Challenges for a shared European countryside of uncertain future. Towards a modern community-based landscape perspective

Europe: the paradox of landscape change : A case-study based contribution to the understanding of landscape transitions

“…This results in transport infrastructure, changed land use and finally segregation in society and associated cultural changes. In Portugal and other Mediterranean countries the changes may be strongly rooted in traditional cultures and lifestyles (Pinto-Correia et al 2016). Feed-back mechanisms are not common, these were only reported in Denmark and Portugal, where the landscape quality has positive effect on recreation.…”

“…European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund), this resulted in uncontrolled development, land grabbing for speculation purposes, and a strong decline in landscape quality, all effects that were not foreseen in the formulation of the RDP. The unintended effects of policies were also discussed by Pedroli et al (2016), describing agricultural and market policies being dominant at European level. Environmental and societal concerns can thus only take place at European level, which results in the local farmer and community loosing autonomy.…”

“…The cultural landscape includes farmed landscapes, forested landscapes or other important landscapes. Examples are the hedgerow landscapes in The Netherlands, Brittany (France), Southern England and Wales, the terraced vineyards of Cinque Terre (Agnoletti 2012), and landscapes in Southern Europe like Tuscany (Vos and Stortelder 1992), and the Dehesas or Montados in Spain or Portugal (Martinho da Silva 1996; Pedroli et al 2016;Plieninger 2006). These types of cultural landscapes denote all landscapes modified by human activity (Jones 2003), which differs from UNESCO that defines cultural landscapes as landscapes with highly valued or unique features that are threatened by change or disappearance.…”

“…Realising that many factors contribute to rural landscape dynamics besides agricultural production, Holmes (2008) introduces the concept of Multifunctional Rural Transition (MRT) and uses this framework to explain rural changes under the influence of certain economic conditions, landscape governance and environmental change, for parts of Australia (Holmes 2012). Holmes' framework has also been applied to study change processes occurring in Europe (Carvalho-Ribeiro et al 2013;Pinto-Correia et al 2016), where conditions differ considerably from region to region, especially regarding the available land resources and spatial claims on land. Holmes' framework balances production, consumption and protection: from 'monofunctional' land use (top of the triangle) towards multifunctional land use (centre); from production oriented (top) towards provision of a wider array of landscape services, such as housing, recreation (lower left), habitat function (lower right), etc.…”

“…Landscape transitions are considered the result of a changing balance between societal consumption, conservation and production (Holmes 2008;Pinto-Correia et al 2016) and of changing modes of occupancy (use of rural space) (Holmes 2008 p. 212) of land owners and managers. Also the socio-economic context defines the outcome of the transition process.…”