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This paper aims to sketch rural population decline in Mexico. A comprehensive multi-scale documentation of Mexico's urban and rural fabric and its depopulation dynamics is undertaken. This paper does not identify the causes and effects of rural depopulation, but aims to detect its geographical presence in a manner which other approaches are unable to do. The granularity of rural depopulation is identified as manifested at four different scales: national, state, municipal, and local village scale. We use census data for the period 2000–2010. We relate rural depopulation to spatio-geographical features found in the literature; the relationship of depopulating territories with urban ones and the altitude range in which they are located. We find that proximity to and remoteness from urban areas as well as that of altitude do not follow the typical patterns often observed elsewhere. Unlike that shown in other countries, in Mexico, rural depopulation is manifested mostly in lower-lying areas and despite the fact that most of the country is at altitude. Rural depopulation and disappearance occur mainly in the areas of plains below 1,000 metres above sea level, regardless of the population density of the territories where they were located. Also, our multi-scaling approach has allowed us to identify not just at what scale the phenomenon of rural depopulation is observed, but also, to identify the areas in which the phenomenon is manifested regionally or locally. As we see, much of the phenomenon is concentrated in different areas to what national narratives suggest.

Projects for road infrastructure and spatial development easily meet public resistance because of a lack of local knowledge of place values by (often non-local) planners. The aim of this study is to explore how insights in place values might improve the local knowledge base for planners of integrated road infrastructure projects and spatial development. We developed, tested and analysed the results from a novel online value-mapping tool called the ‘Place Value Identifier’. The developed method allows us to (i) relate to ‘soft’ valuable places identified by Public Participation GIS as a complement to ‘hard’ land use data, (ii) define Valued yet Unprotected places based on combining ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ values and (iii) illustrate how these insights can be used for integrated planning of road infrastructure projects. The findings of this study show the increased potential of value mapping techniques and illustrate possible resistance areas around road infrastructure planning projects. This knowledge may assist planners in creating and selecting acceptable project alternatives that may invoke high public acceptance.

The valorisation of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CESs) of forests is closely linked to the society involvement with regard to the role of recreational, spiritual and symbolic services of forest resources. In this direction, the aim of the study was to increase the knowledge of forest CESs, analysing the people’s preferences on natural areas by a web-based participatory GIS. The analysis shown the possibility to explicit not only the recreational component, but also the other components of CESs. Therefore, the mapping of CES on a large scale could be used for planning and management activities with an increase in awareness of local communities with respect to the natural resources present in the territory.

ContextThe governance of international natural World Heritage sites is extremely challenging. In the search for effective multilevel governance there is a need to identify the community of people which have place attachment to the areas, i.e. ‘the community of fans’ at local to international levels. ObjectivesFocusing on the landscape of the international Wadden Sea coastal area in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark as a case study, we address three key questions: What is the spatial distribution of the community of fans? How does the size of this community relate to the overlapping communities of locals and actual visitors to the Wadden Sea coastal area? Which parts of the Wadden Sea coastal area are most appreciated by the community of fans, and how does this relate to its formal protection status?MethodsWe analysed 7650 respondents’ answers to a tri-lateral web survey (the standardized Greenmapper survey) conducted in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.ResultsWe estimated that 14 million German, Dutch and Danish citizens can be regarded as the potential—national level—community of fans. The correlation between place or landscape attachment and distance was varied among the three countries. Furthermore, only 37% of the markers placed by fans of the Wadden Sea coastal area are within the protected UNESCO World Heritage limits, suggesting that a broader demarcation could be possible.ConclusionsWe discuss how the identification of fans can potentially contribute to more effective public involvement in the governance of valuable landscapes.

Rural areas provide unique amenities for recreational purposes which are highly appreciated by urban inhabitants. This generates an important but often hidden relationship between the urban and the rural. The aim of our study is first to provide empirical evidence for this linkage and then to identify for Italy, at the municipal level, those rural areas which actually function as nature-based attractive clusters. We used the data coming from a participatory webGIS survey that asked 1632 Italian respondents to mark attractive nature related places locally, regionally, nationally and world-wide to explain quantitatively and qualitatively the relationship between urban and rural. From the survey, indicators were developed to rank the nature-based attractive clusters. Our results pointed out a major (almost double) flow from urban to rural for natural amenities, which increased with the spatial level at which attractive nature areas were marked. This analysis allowed for the identification rural clusters of Italian municipalities that form nodal points for nature-based urban well-being; shedding light on an often neglected urban-rural relationship. The method is applicable in other countries and may stimulate better planning and management strategies for improving rural areas, taking an urban-rural perspective.

In many coastal areas, high numbers of recreationists may exceed ecological capacities. Careful monitoring of visitor flows is a first prerequisite for coastal area management. We show how AIS ship data can be translated into interpretable information on recreational boats and investigate whether AIS can provide monitoring information when compared to nature conservation policy targets. In the Wadden Sea UNESCO World Heritage Site we used nearly 9 million data points to create spatiotemporal patterns for the 2018 recreation season. We combined this with shipping lanes and bathymetry data and compared the resulting patterns with nature protection regulations. Our results show that most of the traffic is concentrated around tidal channels. We also show that exceeding speed limits is not predominant behaviour, but the effect of speeding on birds and seals might be more severe than the data suggests. We mapped favourite tidal flat moor activities, and observed where this occurs in Marine Protected Areas. We conclude that AIS analysis can provide valuable recreational boating monitoring, relevant to sensitive coastal area management in the entire Dutch Wadden Sea for the full recreational season. Broader integration of AIS with radar data and ecological data can add to the power of using AIS.

Context Maintaining functional green infrastructures (GIs) require evidence-based knowledge about historic and current states and trends of representative land cover types. Objectives We address: (1) the long-term loss and transformation of potential natural forest vegetation; (2) the effects of site productivity on permanent forest loss and emergence of traditional cultural landscapes; (3) the current management intensity; and (4) the social-ecological contexts conducive to GI maintenance . Methods We selected 16 case study regions, each with a local hotspot landscape, ranging from intact forest landscapes, via contiguous and fragmented forest covers, to severe forest loss. Quantitative open access data were used to estimate (i) the historic change and (ii) transformation of land covers, and (iii) compare the forest canopy loss from 2000 to 2018. Qualitative narratives about each hotspot landscape were analysed for similarities (iv). Results While the potential natural forest vegetation cover in the 16 case study regions had a mean of 86%, historically it has been reduced to 34%. Higher site productivity coincided with transformation to non-forest land covers. The mean annual forest canopy loss for 2000–2018 ranged from 0.01 to 1.08%. The 16 case studies represented five distinct social-ecological contexts (1) radical transformation of landscapes, (2) abuse of protected area concepts, (3) ancient cultural landscapes (4) multi-functional forests, and (5) intensive even-aged forest management, of which 1 and 4 was most common. Conclusions GIs encompass both forest naturalness and traditional cultural landscapes. Our review of Pan-European regions and landscapes revealed similarities in seemingly different contexts, which can support knowledge production and learning about how to sustain GIs.

Green space at different distances is important for the wellbeing of urban dwellers. However, since these different types of green space are, for the most part, investigated in separate studies, it is difficult to disentangle how the use and appreciation of nearby and more distant nature by urban dwellers is related. To address this issue, we conduct an analysis in which we directly compare the appreciation and use of green spaces at four different spatial levels: neighbourhood, region, national, and world level, for urban residents in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. For this we use a quantitative, internet-based, participatory GIS method. The relationship between the use of local and more distant green spaces by urban dwellers has generally been addressed in terms of compensation. Our results indicate that this relationship can also be viewed in a complementary way. Urban residents appear to have a 'portfolio of natural places'. This portfolio consists of favourite places nearby that are rated lower but visited quite often, and natural places that they find highly attractive but are located farther away and visited less often. Local favourite places offer basic access to green and nature while other more distant natural places offer a larger variety of qualities and recreational possibilities. Results also indicate that, in order to meet the needs of urban residents, more than the immediate urban context needs to be considered in urban planning. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Context Road infrastructure construction is integral to economic development, but negatively affects biodiversity. To mitigate the negative impacts of infrastructure, various types of wildlife crossings are realized worldwide, but little is known about their effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. Objective The paper contributes to the methodological and empirical discussion on the effectiveness of wildlife crossings for enhancing the quality of surrounding nature and its cost-effectiveness by analyzing a large-scale wildlife-crossings program in the Netherlands. Method A multi-criteria cost–benefit analysis is applied, comprised of monetary and non-monetary measures, and a mixed-method approach is used to determine ecological effects. Ecological effects are expressed in the standardized weighted hectare measurement of threat-weighted ecological quality area (1 T-EQA = 1 ha of 100% ecological quality, averagely threatened). Cost-effectiveness is calculated comparing the monetary costs of intervention with ecological benefits (Euro costs/T-EQA), for different types of wildlife crossings and for two other nature policies. Results The Dutch habitat defragmentation program has induced an increase in nature value of 1734 T-EQA at a cost of Euro 283 million. Ecological gains per hierarchically ordered groups of measures differ strongly: The most effective are ecoducts (wildlife crossing bridges) followed by shared-use viaducts and large fauna tunnels. Ecoducts generated the largest gain in nature value, but were also the most costly measures. In terms of cost-effectiveness, both large fauna tunnels and shared-use viaducts for traffic and animals outperformed ecoducts. Conclusions Ecoducts deliver ecologically, but their cost-effectiveness appears modest. Purchasing agricultural land for restoration of nature appears more cost-effective than building wildlife crossings. Yet, reducing environmental pressures or their effects on existing nature areas is likely to be most cost-effective.

The most binding nature protection policy in the Netherlands and EU primarily designates areas based on ecological value, ensuring their sustained protection. Of less concern to these policies are the current and future needs of the average citizen, experiencing increases in education, income and health. This paper argues that although existing policies protect biodiversity needs, the spatial-emotional needs of this increasingly ‘satisfied’ population is of similarly high importance. Drawing upon tourism, planning and psychological research, we analyze the spatial and emotional characteristics of favorite natural places in the Netherlands selected on the Hotspotsmonitor survey by N = 1,715 members of a Dutch nature conservation organization. Content analysis of the open question, “Why is this your favorite place?” identified three categories: peace & quiet, let’s explore and peak. These were mapped using GIS to identify predominant hotspots and compared against the most binding nature protection policy – Natura 2000. The important societal benefits of augmenting ecologically based nature protection policies with emotional valuation are discussed.

Context: Place-based transdisciplinary research involves multiple academic disciplines and non-academic actors. Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform is one concept with ~ 80 initiatives globally. Objectives: As an exercise in learning through evaluation we audited (1) the siting, construction and maintenance of individual LTSER platforms, and (2) them as a distributed infrastructure for place-based transdisciplinary research with focus on the European continent. Methods: First, we defined a normative model for ideal performance at both platform and network levels. Second, four surveys were sent out to the 67 self-reported LTSER platforms officially listed at the end of 2016. Third, with a focus on the network level, we analyzed the spatial distribution of both long-term ecological monitoring sites within LTSER platforms, and LTSER platforms across the European continent. Fourth, narrative biographies of 18 platforms in different stages of development were analyzed. Results: While the siting ofLTSER platforms represented biogeographical regions well, variations in land use history and democratic governance were not well represented. Platform construction was based on 2.1 ecological monitoring sites, with 72% ecosystem and 28% social system research. Maintenance of a platform required three to five staff members, focused mostly on ecosystem research, was based mainly on national funding, and had 1–2 years of future funding secured. Networking with other landscape approach concepts was common. Conclusions: Individually, and as a network, LTSER platforms have good potential for transdisciplinary knowledge production and learning about sustainability challenges. To improve the range of variation of Pan-European social–ecological systems we encourage interfacing with other landscape approach concepts.

Transport infrastructure projects have become more integrated in nature. An important driver of the ambition to approach space in a more integrated manner is the idea that doing so will generate added value. However, in transport infrastructure planning practice, the argument to adopt integrated planning approaches seems to be mainly rhetorical in nature. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the discussion about the notion of added value through integrated planning by developing an analytical evaluation framework. In order to do so, we go back to one of the founding fathers of decision-making sciences and present a conceptual synthesis. We explore this synthesis by conducting a literature review and an illustrative expert session. We conclude with the analytical evaluation framework and elaborate on implications in practice.

Methods to map nature-based recreation are increasingly used, especially in ecosystem services research and practice. Researchers that map nature-based recreation beyond local scales, however, have relied much on physical attributes, e.g. land cover and topography. In such instances the recreational potential of land is modeled based on expert judgement and not on public preferences. Participatory mapping data is based on public preferences and as such can be used to improve proxy-based methods to map the recreational potential of land. In this paper, we use data from an online mapping survey (the Hotspotmonitor/Greenmapper) to spatially analyze the recreational potential of land. We employed point pattern analyses to 1) investigate which physical attributes contribute to the recreational potential of land, at both a regional and a national scale, and 2) how preferences for such attributes differ between respondents from distinct geographical regions. We find that interregional differences, whereas prominent at the regional scale, are small at national scale, suggesting there is a shared understanding of what places are ‘hotspots’ for recreation within the Netherlands. These hotspots, however, are difficult to map using physical attributes alone. Discussing these discrepancies, our paper provides insights that contribute to a better understanding and mapping of the recreational potential of land.

The paper presents a spatial and temporal analysis of tourism in the Dutch Wadden area and identifies policy dilemmas and monitoring needs. The analysis is temporal because historical, current and future aspects of tourism development are addressed; it is spatial because the spatial differentiaton of tourism within the Wadden area is examined. For the assessment of the historical and current situation focus is on visitor and employment data and especially the relative degree of specialization of the local economy on tourism. For the future direction of tourism and possible investment options, the paper draws on surveyed views of 91 tourism entrepreneurs in the Wadden area. On the basis of this spatial and temporal analysis, the paper identifies policy dilemmas that differ substantially among the Wadden islands, the Waddensea, and the mainland Wadden coast. Drawing on this in depth empirical analysis the paper theoretically aims to enrich the Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) concept and the monitoring it implies. In response to the needs of monitoring sustainablilty, the paper argues for a broader yet still minimal extension of TALC. It argues for a four quadrant TALC – named TALC-4q – in which four perspectives on tourism development are combined: market, ecology and nature, regional labor market and policy. The combination of monitoring visitor flows and market share, together with ecological quality, employment size and share, and the consensus on policy, is expected to refine the accuracy of the TALC concept and fuel its wider use in the search for sustainable tourism.

In the assessment of complex spatial planning projects, the ecological impacts and socio-economic impacts are fundamental to the evaluation. The measurements of ecological impacts of spatial plans have to be integrated in a standardised way. In the present paper, we analyse two Dutch case studies and apply the standardised Threat-Weighted Ecological Quality Area measurement. This measurement is developed to evaluate projects with terrestrial impacts but has not yet been applied for water evaluations. We aim to show how the use of a common measurement tool incorporates both ecological quality and degree of threat on criteria in the EU Water Framework Directive and Nature 2000. The measurements discussed here derive from two cases of cost-benefit analysis: The first case is the Markermeer, the second largest lake of The Netherlands, and a study on water quality improvement and nature restoration; an artificial island will also be the setting for a new residential area. The second case study is on water level management carried out on the IJsselmeer, the largest lake in the country. Results of our analysis show the potential impacts with a standardised method to the spatial distribution and quality of the ecosystems.

"The urban and the rural are increasingly interconnected. Rural areas have become places of consumption, as leisure and recreation have become important functions of rural areas. There are also indications that increased urbanisation even leads to a stronger appreciation of green areas situated far beyond city limits. Rural areas with their highly valued natural amenities nowadays seem increasingly to host urban wellbeing, given the positive relation found between green areas and human wellbeing. We provide empirical evidence for this urban-rural interconnection, using results from a survey in the Netherlands. In addition to their attachment to local and regional green places, survey results show that residents of the capital city of Amsterdam have a high appreciation of a wide range of natural, rural places throughout the country. We argue that these (until now invisible) urban-rural ties should be made more visible because these natural areas enjoyed by urban residents can no longer be taken for granted. Financial and other support for nature conservation are therefore needed. However, to organise support for nature can often be problematic because nature is a public good and collective action is often difficult to launch. The invisible and distant ties of urban dwellers for rural areas complicate the task even more. Nevertheless, it is increasingly recognised that the Internet opens many doors for community building and may help to overcome the 'illogic' of collective action. In the research project 'Sympathy for the Commons', we aim to investigate the possibilities provided by the internet by building online communities around nature areas and enquiring into the available support and funding that these communities can provide."

In this paper we address the characteristics of a publicly accessible Spatial Economic Ecological Database (SEED) and its ability to support a shared understanding among planners and experts of the economy and ecology of the Dutch Wadden area. Theoretical building blocks for a Wadden SEED are discussed. Our SEED contains a comprehensive set of stakeholder validated spatially explicit data on key economic and ecological indicators. These data extend over various spatial scales. Spatial issues relevant to the specification of a Wadden-SEED and its data needs are explored in this paper and illustrated using empirical data for the Dutch Wadden area. The purpose of the SEED is to integrate basic economic and ecologic information in order to support the resolution of specific (policy) questions and to facilitate connections between project level and strategic level in the spatial planning process. Although modest in its ambitions, we will argue that a Wadden SEED can serve as a valuable element in the much debated science-policy interface. A Wadden SEED is valuable since it is a consensus-based common knowledge base on the economy and ecology of an area rife with ecological-economic conflict, including conflict in which scientific information is often challenged and disputed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In this paper we focus on how to achieve better decision support when decision-makers use the ecosystem services (ESS) framework to broaden their evaluations. We contribute to the debate on valuation of ecosystem services by inquiring into how the ESS framework relates to the judgement and measurement provided by Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) evaluation techniques. We argue that Multi-Criteria Cost-Benefit Analysis (MCCBA), which is a carefully designed combination of CBA and MCA, provides a good starting point for the evaluation of projects or policies involving changes in agricultural and natural ecosystem services.The main characteristic of this MCCBA approach linked to ESS framework is its threefold evaluative endpoint structure to account for (i) basic health, (ii) economic welfare, and (iii) higher well-being. The third endpoint includes concerns about the well-being of nature. The MCCBA approach utilises highly standardised cardinal or ratio scale measurements, in particular we use two existing measurements, known as Disability Adjusted Life Years for basic health, and monetary Net Present Values for economic welfare. We also introduce one new measurement: Threat weighted Ecological Quality Area to account for nature's wellbeing. We argue that evaluation of projects or policies involving many different ecosystem services should use these three endpoint measurements. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper estimates the effect of attractive natural space on Dutch residential property prices. We operationalize attractive natural spaces by combining land use data with unique data on the perceived attractiveness of natural spaces. In our main results, the effect of attractive natural space on property prices falls from 16.0% for properties within 0.5 km, to 1.6% for properties up to 7 km away. Our findings advance existing hedonic studies by verifying that economic benefits of living near natural space extend over a larger distance. This has important implications for public policy regarding investment in natural space near residential areas. (JEL H41, Q51)

Urbanisation is seen as essential to wealth creation and increased productivity, but the process has costs as well as benefits. In the present paper we conduct an empirical analysis for the highly urbanised Netherlands on the relation between the greyness of the living environment and the compensating behaviour of more holiday nights spent away from home. We perform a secondary analysis of a survey on holiday behaviour enriched with the outcomes of a GIS model on recreational shortages. We find that the higher the greyness of the living environment - i.e. the higher the shortage of locally available green space for recreational walking - the more people spend nights away from home. Approximately 6% of all Dutch holiday nights may be related to a shortage of green space for recreational walking in the urban living environment. For people living in the most grey urban areas, 20% of their holiday nights appear to be related to a shortage of green space; for people in the least grey areas 10% relates to a shortage of green space. We think that this empirical relation is an important contribution to an assessment of the consequences of agglomeration that goes beyond labour productivity and moves towards well-being. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper discusses how real estate education can benefit from letting students keep a scientific diary. This scientific diary approach entails that, as a complementary course activity, students keep a diary in which they reflect on any real estate related news, projects, daily observations or policies that fascinate them or attract their attention or curiosity. Personal curiosity, while a fundamental driver of science, often lacks a formal role in real estate courses. As such, diaries may help, in a modest way, to enrich the classroom as well as the teacher’s perspective on the thoughts and personal development of students. In this paper we frame specific pros and cons of the diary approach within the educational literature, whilst paying special attention to the traditional lecture approach and the recently popular flipped classroom approach. To empirically illustrate what real estate diaries may bring about, the current study offers a content analysis of the entries in diaries kept by two cohorts of students of the University of Groningen Master’s program of Real Estate Studies and a cohort of students of the George Washington University School of Business MBA program. We show results of a systematic categorization of the 200+ diary posts as to their content and form. We conclude with a discussion of the possible merits of this approach. One of these merits is a broadening of the topics that students study within the (pre-fixed) study program. Another is that recent events, impossible to be captured in textbooks and academic literature, are actively connected to. The openness of the diary approach may help to make students’ own-level thinking about real-world observations more serious, in small steps, through a process of exploration and writing. In addition, diaries can be discussed in-class in a group setting, under the teacher’s supervision, in order to share observations and discuss knowledge- claims. This practices the framing of real-world observations within existing theory as well as the assessment of whether alterations to theoretical models are needed to understand the observation at hand. We hypothesize that practice of this type of reflection on fresh issues in the ‘daily real estate life’ of students may lead to a stronger connection between their academic training and the professional field of real estate.

This study explores the extent to which rich Dutch households live green, in the form of green surrounding homes directly and nearby public green. The authors interpret this greenness' as a signal of how green the wider population wishes to live in the long-term as it grows wealthier over time. In our analyses of property transaction data on the 2009-2012 residential market, we focus on 2303 properties that sold for at least 1 million Euros, the properties of the rich'. Results indicate that the rich live relatively green: on average, and depending on local degrees of urbanization, the parcels of million Euro properties are up to 7.0 times larger than parcels of lower priced properties. We find too, that the rich live closer to public green spaces than the more general population does, especially if such green is highly appreciated by a wide public. Furthermore, the rich are found to live in either very highly urban locations or in the least urban locationsif these are nearby cities. We perform basic long-term land-use forecasts of demand for residential space across local property markets, and findings suggest that preference for green living will increase over time. Our results especially show that how well these green preferences are accommodated by existing residential structures may become increasingly problematic as and if we grow wealthier over time. Our findings may foster long ongoing research and policy debate on urban planning.

Recent literature shows a lively debate on how to capture ecological and environmental aspects in different evaluation methods and the closely related issue of the (im)possibilities of monetization of these aspects. Although economists in general tend to favour Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) above Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), part of the literature suggests that CBA falls short of being the only decision-making device for environmental problems, both for theoretical and practical reasons. This paper discusses both evaluation methods and the main results of a major, publicly-financed nature conservation project in The Netherlands. The evaluation method combines the straightforwardness of CBA with the flexibility of MCA. Conceptually, it consists of a MCA, the net result of a CBA being integrated as one of the criteria. The different aspects of the nature conservation project that can be monetized are incorporated into the CBA. Other aspects such as changes in biodiversity or scenic beauty are analysed in their own dimension, provided (cardinal) quantification is possible. In fact, the analysis consists of a very simple MCA, with two criteria: social costs and a quantitative measure of nature. Quantifying the amount of nature in its own, non-monetary dimension is a key element of the empirical analysis. A detailed quantitative estimate is made of the improvement of nature, based upon 564 species and 131 different ecosystems. The result of the evaluation is a trade-off at the national level between ecological improvements (plus 18 percent) and social costs (DFl. 3.4 billion net present value). Due to the detailed quantification of the effect on nature the evaluation also yields results about the cost-effectiveness of four different instruments to create and to preserve nature. That part of the analysis shows that complete withdrawal of agricultural land for nature purposes in the project in general is more cost-effective than subsidizing nature-friendly farming, although the former is more expensive.

This paper examines whether a deconcentration policy between a core and a peripheral region within a country may increase national welfare. The type of cost and benefits involved and the type of models needed to specify them are first discussed theoretically, and then estimated empirically by means of a comprehensive scenario study for two regions of the Netherlands. The empirical study concludes that a deconcentration scenario might result in net national benefits of several tens of billions of guilders. For this reason a spatial deconcentration policy may well improve the welfare of nations.

In a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) or an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), determining the value that the general public attaches to a landscape is often problematic. To aid the inclusion of this social value in such analyses, a Google Maps-based tool, called the HotSpotMonitor (HSM), was developed. The HSM determines which natural places are highly attractive by having people mark such places on a map. The definition of attractiveness remains open to avoid having marker placement being influenced by preconceived thoughts. The number of markers an area receives is considered to indicate its social value. Six regions were selected, and from these, stratified samples were drawn (total n = 3293). Participants placed markers at three spatial levels: local, regional and national. This paper focuses on the markers at the national level. The first research question is whether the HSM can produce an accurate map of highly attractive places at a national level. The results indicated that while in principle HSM can produce such a map, the spatial representativeness of the sample is important. The region of origin of the participants influenced where they placed their markers, an effect previously termed spatial discounting. The second research question considers which qualities the participants associate with the marked places. These qualities were very similar at all three spatial levels: green, natural, presence of water and quiet were often selected out of the fourteen suggested qualities. The third, and more exploratory, research question concerns which characteristics of an area predict its attractiveness. Natural and forest areas had higher marker densities than water surfaces or all other types of land use combined. The discussion evaluates the potential of the HSM to generate input on social landscape values for CBAs and EIAs.

Changes in biodiversity are often attributed to economically driven land-use changes, but the relation is not too well documented. Land-use changes involve both changes to a different function and shifts in intensity within a function. The relation between land-use changes and biodiversity changes at the meso-level. in the province of Drenthe is the object of study of the present paper. Commonly available indicators about land-use and biodiversity appear to be related to each other in complicated ways. The biodiversity parameters that react most unambiguously to changing Land-use are plant functional types. The clearest relation is found when changes to a different function occur. (c) 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

This paper uses the network approach in the design of policies for regional development focusing on tourism in rural and peripheral areas. The methodology applied - 'reverse network engineering' - is a combination of a top-down and a bottom-up approach, The top-down approach starts with the demand side: from lifestyles and consumer profiles certain 'concepts' are derived, For each concept the products and activities required to produce these concepts are listed, This step is initially performed at an aggregate level in 'economic space',The next step is the translation into 'geographical space', including the locational restrictions and preferences of activities, Next, for particular concepts is inventoried for an area those activities already there, those activities required hut not yet there, and those that are there hut not wanted because of their negative effects, Various concepts can he provided by the same area, creating economies of scope and scale, Telecommunication and transport facilities have to facilitate the correct materials management required for a proper functioning of the networks. In the last part of the methodology the bottom-up aspect is highlighted and incorporated, Pt starts from the actual situation in an area with the existing actors and activities and includes the immaterial relations and the cognitive aspects. In a final step, top-down and bottom-up results are matched ansi screened.