The European Landscape is under stress of changing land use and a changing attitude of its users. Globalization, the disappearance of the iron curtain and the recent EU enlargement to 25 countries have changed the economic and environmental dimensions of Europe. Europe is changing its face from a western and eastern part to one European Union and to fast connections between its centres of activity. The rural and cultural heritage of Europe has to be adapted to cope with this change. However, its landscape is worth to be conserved as well, because it represents the European history in the same way as castles and churches. It even more represents the history of the common people, because it has been the tradition of the rural population that made these landscapes. It cannot be prevented that Europe is changing and it is good that Europe adapts to the new dimensions of the world. We, in Europe, have to define what we think is important and what must be conserved, what can be adapted to be used for new functions and what can be abolished because it has no value. These decisions will determine the new dimensions of the European landscapes. The Frontis Workshop on the New Dimensions of the European Landscape was held on 10-12 June 2002. Wageningen University and Research Centre organized this workshop aiming to develop visions on the landscape in Europe, its development and design in the future and to strengthen the international network in landscape planning.

This book is the result of three symposia of the Dutch Society for Landscape Ecology. The first symposium in 2005 was about the National Ecological Network in the Netherlands . The reason was that the implementation of the NEN, decided upon in 1990, was halfway. The second symposium, in 2006, was about urban ecology and the third one, to be held in 2007, will be about civil infrastructure. This book does not cover the conferences completely and new contributions are added. The three themes are important contexts in which landscape ecologists do their research and apply their knowledge and skills. Of course, there are many more subjects to hold conferences about, for example climate change, urbanisation, agriculture, landscape ecology itself etc. The focus of the conferences is on the Netherlands, with its urbanisation, intensive land use and water management as characteristic features. Although many WLO members do their work abroad or in an international context, these conferences offer a window on what happens in the Dutch context. The experiences may be of value for other contexts and that is why we present the results in English. The selected themes and the focus on the Dutch context are serious demarcations of what landscape ecology in the Netherlands is all about. The book does not represent all research and applications of landscape ecology.

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

This important and insightful book provides, for the first time, a broad presentation of ongoing research into public participation in landscape conservation, management and planning, following the 2000 European Landscape Convention which came into force in 2004. The book examines both the theory of participation and what lessons can be learnt from specific European examples. It explores in what manner and to what extent the provisions for participation in the European Landscape Convention have been followed up and implemented. It also presents and compares different experiences of participation in selected countries from northern, southern, eastern and western Europe, and provides a critical examination of public participation in practice. However, while the book’s focus is necessarily on Europe, many of the conclusions drawn are of global relevance. The book provides a valuable reference for researchers and advanced students in landscape policies and management, as well as for professionals and others interested in land-use planning and environmental management.

In recent years EU policy towards the ‘landscape’ has become better defined, whereas at the same time the notion of ‘landscape’ itself remains elusive. The need for indicators to evaluate and monitor the effects of landscape policies and plans is urgent. What is more, landscape is one of the components considered in environmental reporting, but unlike air, soil, or water, it is difficult to measure using quantitative methods. With studies on landscape indicators being as rare as they are, this volume is an attempt to fill the gap, dealing as it does with the definition and use of specific indicators for landscape assessment and monitoring. To tackle the diverse dimensions of the landscape (whose complexity is well known), the subject is approached by a multidisciplinary team of experts in landscape ecology, landscape history, landscape perception, regional planning, strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment procedures, and multi-criteria assessment methods. Individual chapters include comparative assessments of studies conducted thus far in the EU, as well as detailed analyses of ecological, historical, perceptive, land-use, and economic ways of looking at landscape. As well as providing a rich source of references for researchers studying the landscape from a variety of perspectives, the book will be required reading for European officials involved at any level in planning or assessing the landscape or environment.

Climate change and ongoing transformation processes in economy and agriculture will have strong and multiple impacts in the Baltic region. In particular coastal zones face increasing hazards, e.g. due to sea level rise or changes in riverine nutrient loads and eutrophication. These changes also offer a wide range of new opportunities in the Baltic Region. Adaptation measures are needed but require a thorough and spatially differentiated understanding of underlying ecological, economic and social processes. Sixteen contributions by authors from eight countries give a comprehensive overview of these changes, their consequences and practical challenges with focus on coastal zones. Besides risks, the chances and opportunities of changes for the region are addressed and adaptation examples and strategies are given. The practitioners’ perspective and their demands are integrated in the various contributions.

The book collects a selection of the papers presented at the meeting held in the context of the Joint Programme on the Links between Biological and Cultural Diversity (JP-BiCuD). Recognizing the inextricable link between biological and cultural diversity, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) joined forces, and in 2010 launched the Joint Programme on the Links between Biological and Cultural Diversity (JP-BiCuD). The first meeting for the implementation of the JP-BiCuD was held in Florence (Italy) in April 2014 and produced the UNESCO-sCBD Florence Declaration, which highlights the concept of biocultural diversity. The European rural territory is predominantly a biocultural, multi-functional landscape, providing a crucial and effective space for integration of biological and cultural diversity, suggesting the need to revise some of the current strategies for the assessment and management of biodiversity.

Taking a multi-disciplinary approach to planning, this book addresses the conflicting effects of globalization and localization in rural landscaping.

It has become more and more accepted that nature conservation is not possible without taking into account human activities. Thus an integrated approach to both the natural and cultural heritage is being encouraged and developed. Gathering a number of distinguished authors with diverse backgrounds (from a religious leader to academics to conservation scientists), the book aims to investigate the relationship between human beings and nature, between nature and culture. Looking at nature as ‘heritage’ of the human race is a recognition both of the tremendous impacts (both positive and negative) that human activities have had on the natural environment, as well as the acceptance of human responsibility for managing our planet in a sustainable and sensitive manner. The texts included examine this interface between human beings and nature in specific places (from the Everglades in Florida and Mont Saint Micelle in Atlantic France, to the UK, Europe and the Mediterranean), as well as on a theoretical basis, and in the context of the international biodiversity conventions.

This unique book addresses the issue of sustainability from the point of view of landscape architecture, dealing with professional practices of planners, designers and landscape managers. This second edition contains updated and new material reflecting developments during the last five years and comprehensively addresses the relationship between landscape architecture and sustainability. Much in the text is underpinned by landscape ecology, in contrast to the idea of landscape as only appealing to the eye or aspiring cerebrally to be fine art. Landscape and Sustainability establishes that the sustainability agenda needs a new mindset among professionals: the driving question must always be ‘is it sustainable?’ Developing theory into practice, from the global to the local scale and from issues of policy and planning through to detailed design and implementation and on to long-term maintenance and management, the contributors raise and re-examine a complex array of research, policy and professional issues and agendas to contribute to the necessary ongoing debate about the future of both landscape and sustainability.