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The expert contributors illustrate that sources of regional competitiveness are strongly linked with spatially observable yet increasingly flexible realities, and include building advanced and efficient transport, communications and energy networks, changing urban and rural landscapes, and creating strategic and forward-looking competitiveness policies. They investigate long-term interactions between regional competitiveness and urban mobility, as well as the connections that link global sustainability with local technological and institutional innovations, and the intrinsic diversity of spatially rooted innovation processes. A prospective analysis on networks and innovation infrastructure is presented, global environmental issues such as climate change and energy are explored, and new policy perspectives – relevant world-wide – are prescribed.

This paper aims to bring together hitherto neglected archaeological data about the early medieval landscapes of Galicia (north-west Spain), in order to understand the social transformations this ‘peripheral’ region underwent between the fifth and the ninth centuries and to frame them in the context of wider European debates. Despite its many limitations, the archaeology reveals that until the middle of the seventh century, the late antique society of Gallaecia experienced a previously unsuspected vitality. At this point a socio-political fragmentation occurred, which was characterized by the strengthening of local power, until a further change took place with the progressive incorporation of Galicia into the Asturian kingdom in the ninth century.

Drawing on a survey of 406 British home owners in five departements in France, this study explores the geography of first and second home acquisitions in terms of differences between origin and destination area. Examining the reasons why people buy homes in rural France, it is shown that those from South West England mainly move to France permanently because of its cheaper cost of living, while those from the southern counties of South East England seem to use France as an accessible arena for acquiring a 'genuine' rural home. Within France, there are clear differences in the rationale for buying homes in particular places. Buyers in Calvados seek an 'escape' from Britain in a location close to ferry ports, those in Charente-Maritime are drawn by its relatively cheap 'sun and sand' environment, with Dordogne and Lot buyers being attracted by traditional rural landscapes. Vaucluse receives wealthier buyers with stronger prior connections with France. The consistency of responses across origin and destination area reveals that geographical factors do underlie the rationale for home purchase.

There is currently a growing concern that biocultural heritage is threatened in many landscapes. This paper focuses on biological cultural heritage, broadly meaning biological cultural traces that are considered as heritage, but leaving out other aspects of the biocultural heritage concept. An operational definition of biological cultural heritage (BCH) is suggested, based on niche construction theory: “biological manifestations of culture, reflecting indirect or intentional effects, or domesticated landscapes, resulting from historical human niche construction”. Some factors that influence recognition of BCH are discussed, using a comparison between Swedish open to semi-open vs. forested landscapes. While the former landscapes are generally associated with biological cultural values, BCH is generally over-looked in forests. Two main reasons for this are suggested: loss of cultural memory and a perception of forests as wilderness. A conclusion is that recognition of BCH is essential for guiding development of biological conservation programmes in forests, irrespective of whether the conservation goal is to focus on culturally impacted forests or to conserve what is considered as close to pristine forests. Furthermore, recognising BCH in forests will promote interest and learning of the history of forests and their values and will be informative for developing conservation programmes for all biota in forests, not only those that historically were favoured by culture. Hence, there is no inherent conflict between preserving relatively untouched forests and those with remaining traces of pre-industrial forest management. The recognition of BCH in forests will inspire and promote further integration of cultural and natural heritage research.

Agricultural landscapes have become more intensive and monotonous, which may further increase biodiversity loss. Even though Finnish rural landscapes are often heterogeneous, crop choices and rotat...

This work was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain [grant number MINECO HAR2012-35022]. To understand why historic landscapes changed in the past researchers need to identify when and where changes took place, but in rural landscapes, the origins and development of many historic elements including field systems, roads, terraces and other earthworks remain poorly understood. This paper outlines a practical interdisciplinary method using GIS-based historic landscape characterisation (HLC) to integrate data from different sources and model how historic character varies in space. It pilots an innovative approach using luminescence profiling and dating that can underpin the HLC with significantly improved knowledge of historic processes of change. We focus on four case studies of terraced agricultural landscapes in western Catalonia and demonstrate for the first time that existing terrace systems often have medieval or early modern origins. Publisher PDF

RURAL landscapes are influenced almost on a daily basis by the individuals and organizations with immediate authority over them. When the authority is strong and distinctive, the landscape, and sometimes even the socioeconomic character of an entire region, may be affected. However, it is frequently difficult to identify the individuals and organizations that actually own extensive areas of property. Almost a decade ago Wilbur Zelinsky remarked about the relative neglect of the study of resource ownership in the United States.1 This article responds to Zelinsky's concern about the geography of landownership by focusing on large private landholdings and their distribution in the state of California.

T HE character of the rural landscape in New England is largely determined by the areal relationship of villages and isolated farmsteads. Although at least one village is generally to be found in every rural township, the character of the villages and their relationship to the surrounding isolated farms differ considerably. In some regions the villages were originally compact agricultural communities and still retain relict features of the colonial period, such as the village green, dispersed lots, or common fields. Villages of this type represent as a rule the first settlements to be established in the townships where they are found; and the isolated farms in the outlying parts of such townships are later features and are still subsidiary to the villages, which dominate the landscape and give it a definitely Old World flavor. In other regions isolated farms predominate; and any villages found there are generally later in origin and grew up more or less haphazardly at crossroads, railway stations, etc. Villages of this type do not have the compactness of the older, originally agricultural villages. This study is the outgrowth of a desire to determine how the two different types of rural landscape developed, and it deals primarily with the following questions: What were the forces that led to the use of compact villages in the occupation of the land in some parts of New England during the colonial period and of isolated farmsteads in others? And what are the essential characteristics of the rural landscapes that have developed as the result of the use of these two different methods of colonization? Most of the examples given here have been chosen from Massachusetts, since that state contains regions that are representative of areas settled during all the various periods of expansion of the colonial period. However, the types of rural landscape and the manner in which they developed are essentially the same throughout most of New England. As this paper is based on an enormous quantity of source material, complete documentation would be out of all proportion to its length; sources are given only for direct quotations. Every positive statement, however, is based on information obtained from hundreds of town records and annals, and care has been taken that no statements should be made that cannot be fully documented.