members and stakeholders argue that the landscape has changed over the past 20 years mainly as a result of urban expansion, deforestation, agricultural diversification and forestry intensification. These landscape changes were largely confirmed by the land-cover change maps derived from satellite imagery. Soil erosion as a result of landscape changes was identified as a major threat and hazard in the study area. Political, natural, economic and cultural factors have been identified as the major underlying drivers for the observed landscape changes. These results have implications for understanding landscape change, coupled with human–nature relationships as well as informing government policy with respect to advancing land management and further promotion of the sustainable livelihoods of rural communities. Overall, the study proposes a multiple stakeholders’ approach and ecosystem-based approach to promote the sustainable management of landscapes in rural areas.

Mapping Adolescents\u2019 Sense of Place and Perceptions of Change in an Urban\u2013Rural Transition Area

Landscapes are changing, with rural areas becoming increasingly urbanized. Children and adolescents are underrepresented in the sense-of-place literature. Our study aimed to understand how adolescent residents of a rural–urban transition area perceive and value their urbanizing landscape by examining sense of place and perceptions of landscape change. A Public Participation GIS approach, accompanied by a questionnaire survey, was applied to elicit responses from a sample of 747 students aged 12–18 in Colmenar Viejo, Madrid (Spain). Respondents’ sense of “self-in-place” or home range was small, around 1 km, although valued places were identified up to around 17 km away, and occasionally further afield. Most responses were associated with urban land, with clear difference between the urban core, strongly associated with emotions, and the suburbs, with activities. Functional locations (i.e. sports facilities) and places which were valued for their social meaning (i.e. shopping malls), could be differentiated. Students were perceptive about change processes in the urban area, but not about those on the peripheral semi-natural land. Younger children were less aware than older children of spaces outside of the town and carried out fewer activities there. Females carried out fewer outdoor activities than male adolescents. In contrast to the adult population, students were more strongly focused on urban areas than on their surrounding rural landscapes. Here, awareness-raising and incentives are needed, particularly those encouraging females into the use of areas beyond the urban land. Our results suggest a lack of meaningful integration between the core city and the periphery, with lessons for urban planners.

“There was a virgin forest here; it was all woods”: local perceptions of landscape changes in Northeastern Brazil

This paper presents a case study to understand how people from a rural population that has been undergoing intense anthropogenic transformations in recent decades perceive these local landscape changes. We conducted a participatory workshop, during which we used the scoring exercise method to stimulate the participants to rank the plant species that they consider most important for utilitarian and commercial purposes, and we employed the historical chart method to they represent the perceived changes in the availability of agricultural, wood, and medicinal plant resources over the last five decades. In order to further explore the historical chart results, we employed the thematic oral history method with those residents considered by the local people as having a high degree of knowledge about the local forest. Our findings show that people attribute great importance to the species of edible plants in the region, although they perceive them as having a low commercial potential. Regarding the perceived changes in the landscape, people indicated that there were declining areas of forest in the region, and that in the past, agriculture was practiced more intensely. Additionally, people perceive a decline in the availability of plants for wood purposes, and an increase in the availability of plants for medicinal purposes. These results indicate that even small rural populations can undertake significant changes in their surrounding ecosystems over time.

Perspectives of farmers and tourists on agricultural abandonment in east Lesvos, Greece

Multi-stakeholder perceptions of landscape changes are increasingly recognized as essential inputs to discussions on future landscape developments, particularly when addressing the future of European rural areas experiencing agricultural abandonment. This research presents a case exploration of abandonment of olive plantations in east Lesvos, Greece. We conducted two sets of semi-structured interviews to relate an exploration on local farmers’ ability and willingness to maintain the plantations, to the results of a landscape preference survey undertaken with tourists. Three farmer types are identified following a cluster analysis based on attributes of individual ability and willingness to farm. Farmers belonging to the prevalent type revealed low ability and willingness and expect to further extensify their farms. The remaining two farmer types have higher willingness; they are motivated by cultural reasons, more frequently expressing a desire to maintain their land under family ownership, and partake in social cooperative initiatives promoting practices valorizing the olive plantations. We outline how these types interact with regional drivers of change, and partly also contribute to persistence of abandonment through constrained ability to farm. Abandonment does not align with current landscape preferences of tourists, who favor cultivated landscapes, elements of traditionality within built infrastructure and undertake nature-based activities. We discuss how high willingness to farm associated with professional and pluri-active forms of farming may however provide opportunities to maintain the cultivated landscape and synergize with (agri-)tourism demand. Our findings are comparable to those of other European studies, contributing to discussions on the future of its rural landscapes.

The Medicine Tree: Unsettling palaeoecological perceptions of past environments and human activity

In this paper, we consider palaeoecological approaches to past landscapes and reflect upon how these are relevant to archaeological themes concerning concepts of environmental change and the role of past and present human communities in these processes. In particular, we highlight the importance of local context in the perception and understanding of landscape. Utilising a case study from Nepal, we look to ‘unsettle’ a conventional palaeoecological interpretation of a pollen record, originally constructed on western ecological principles, and instead draw on an interpretative perspective rooted in local Buddhist ecological knowledge, or a ‘folk taxonomy’, known as ‘The Medicine Tree’. We discuss how the interpretations of patterns and processes of vegetation change from a pollen record are not necessarily absolute. In particular, we outline how the palaeoecological frame of enquiry and reference is rooted in an essentially Eurocentric, Western scientific paradigm, which, in turn, shapes how we perceive and conceive of past landscapes and the role of ‘anthropogenic impact’ on vegetation. The aim of this is not to suggest that scientific approaches to the ‘reconstruction’ of past landscapes are necessarily invalid, but to illustrate how ‘empirical’ scientific methods and interpretations in archaeological science are contingent upon specific social and cultural frames of reference. We discuss the broader relevance of this, such as how we interpret past human activity and perception of landscape change, the ways in which we might look to mobilise research in the context of contemporary problems, issues concerning ‘degraded landscapes’ and how we incorporate local and archaeological perspectives with palaeoecology within an interconnected and iterative process.

Stakeholder Perceptions of Landscape Changes in the Mediterranean Mountains of the North‐Eastern Iberian Peninsula

AbstractTo preserve agroforest landscapes, it is essential to understand the complex factors that have shaped them. Biophysical and socio‐economic factors need to be considered, and we must leverage the ever‐increasing human capacity to model landscapes and predict their responses to agricultural intensification and land abandonment. This paper presents the main conclusions of a study on stakeholder perceptions of landscape changes in two protected Mediterranean mountain areas in the Iberian Peninsula: Alta Garrotxa and Gavarres. First, we present the changes in land use and land covers that have occurred over the past half‐century. Then, we used in‐depth interviews to determine the social perceptions and assessments of the landscape changes. We identified two coexisting but opposing viewpoints based on anthropocentric and ecocentric interpretations. The results reveal the complexity and diversity of stakeholder assessments of current management models and illustrated the lack of consensus on land management priorities. Therefore, it is necessary to promote participative methods and incorporate environmental service assessment as key elements in the decision‐making processes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Accommodating New Housing Development in Rural Areas? Representations of Landscape, Land and Rurality in Ireland

Housing development in rural localities represents one of the most visible and contested indicators of landscape change, as many European rural landscapes that are regulated by weak planning regimes are transformed by incremental suburbanisation. However, scant attention has been given to understanding stakeholder perceptions and interpretations of the physical processes of landscape change and preferences towards accommodating new housing development in rural areas among stakeholder groups. We address this deficit by drawing on a series of stakeholder focus groups undertaken in Ireland addressing: 1) stakeholder perceptions of landscape change and 2) attitudes towards future change scenarios based on digitally manipulated images of landscape change. The focus group analysis suggests a nuanced interpretation among rural residents of the impact of accommodating housing development, particularly in balancing local demand for rural housing with preferences for maintaining a sense of ‘rural character’; however, there were variations across rural space dependant on the extent of development experienced in recent years.

Perceived visual landscape changes in a fire prone environment: A multi-method approach

This research used a multi-method approach to explore people’s perceptions of landscape changes associated with prescribed burning regimes. Photographs of remnants of indigenous ecosystems at the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne, Australia, taken before and after prescribed burnings, were used for interviewing experts in the field of fire landscape management (N = 94) and a sample of lay public (N = 93) from south east Australia and central Chile. A combination of photo-sorting techniques was used to collect complementary data sets (similarity, preference rating and categorical data) which were analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, content and multivariate analysis techniques and correlation analysis. The results allowed identifying the extent to which most salient variables affect landscape preferences over time. Perceptions of burnt and regenerating landscapes were found to be influenced the most by different evidence of fire and complexity of the landscape. Findings can be used to inform design and management strategies within the context of natural settings prone to fires.

Human stewardship or ruining cultural landscapes of the ancientTulawells, southern Ethiopia

This article uses the concepts of "human stewardship" and "ruined landscape" as a theoretical framework for analysing the community's perception of landscape change in the ancient tula well system of Borana in southern Ethiopia. The ancient tula well system, the main permanent water source, has been in operation for more than five centuries and it closely links human activity and the environment. The welfare of the tula well system and the performance of the Borana pastoral system are directly related. Borana management of the tula wells uses concepts such as laaf aadaa seeraa and laaf bade to differentiate between ‘land managed by customary laws’ (hereafter human stewardship) and ‘lost’ or ‘ruined’ land (laaf bade). The cultural landscapes of the ancient wells have undergone changes from ecosystems featuring ‘human stewardship’ (before the 1960s), that is, laaf aadaa seeraa to ‘ruined landscapes’ (after the 1960s), that is, laaf bade. Our interest is in understanding how the Borana perceive the impact of land use changes from these two conceptual perspectives. In group discussions, key informant interviews and household surveys across five of the nine well clusters, we found that the society described the changed tula cultural landscape in terms of drivers of well dynamics (i.e. use and disuse), break up of land use zonations, patterns of human settlement (traditional versus peri-urban), expansion of crop cultivation, and changes in environmental quality. Using the two concepts, we analysed linkages between changing patterns of land use that transformed the system from laaf aadaa seeraa, which ensured human stewardship, to laaf bade, which resulted in ruined landscapes. From these we analysed environmental narratives that showed how the society differentiated the past human stewardship that ensured sustainable landscape management from the present ruining of tula well cultural landscapes.

Socio-Ecological Transformation from Rural into a Residential landscape in the Matadepera Village (Barcelona Metropolitan Region), 1956-2008

Abstract Mediterranean countries are experiencing the fastest rates of urban sprawl in Europe, and concern about potential negative environmental effects is increasing. This expansion is occurring in a context of declining rural activities, where highly diverse cultural landscapes are giving way to homogenous low-density housing developments and entirely new forms of human-nature relations. In the present study we offer an analysis of the socio-ecological transformation of Matadepera, a wealthy suburb of metropolitan Barcelona that evolved out of a rural village inhabited by poor peasants who farmed rain-fed cropland and managed the forest. By cross-checking data from land-cover maps, documentary sources and semi-structured interviews with elderly local peasants, we managed to gain a detailed understanding of the driving forces behind land cover transformation and give voice to perceptions of landscape change among a quite neglected social group. Our results indicate dramatic urban sprawl onto former fields and woods over the last decades, driven by a combination of different factors. They also show that oral sources can yield information on landscape changes not available from any other kind of source. Moreover, by recovering valuable and so far neglected personal memories we hope to provide further stimulus to policy actions aimed at charting a more balanced development path for the area.

Social representations of an alpine grassland landscape and socio-political discourses on rural development

Understanding how changes in ecosystem properties feedback into land-use decisions remains relatively uncharted territory for land science in general and for ecosystem service science in particular. In Europe, debates on rural development can be framed in terms of opposing socio-political discourses. These include formulations of desirable, acceptable and unacceptable changes that contribute to changing the planning- and policy-based drivers of land-use decisions. We explored the relationships between such discourses and local descriptions of a mountain grassland area in the central French Alps documented using semi-structured interviews. We found that descriptions focused on either the (1) productive functions of the local grasslands, (2) the aesthetic qualities of the surrounding landscape or (3) its cultural heritage value (testimony to past land-use patterns and practices). We interpreted these descriptions as social representations and found that they were unequally represented in existing socio-political discourses identified at the European level, thus illustrating some strong political barriers between local perceptions of landscape changes and the policy drivers of those changes.

Perceptions of landscape change in a rural British Columbia community

As forest dependent communities throughout British Columbia transit from traditional timber dependence to alternative and sometimes less extractive uses of the forest, the challenge for landscape managers is to plan change that respects the attachments that local stakeholders have for their landscape. Examining local preferences and developing a fuller understanding of the dimensions or factors that local stakeholders use to inform their assessment of landscape change is an essential part of developing future landscape management frameworks that have broad local support. The following paper presents research conducted in the upper Skeena Valley of Northwest British Columbia, where local aboriginal and non-aboriginal community members were asked to describe the factors that affected their evaluations of alternative landscape management scenarios. In addition to engaging in a complex assessment of alternative consequences, participants provided lengthy commentaries on the cultural appropriateness of particular landscape conditions, and conceptions of landscape care or ‘visible stewardship’.

Abandoned farmlands as components of rural landscapes: An analysis of perceptions and representations

In spite of its importance in some agricultural landscape, abandoned farmland remains relatively little studied. Yet it is central to several land management issues: ecological (biodiversity), economic (agricultural or forest productivity) and landscape issues. In order to better address these issues, this study proposes to define how abandoned farmland is perceived in an intensive agricultural landscape. Using photographs, the perceptions of abandoned farmland (herbaceous and shrub dominated) and 5 other land uses (hay fields, corn fields, pastures, woodlots and plantations) were measured from a sample of 33 abandoned farmland owners in order to compare and rank the perceptions of abandoned farmland to that of other types of land use. Perceptions of landscape changes and the importance of abandoned farmland within properties were studied. The statistical analyses used allowed us to establish relationships between the different perceptions and the socio-economic characteristics and value indicators of the land owners. The analyses establish that abandoned farmland produces the most negative perceptions, followed by corn fields. Conversely, woodlots are the land use that is the most appreciated. The attitude towards the environment was one of the variables most often significant in explaining the perceptions encountered. Analysis of landscape evolution reveals an intensification of agricultural practices that may lead to the conversion of abandoned farmlands into cultivated land. Finally, abandoned farmland is perceived, at the scale of the individual property, as the land use having the least value (as opposed to corn fields) and being the least appreciated (as opposed to forests).

Getting From Sense of Place to Place-Based Management: An Interpretive Investigation of Place Meanings and Perceptions of Landscape Change

ABSTRACT This article presents the findings of an interpretive investigation of the meanings that local community members attribute to the Niobrara National Scenic River in north central Nebraska and their perceptions of the river landscape. Twenty-five in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed through an iterative qualitative analysis process. A holistic and integrative Web of River Meanings emerged from the analysis. The model provides insight into participants' perceptions of and attitudes toward landscape change, and in particular the highly contentious issue of river development, which proved to be a common theme in the interviews. The study findings expand on current conceptualizations of sense of place and place attachment. The findings also have implications for local planning and management by providing a more sophisticated meanings-based framework for understanding contentious management issues.