Whilst agricultural landscapes are products of the local ecosystem and community in which they are situated, they are becoming increasingly affected by the same global issues, and are converging under the dynamics of globalisation. Combining landscape ecological research and an examination of relevant public policy, this book investigates the dynamic relationship between agricultural landscapes and the global change processes, such as urbanisation, by which they are being transformed. Landscape change is analysed in the context of biophysical patterns, market dynamics, and specific public policy frameworks, through a series of case studies from different OECD countries spanning Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. Particular emphasis is placed upon the way that landscapes are changing under differing policies of agricultural subsidy including the EU Common Agricultural Policy. This is an ideal resource for graduate students and researchers in landscape ecology and agriculture as well as policy analysts working in the agricultural sector.

Landscape is a vital, synergistic concept which opens up ways of thinking about many of the problems which beset our contemporary world, such as climate change, social alienation, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity and destruction of heritage. As a concept, landscape does not respect disciplinary boundaries. Indeed, many academic disciplines have found the concept so important, it has been used as a qualifier that delineates whole sub-disciplines: landscape ecology, landscape planning, landscape archaeology, and so forth. In other cases, landscape studies progress under a broader banner, such as heritage studies or cultural geography. Yet it does not always mean the same thing in all of these contexts. The Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies offers the first comprehensive attempt to explore research directions into the many uses and meanings of ‘landscape’. The Companion contains thirty-nine original contributions from leading scholars within the field, which have been divided into four parts: Experiencing Landscape; Landscape Culture and Heritage; Landscape, Society and Justice; and Design and Planning for Landscape. Topics covered range from phenomenological approaches to landscape, to the consideration of landscape as a repository of human culture; from ideas of identity and belonging, to issues of power and hegemony; and from discussions of participatory planning and design to the call for new imaginaries in a time of global and environmental crisis. Each contribution explores the future development of different conceptual and theoretical approaches, as well as recent empirical contributions to knowledge and understanding. Collectively, they encourage dialogue across disciplinary barriers and reflection upon the implications of research findings for local, national and international policy in relation to landscape. This Companion provides up-to-date critical reviews of state of the art perspectives across this multifaceted field, embracing disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, cultural studies, geography, landscape planning, landscape architecture, countryside management, forestry, heritage studies, ecology, and fine art. It serves as an invaluable point of reference for scholars, researchers and graduate students alike, engaging in the field of landscape studies.

A discussion of globalization and agricultural trade policy. The contributors explore: rapidly evolving environmental policies; state trading enterprises and their impact on international prices and competitiveness; regional trade agreements; and the influence of the WTO on policy.

A key aspect of town planning, landscape planning and landscape architecture is to identify and then use the distinctive features and characteristics of space, place and landscape to achieve environmental quality. Landscape Analysis provides an introduction to the field both in theory and in practice. A wide range of methods and techniques for landscape analysis is illustrated by urban and rural examples from many countries. Analysing landscapes within a planning context requires both skill and insights. Drawing upon numerous concrete examples, together with an examination of some theoretical concepts, this book guides the reader through a wide range of different approaches and techniques of landscape analysis that may be applied at different scales, from elementary site analysis to historical and regional studies. This is an essential book for students and graduate practitioners working in landscape architecture, planning and architecture.

State-of-the-art examination of the critical effects of globalisation on environmental governance.

By linking these research communities, this book develops a new perspective on landscape changes.

A presentation of the challenges of European rural landscape management, exploring alternatives that incorporate place-based approaches.

Today, global land use is affected by a variety of factors, including urbanization and the growing interconnectedness of economies and markets. This book examines the challenges and opportunities we face in achieving sustainable land use in the twenty-first century. The contributors, from a range of disciplines and countries, present new analytical perspectives and tools for understanding key issues in global land use.

Associating social justice with landscape is not new, yet the twenty-first century's heightened threats to landscape and their impact on both human and, more generally, nature's habitats necessitate novel intellectual tools to address such challenges. This book offers that innovative critical thinking framework. The establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, in the aftermath of Second World War atrocities, was an aspiration to guarantee both concrete necessities for survival and the spiritual/emotional/psychological needs that are quintessential to the human experience. While landscape is place, nature and culture specific, the idea transcends nation-state boundaries and as such can be understood as a universal theoretical concept similar to the way in which human rights are perceived. The first step towards the intellectual interface between landscape and human rights is a dynamic and layered understanding of landscape. Accordingly, the 'Right to Landscape' is conceived as the place where the expansive definition of landscape, with its tangible and intangible dimensions, overlaps with the rights that support both life and human dignity, as defined by the UDHR. By expanding on the concept of human rights in the context of landscape this book presents a new model for addressing human rights - alternative scenarios for constructing conflict-reduced approaches to landscape-use and human welfare are generated. This book introduces a rich new discourse on landscape and human rights, serving as a platform to inspire a diversity of ideas and conceptual interpretations. The case studies discussed are wide in their geographical distribution and interdisciplinary in the theoretical situation of their authors, breaking fresh ground for an emerging critical dialogue on the convergence of landscape and human rights.

This book provides a much needed overview of the agrourbanism topic in the context of territorial studies. It carefully looks at rural, urban, periurban farming in both professional and unprofessional capacities as one of the main sustainable forms of land use and management. This cutting edge text explores the various forms of agricultural and urban planning, as well as the main innovations that the agro-urban approach entails in terms of governance, spatial dimensions and functions. Agrourbanism provides a breadth of information and serves as a practical study of concerns facing policy and decision makers, planners and landscape managers, as well as farmers, managers of protected areas, local authorities and local action groups. As such this book is suitable as a course accompaniment to provide an overview of the complexity of agro-urban issues.