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Our identity is tied to where we are and how we engage with the landscapes in which we find ourselves. But what happens if the landscape which we use for our everyday life is drastically altered by a catastrophic upheaval, for example, when forest fires ravage the landscape? In this paper, interviews with individuals affected by the largest forest fire in modern Swedish history are used to exemplify our conceptualisation of how landscape identity is impacted by dramatic change. We address the phases of stability, change and progression in relation to the case. Finally, we propose that landscape identity can be utilised as a central concept for engaging with the social aspects of the impact of forest fires.

Access to the published version may require journal subscription. Published with permission from: Elsevier. Awareness-raising of landscape in practice. An analysis of Landscape Character Assessments in England AbstractAwareness-raising is one of the measures which signatories to the European Landscape Convention are expected to realise, yet it is unclear what awareness-raising entails when related to an ambiguous subject such as landscape. Our study builds a conceptual understanding of awareness-raising of landscape, recognising that it cannot be a purely top-down process but needs to be seen as a "multi-directional transfer of knowledge" or "co-creation of meaning". We have used this conceptual understanding as a lens for analysing practices which in some form help raise awareness of landscape. Document studies of Landscape Character Assessments undertaken in England since 2007 and interviews with key actors involved in Landscape Character Assessments were carried out in order to understand how awareness-raising is addressed. The findings suggest that while often overlooked or recognised as a top down endeavour landscape assessments have potential to develop cocreation of meaning.

In this article, we deal with landscape activities in relation to changing landscape identity after a major wildfire in Sweden in 2014. The aim was to investigate the relationships between 22 landscape activities (before the fire) and 2 components (emotion and cognition) of landscape identity (before and after the fire). A total of 656 respondents living nearby the fire area participated in this study. Before the fire, a positive association was found between the activities of enjoying nature and foraging, and both components of landscape identity. This suggests that the more participants enjoyed nature and picked berries and mushrooms, the stronger their attachment to the landscape (emotion), and the more they remembered and reasoned about the landscape (cognition). Post fire, these relationships were found only between the two components of landscape identity and foraging. This implies a significant role of this type of activity for keeping 'alive' landscape identity.

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