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In contemporary narratives, rural landscapes and identities, as judged by the inhabitants’ sense of belonging, continue to be important points that need to be (re)considered when discussing places as instruments for local development. This paper pushes forward these debates and explores the construction of rural and regional identity in Romania with the help of a case study that focuses on perceptions of rural landscapes as cultural heritage in two rural communities situated on opposite sides of the river Mureș. Based on participant and ethnographic observation and making use of a survey and a qualitative analysis, this paper highlights the most significant features of the local cultural identities and their rural landscape heritage expressed by the two sets of people, which often coincide with the most important characteristics attributed to the regions separated by the river Mureș. The results of this study underline the dividing role of the river in the preservation of rural identity and cultural heritage. They also demonstrate that rural landscapes and the construction of identities along the river have generated both development opportunities and various risks.

Diverse landscapes and eclectic architecture emerged in the Carpathians after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This paper examines what imaginaries materialized about urbanity/urbanness, modernity, and people's relationships to place and authenticity in vernacular landscapes and architecture in the Boikivshchyna region in Ukraine. Landscape visual/textual analysis shows from the perspective of semiotics that local residents now relate more closely to modernity and progress, but have cut their rustic roots by disregarding both place identity and building traditions. Conspicuous consumption with urban and social status symbols is evident in affluent residents' houses and utilitarianism in the homes of the less wealthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary narratives, rural landscapes and identities, as judged by the inhabitants' sense of belonging, continue to be important points that need to be (re)considered when discussing places as instruments for local development. This paper pushes forward these debates and explores the construction of rural and regional identity in Romania with the help of a case study that focuses on perceptions of rural landscapes as cultural heritage in two rural communities situated on opposite sides of the river Mureș. Based on participant and ethnographic observation and making use of a survey and a qualitative analysis, this paper highlights the most significant features of the local cultural identities and their rural landscape heritage expressed by the two sets of people, which often coincide with the most important characteristics attributed to the regions separated by the river Mureș. The results of this study underline the dividing role of the river in the preservation of rural identity and cultural heritage. They also demonstrate that rural landscapes and the construction of identities along the river have generated both development opportunities and various risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of recent advances in landscape conservation, this study introduces a profiling model that provides context-sensitive heritage conservation strategies. The model is adaptable and focuses on socio-demographic profiling of a rural landscape. It uses İznik (ancient Nicaea) town, a UNESCO World Heritage candidate, and the surrounding rural landscape as a case study area. The model captures the intricate interplay between the socio-demographic conditions of agriculture-based local communities and rural heritage, offering policy options to enhance community well-being and conserve rural heritage. Based on the complementary use of Cluster and Multiple Correspondence Analysis, the model employs multi-layered analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. The model identifies six distinct clusters, revealing the vulnerability and resilience of rural settlements around İznik town, and the priority sites where rural heritage and local populations face immediate threat. Fostering a symbiotic relationship between data-driven insights and locally informed policies, this model generates evidence-based, people-centred policy outputs for heritage conservation, which may be applicable in a variety of contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rurality of the 21st century is a landscape rapidly transformed, radically put under pressure and used as an industrial or service product. In this territory, the traditional and idealised representations of landscape cannot be held. In the Catalan narrative of the first decades of the 21st century, some new prose-works that are placed in the rural place have appeared. They do not just locate themselves there, but take the rural place as a subject and a creative form to express a new imaginary. In this article, we analyse this new representation through a selection of seven texts and authors (Edgar Illas, Vicenç Pagès, Adrià Pujol, Marta Rojals, Toni Sala, Francesc Serés i Joan Todó); we characterise the landscapes like landscapes of the in between, and we describe a structural and basic element on them: the «I-place». The analysis allows us to talk about the landscapes of contemporary rurality like «landscapes of restlessness» and give them new qualities and possibilities.

This article analyses how contemporary Catalan literature deals with the disappearance of the peasantry and proposes new ways of understanding and inhabiting contemporary rural space. Divided into three parts, it will first work on the poetics of the disappearance of the rural world of yesteryear and on the literary proposal of a new way of understanding rurality. The second part will focus on how the historical narrative of the rural past aims to recover a rural collective memory that allows us to understand its disappearance. Finally, we will work on the new narrative forms that allows us to depict condition of rurality nowadays.

The global growth of short-term rental accommodation (STRA) through peer-to-peer accommodation platforms (P2PAPs) such as Airbnb, has received considerable public and regulatory attention. However, little is known about how such platforms are impacting rural landscapes, especially in high-amenity regions typified by intense land use competition and agricultural change. This article addresses this knowledge gap through examining the regulatory challenges being presented by P2PAPs in the Byron hinterland on NSW's North Coast. We identify six core regulatory challenges for authorities charged with managing these issues. These are: (1) managing the loss of productive agricultural land; (2) preserving biophysical integrity in high-value environmental and agricultural landscapes; (3) controlling inadvertent densification of the countryside; (4) managing intensified potential for land use conflicts; (5) regulating temporary dwellings used for STRA, and (6) what to do with unauthorised and illegal structures. We argue that, in the Byron hinterland at least, these challenges have arisen because existing planning frameworks have failed to keep pace with the evolving platform economy. We contend that planning authorities must be proactive in resolving these challenges so that the P2PAP sector can promote rural diversification without compromising the rural landscapes that make them attractive to STRA in the first place. Practitioner Pointers: The growth of short-term rental accommodation in high-amenity rural areas has presented new challenges for planning authorities charged with protecting rural amenity and agricultural production in these landscapes. Existing planning frameworks have struggled to manage these new challenges, creating arenas of confusion and contradiction between varying regulatory instruments. Planners and policymakers must adopt proactive approaches that ensure the expansion of this sector remains compatible with the integrity of planning objectives relating to rural landscapes, and do not unnecessarily inhibit farmers' abilities to maintain agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article focuses on the evolution of a Mediterranean landscapes and the intricate interplay between natural and human-induced processes in the context of the Italian Anti-Apennine mountains. The study employs a multi-temporal approach to analyze changes in land use and landscape ecology, livestock activities, and agro-pastoral practices over seven decades. We noted a 18% decrease in animal units, particularly in goat and pig farming, accompanied by a 10% reduction in horse populations. Farmers' adaptation strategies involve increasing animals per farm, aligning with broader agricultural trends toward intensification and specialization. In parallel, we observed a 22% reduction in grassland surfaces juxtaposed with an overall 15% increase in woodlands and shrublands, a 13% decreasing trend in habitat edge, and an overall 18% increase in patches aggregation at the landscape scale. The decline in anthropogenic pressures linked to depopulation triggered secondary successions, resulting in a 25% increase in homogeneous closed woodlands. These landscape alterations contribute to a 19% decrease in ecosystem heterogeneity and complexity, favoring ecological connectivity for forest-linked species but posing challenges for open meadow species. This, coupled with the loss of biocultural heritage, including traditional settlements dating back to the Bronze Age and Roman times, as well as pastoral traditions and knowledge, underscores the need to rethink future development strategies with a focus on retaining younger generations and preventing the loss of crucial ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the expansion of plantations and rural gentrification in Guasca, Colombia, undermines peasant food sovereignty, with a focus on its disproportionate impacts on women and feminized bodies. Through ethnographic research, it reveals how these dynamics contribute to water insecurity and depeasantization. The ‘water factory’ narrative has fueled plantation growth, leading to water shortages, fractured social networks, and the erosion of traditional food practices, all of which threaten local food sovereignty. The study highlights the increased burdens on women, who face greater care responsibilities and heightened challenges in securing food and water. By using a feminist political ecology lens, the research advances discussions on depeasantization and stresses the importance of including historically relegated groups in food sovereignty debates. It also uncovers systemic issues and local resistance strategies, offering new insights into these global challenges.

Gold coins and luxury objects together play a prominent role in the presentation of Visigothic culture in museums as well as in discussions of the early medieval economy and political history of the Iberian Peninsula. Despite this, there is little consensus about the processes by which gold was exploited under Visigothic rule. This article assembles the disparate evidence for mining in Atlantic Iberia, where plentiful gold deposits were previously extracted on a large scale under Roman rule in the north-west and along the Tagus River. It discusses the contributions of numismatic and liturgical objects as well as the limited direct evidence for mining. It then integrates this evidence into discussions of rural settlement, arguing ultimately that mining should be seen as part of a diversified economic strategy among rural labourers, likely carried out on a small-scale basis alongside agriculture and other subsistence activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the rural landscape of the Argentine Pampas has undergone a process of simplification due to the increased land allocated to crops, replacing pastures and grasslands, with a substantial increase in soybean area. In 2016-2017, a survey was conducted to analyze changes in cultural ecosystem services in this region. Pergamino citizens relate landscape improvement in terms of aesthetic and recreational values to increasing its complexity since they prefer more winter crops, grazing areas, native vegetation, trees, and birds. The significant relationship between sociodemographic variables and preferences for landscape attributes is consistent with the notion that aesthetic perception is constructed from personal experiences and background.

Rural landscapes in South Africa experience high conversion rates due to intense land use; however, the changes are site specific and depend on the socio-economic and political history of the area. Land cover change (LCC) was assessed in response to socio-economic and political factors in uThukela Municipal District, KwaZulu-Natal, using Landsat imagery from 1984 to 2014, while making comparisons to other studies in South Africa. Socio-economic/political data were used to gain insights into the observed LCC patterns. Land cover was classified using a random forest classifier, and accuracies ranging from 87% to 92% were achieved. Systematic and intensity analysis methods were used to describe patterns, rates, and transitions of LCC in Imbabazane (ILM) and Okhahlamba (OLM) local municipalities. The results showed a reduced rate of change intensity from 3.4% to 0.9% in ILM and from 3.1% to 1.1% in OLM between 1984 and 2014. Grassland was persistent, covering over 70% in both local municipalities between 1984 and 2014. Although persistent, grassland experienced respective losses of 3.7% and 14.3% in both observation periods in ILM and of 10.2% and 13.3% in OLM. During the analysis period, settlements and cropland gained actively in both local municipalities. The changes represent a degree of population, local authority, and people's perception as influencers of land use and LCC. It is therefore argued that socioeconomic and political changes can potentially influence land use and LCC; however, natural ecosystems can persist under those conditions, and this requires more research efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural landscapes in South Africa experience high conversion rates due to intense land use; however, the changes are site specific and depend on the socio-economic and political history of the area. Land cover change (LCC) was assessed in response to socio-economic and political factors in uThukela Municipal District, KwaZulu-Natal, using Landsat imagery from 1984 to 2014, while making comparisons to other studies in South Africa. Socio-economic/political data were used to gain insights into the observed LCC patterns. Land cover was classified using a random forest classifier, and accuracies ranging from 87% to 92% were achieved. Systematic and intensity analysis methods were used to describe patterns, rates, and transitions of LCC in Imbabazane (ILM) and Okhahlamba (OLM) local municipalities. The results showed a reduced rate of change intensity from 3.4% to 0.9% in ILM and from 3.1% to 1.1% in OLM between 1984 and 2014. Grassland was persistent, covering over 70% in both local municipalities between 1984 and 2014. Although persistent, grassland experienced respective losses of 3.7% and 14.3% in both observation periods in ILM and of 10.2% and 13.3% in OLM. During the analysis period, settlements and cropland gained actively in both local municipalities. The changes represent a degree of population, local authority, and people’s perception as influencers of land use and LCC. It is therefore argued that socio-economic and political changes can potentially influence land use and LCC; however, natural ecosystems can persist under those conditions, and this requires more research efforts. Significance: This study contributes towards a growing knowledge and understanding of land cover change studies in marginalised landscapes in South Africa. The findings enforce the notion that natural vegetation systems can be altered by human-induced land use such as expansion of settlement and commercial agricultural. We show that in recent times there has been a decline in the overall rate of land cover conversion, and a high persistence of grassland amid global change, although the quality of the vegetation needs further research. We argue that the changes observed in marginalised landscapes are potentially driven by socio-economic and political dynamics.

This paper offers a detailed overview of the archeological data from the “Roman Rural Landscapes in Noricum” (RRLN) project. It focuses on the less-explored northern and northeastern rural regions of Roman-period Noricum (c. 16/15 BC to 488 AD). The University of Vienna’s PHAIDRA system was employed for the long-term archiving of selected new archeological data, adhering to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. The project adopted an innovative digital archeology approach, combining open geodata with various unstructured datasets within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework. Accordingly, this method aimed to deepen our understanding of Roman rural landscapes in a specific Area of Interest (AoI). The paper highlights the selective preservation of crucial archeological data in a specialized repository and also promotes open science to improve the discoverability and usability of data related to Roman-period objects.

Urbanization is a highly disperse process, resulting in urban sprawl across landscapes. Within such landscapes, structural heterogeneity may be an important factor for maintaining biodiversity. We investigated the importance of habitat heterogeneity on bats in villages across the Schwäbische Alb, Germany, a progressively urbanized region. Bat activity and diversity were assessed using acoustic monitoring. We characterized habitat composition at the local and neighborhood scale and assessed environmental characteristics of urban density, vegetation cover and architectural features, combining satellite and ground-based measures. Our results revealed that the extent of urban areas determines the occurrence of different bat species, while local spatial, structural, and architectonic parameters at recording sites affected bat activity, feeding activity and social encounters. Larger urban areas with increased proportion of impervious surfaces and newly constructed housing areas were associated with fewer bat species and lower bat activity. Bat activity and feeding were highest in housing areas constructed between 1950-2000 and increased with higher proportions of older, rather openly structured vegetation. Our results clearly show a combined importance of environmental parameters across spatial scales, affecting habitat suitability and quality of rural urban areas for bats. This highlights that strategies for biodiversity inclusion in rural urban planning need to consider both local and neighborhood conditions to support bat diversity and vital bat activity. In particular, it exemplifies future challenges to maintain biodiversity within progressively urbanized rural landscapes, as this needs support by municipalities for maintaining space for nature in areas designated for urban development and also the consciousness by local residents for biodiversity-friendly modernizations.

Local food studies have stressed the importance of local food systems (LFS) in shortening the linkages between producers and consumers and in promoting resilient territories. Food consumption patterns are mostly studied around rural–urban dynamics, urban food security, and the revitalisation of rural communities, but little is known about the impact of LFS over rural residents and their capacity to access local foods. This paper explores the development of LFS in rural areas, from a food access approach, by characterising the rural landscapes promoting local food consumption. From a mapping of 74 predominately rural municipalities, statistical data of six socio-economic and political variables were collected to depict each municipality. A cluster analysis and Pearson's correlation test informed us about the factors enabling these networks to emerge. Three clusters were identified: 'meso-urban', (N = 5) presenting urban-like characteristics (higher income and education levels, and reduced road infrastructure and small-scale farming); 'dense', (N = 26) characterised by high population density, road infrastructure and small-scale farming; and 'castaway' (N = 43) with low population density, income, post-secondary education, and expenditure in RD in agriculture. LFS emergence in rural Portugal was strongly determined by the levels of mean income and education levels in rural municipalities, which brought into question concerns regarding rural residents' capacity to consume local foods. Low physical access, purchasing capacity, and awareness of food issues appeared to compromise the utilisation of these foods by the most socio-economically disfavoured groups. However, other territorial externalities and empirical work not included in this study could further complement our findings and provide a richer picture for the localisation of food systems in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farm ponds are among the last remaining lentic wetland habitats in human-dominated agricultural and suburban landscapes. However, their wildlife value and farmers’ willingness to maintain them for the conservation of regionally declining biodiversity are often both poorly documented. The objectives of this study of 61 dairy farm ponds located in Southern Quebec (Canada) were to (1) describe their biophysical features and birds’ use, (2) determine habitat and landscape characteristics that influence the bird community, and (3) assess the willingness of farmers to support wildlife use. The studied ponds were small (0.17 ha) and had rectangular shape with rocky/muddy steeply slopes (21°), surrounded by 3 m wide riparian strips and pastures, hayfields, and fallows. They were located about 300 m from farmhouses, buildings, streams, and adjacent ponds. A total of 1963 individuals belonging to 46 bird species were observed. The abundance of all bird species, of species with declining populations, and of crop damaging species were positively related to the area of fallow land and to the width of riparian strips; the areas of cereals and of mixed-wood forest had a negative influence. Only two habitat variables had influence on species richness: the width of riparian strips (+) and the distance to the closest farm buildings (–). Most pond landowners (>80%) were in favour of increasing wildlife use if they were given access to associated financial support and logistical assistance. Wider riparian strips and adjacent uncultivated field margins are recommended.

FloodWise is a pilot project that proposes innovative new approaches for flood disaster resilience by applying nature-based solutions (NBS) in Eastern North Carolina to control water runoff for brief periods after major storm events. We collected production and cost data from primary or secondary sources and used discounted cash flow and capital budgeting procedures at a 6% discount rate for NBS practices to estimate the amounts of payments necessary for farmland owners to break even to adopt NBS practices. Conventional crop farming was profitable already on suitable lands and served as the business as usual (BAU) case to compare to selected NBS practices. Warm-season pasture, loblolly pine forests and agroforestry, and no-till farming exceeded the 6% hurdle rate. Other conventional farm practices of hardpan breakup, cool-season pastures and trees, and bottomland hardwoods would require total payments of up to $600/acre to break even at 6%. Modifications of existing conservation practices, such as stream buffers, cover crops, silvopasture, and tile outlet terraces and tiling, fell in the second tier of total costs of up to $1,512/acre. Major NBS projects that required substantial earthmoving and flood control structures were more expensive - $3,734/acre for water farming (i.e., retention) with berms, $13,252/acre for a forest wetland bank, and about $88,000/acre for a major flood control wetland - and would displace most of the existing area for farm and forest management. However, larger floodwater structure projects could store more water for more extended periods; these storage quantities and benefits need to be assessed in future research.

Gender plays an important role in human–wildlife coexistence. Women have their own distinct form of environmental knowledge; women shape attitudes and perceptions related to wildlife and influence the use of natural spaces and the nature of human–wildlife interactions. Being a female farmer or practitioner involved in human–wildlife conflict mitigation poses a variety of obstacles and benefits. The way conservation conflicts are perceived and managed is gendered, and this needs to be taken into account when working with local communities to achieve effective and fluent dialogue, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The existing body of evidence is focused mainly in Africa and Asia and suggests that the sharing of landscapes between humans and wildlife has different implications for men and women with respect to their attitudes toward wildlife and how they are impacted by it. Although extensive research has been done in relation to gender, conservation, and natural resource management, the gender perspective of human–wildlife coexistence is underreported. Feminist political ecology emphasizes that gender differences originate in the need to overcome existing social and political barriers and is highlighting the importance of en-gendering research. In Chile, work in the rural sector poses various challenges, especially for women. Rural landscapes are, in general, dominated by men, with low female participation in decision-making spaces. Nonetheless, this appears to be silently changing. In this perspective, we contrast three undocumented experiences of our work as female researchers and facilitators of human–wildlife coexistence (northern case, central case, and southern case). The aim of this perspective piece is to expose current findings for the role of women in human–wildlife coexistence, contrast these with our reports, and propose future directions.

This article is a case study of the Skrehall landslide, which occurred on 15 September 1703 at the border between the Swedish parishes of Fors and Rommele. It was a disaster with locally far-reaching consequences for the Westrogothian agrarian communities it impacted, damaging farmland and destroying a country road, which had to be relocated. Archaeological fieldwork was carried out at the site in May 2021, which led to the discovery of surviving remains from the original road; it should be treated as a cultural heritage site. The study further discusses how difficult it can be to capture and understand small-scale, localised disasters in the past, and the concept of the ‘disasterscape’ is proposed as a useful terminology in studying such events, with particular utility within the field of historical archaeology.

As the global climate continues to change, extreme weather events such as hurricanes and heavy rainfall are becoming more frequent. Subsequently, flooding and standing water disrupt and negatively impact many communities. The use of nature-based solutions (NBS) is an innovative and sustainable approach to flood mitigation. Geospatial research and applications have developed rapidly to identify and map broad regions in the world, as well as specific locations for NBS. We conducted a geospatial analysis in ArcGIS Pro to identify areas where NBS, referred to as "FloodWise" practices in this study, could be sited in the North Carolina Coastal Plain to strategically reduce flooding and provide water quality and habitat improvement. The study provides a spatially explicit application of integrated remote sensing, scientific and professional knowledge, and extant databases to screen diverse variables and identify potential specific NBS opportunities and sites. The practices modeled in this study are wetland restoration, afforestation, agroforestry, "water farming" (which uses a combination of dry dams and berms), and stream restoration. Maps of specific areas and tracts in the county for the NBS practices in Robeson County, North Carolina were developed based on the land ownership size, biophysical characteristics, current land uses, and water management opportunities. Land suitability locations revealed in these maps can be used in future resilience planning initiatives to reduce floodwaters on North Carolina's rural landscapes. The geospatial analysis methodologies employed in this study can be followed to model NBS locations for flood reduction and water storage opportunities in other counties in Eastern North Carolina or other regions with similar topographies and land-type characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Green Deal sets targets for biodiversity, climate change, sustainable farming, and rural development. For abandoned agricultural lands to contribute to these goals, specific policy measures to support appropriate land management are required. However, information is lacking on what these policies will mean for landowners and managers. This paper reviews the role of abandoned lands in European Union (EU) policies linked to the Green Deal. We interviewed 30 experts to identify the challenges faced by landowners in response to the identified policies and gather suggestions for future policy improvements. We found few explicit mentions of abandoned lands in policies. The potential of abandoned lands for alternative trajectories (beyond farming) was generally implicit. According to experts, landowners perceive the EU Common Agriculture Policy as the most influential to drive abandonment trajectories and support (or hinder) opportunities for re-management. The main challenges for landowners to (re-)use their lands included conflicting policies, lack of financial and technical support, and a feeling of disconnection with policies defined at EU level. To address the gap between objectives and implementation, policies need to secure support for landowners and managers. We provide three recommendations to uncover the potential of abandoned lands to contribute to the Green Deal targets: (1) increase their visibility in policies, (2) rely on an integrating policy approach, and (3) careful spatial planning to account for biophysical, socioeconomic, and cultural variations across regions. • Policy review shows limited focus on abandoned lands in EU Green Deal policies. • Expert interviews reveal landowner challenges to manage abandoned lands. • Policy changes are needed to better support landowners to manage their lands. • Sustainable reuse and management of farmlands can mitigate trade-offs. • Integrated landscape planning and effectiveness assessment tools are key. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a critical re-examination of Early Modern migrations to Ireland and their effect on farming practices, c.1580–1660. During and after the English conquest of Ireland, tens and eventually hundreds of thousands of settlers arrived from Britain. Focusing on Munster and to a lesser extent Ulster, I argue they were not greeted with an agricultural tabula rasa ripe for 'improvement'. In contrast to what Tudor writers claimed, and what some scholars today have assumed, cereal cultivation and field enclosure already formed important elements in the agricultural landscape. Changes clearly took place, but English, Welsh and Scots settlers also made some remarkable adaptations by accepting local breeds of livestock and relying economically on forms of semi-mobile pastoralism that earlier writers had decried. Looking outside Ireland helps to evaluate their actions, since livestock mobility was widespread in contemporary European pastoralism, and if anything contributed to, rather than conflicted with, the commercialisation of farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Scarcity of standardised data is one of the main obstacles in understanding the responses of wildlife to anthropogenic pressures. By assessing local people's knowledge, it is possible to generate valuable social-ecological data to fill this gap cost-effectively. Aims. We present the Wildlife-Human Survey (WHS), a protocol for rapidly assessing information on medium and large-sized mammals, rural people, and the latter's interactions with these species. In a pilot study, we investigate the effectiveness of our tool to generate valuable information for wildlife research and management. Methods. The survey consists of a structured interview protocol that can be used as a tool to generate information on (i) the occurrence and assemblage composition of medium and large mammalian species, (ii) the socioeconomic profile of rural populations and farming activities in the area, and (iii) people's perception of human-wildlife interactions (e.g. benefits, economic losses). To test the effectiveness of our tool, we conducted a total of 300 face-to-face interviews using this protocol in 30 rural landscapes (1250 ha each) in the Paraiba Valley region, São Paulo State, Brazil. We analysed the resulting data using descriptive statistics, random curves of species accumulation and maps of species distribution and richness. Key results. We generated data on the occurrence and distribution of 32 species of medium and large mammals and on socioeconomic profile of the 300 surveyed households. We found that 95% of the species could be determined to occur in the region, with an effort ranging from 66 to 266 h; up to 611 h were necessary to find evidence of all species. Conclusions. Our protocol can be an effective, fast and low-cost tool for appraising the occurrence of medium and largesized mammals, the socioeconomic profile of people sharing rural landscapes with them and their interactions. Implications. The WHS can generate information for mammal management by highlighting hotspot areas of human-wildlife interactions. This protocol can be especially useful when and where other methods are inadequate/unviable, and create the opportunity for rural people to contribute to wildlife management by allowing them to share their knowledge and concerns about their interactions with the local fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Driven by net-zero policies, major landscape shifts expected in rural Europe. • Injustices arise from potential climate-influenced landscape transformations. • Empirical environmental justice study of three rural European landscapes. • Unequal land access central to rural environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes an automated method for distinguishing trees (T) from no-trees (NT) by means of optical data. We make use of an optical approach based on a statistical threshold to detect T areas on visible and near infrared bands. An object-based image classification allows to detect three kinds of tree out of forest (TOF) structures: forest patches (FP), isolated trees (IT), tree hedgerows (THR), distinguished from forest (F). Ground truth validation allows estimating the accuracy of classification. Four optical bands and six spectral indices are compared detecting images’ T areas: B2, B3, B4 and B8 bands, Negative Luminance (NL), Normalized Difference Vegetation index (NDVI), Green NDVI (GNDVI), Blue NDVI (BNDVI), Panchromatic NDVI (PNDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). NL shows a relatively better capability for TOF detection and classification, with overall accuracy (OA) exceeding 92% and p-value = 10−5. Experiments were conducted on optical data acquired by Sentinel-2 in 2016 over the Alfina highland, central Italy. The tree characteristics were extracted exploiting GNU Octave Image Package. Our results show that this new approach could be extended to the detection and mapping of TOF within large areas of agroforestry landscape.

Media representations of Japan’s dynamic cities belie a growing national phenomenon. Urban migration, a declining birthrate and an aging population have transformed Japan’s countryside over the past thirty years. These demographic changes have resulted in socio-economic decline, abandoned buildings and loss of regional culture. This paper explores architecture’s role in facilitating cultural sustainability, education, and community connections to landscape.Despite the impacts of depopulation, some rural communities are embracing shrinkage and attempting to preserve their regional cultures. This poses a challenge for architecture, a profession dependent on urban and economic growth. In the unfamiliar context of degrowth, architects need to leverage existing buildings and resources.Among the leftover buildings in Japan’s depopulated areas, the public school is becoming increasingly prevalent. These structures are imbued with collective memory, and this history creates interesting opportunities for reuse. Additionally, the architectural flexibility of these schools makes them compelling sites for interventions, often central places in their communities. My research studies how the re-use of the buildings could generate new micro-economies and lifestyles.The research studies the potential outcomes of re-using a building type influenced by its country’s social, political, and economic forces. The research presents emerging methodologies for designers working in depopulated communities, including ethnographic and participatory strategies. Ultimately, the research questions how architecture can reassemble communities on the verge of cultural decay.

Livestock has been a backbone of people's livelihood as long as agriculture has existed in Scandinavia, c. 6,000 years. In the early Iron Age, c. 2,000 years ago, a land management system began to form, composed of infields (enclosed hay-meadows and crop fields) and outlying land used for livestock grazing. Despite many later innovations and societal changes affecting agricultural technology and practices, this way of organizing land use was a template for how landscapes were managed and structured until the modernization of agriculture and forestry during the last centuries. There are legacies of this historic land-use, mainly as “semi-natural grasslands” managed by livestock grazing (open or semi-open; long continuity of management; not much influenced by commercial fertilizers, plowing etc.). These semi-natural grasslands harbor an exceptional small-scale biodiversity, particularly plants and insects. Landscapes with semi-natural grasslands represent cultural heritage, and are appreciated for their beauty. The total area of semi-natural grasslands has declined considerably during the past 100 years, and the current trend suggest that further declines are expected. A large fraction of threatened biodiversity in Sweden thrives in these grasslands. Livestock grazing in semi-natural grasslands makes an important contribution to food production, and there is an increasing interest in consumption of products, mainly meat, from these grasslands. This implies that there is a positive feedback between food production, maintenance of biological diversity, and cultural heritage. This paper gives an overview of semi-natural grasslands, focusing on Sweden, from a historic, cultural and ecological perspective, and aims at discussing challenges and prospects for developing and maintaining positive associations between producing food, biodiversity, and cultural heritage, in the future.

Local food studies have stressed the importance of local food systems (LFS) in shortening the linkages between producers and consumers and in promoting resilient territories. Food consumption patterns are mostly studied around rural–urban dynamics, urban food security, and the revitalisation of rural communities, but little is known about the impact of LFS over rural residents and their capacity to access local foods. This paper explores the development of LFS in rural areas, from a food access approach, by characterising the rural landscapes promoting local food consumption. From a mapping of 74 predominately rural municipalities, statistical data of six socio-economic and political variables were collected to depict each municipality. A cluster analysis and Pearson’s correlation test informed us about the factors enabling these networks to emerge. Three clusters were identified: ‘meso-urban’, (N = 5) presenting urban-like characteristics (higher income and education levels, and reduced road infrastructure and small-scale farming); ‘dense’, (N = 26) characterised by high population density, road infrastructure and small-scale farming; and ‘castaway’ (N = 43) with low population density, income, post-secondary education, and expenditure in RD in agriculture. LFS emergence in rural Portugal was strongly determined by the levels of mean income and education levels in rural municipalities, which brought into question concerns regarding rural residents’ capacity to consume local foods. Low physical access, purchasing capacity, and awareness of food issues appeared to compromise the utilisation of these foods by the most socio-economically disfavoured groups. However, other territorial externalities and empirical work not included in this study could further complement our findings and provide a richer picture for the localisation of food systems in rural areas.

Farm ponds are among the last remaining lentic wetland habitats in human-dominated agricultural and suburban landscapes. However, their wildlife value and farmers’ willingness to maintain them for the conservation of regionally declining biodiversity are often both poorly documented. The objectives of this study of 61 dairy farm ponds located in Southern Quebec (Canada) were to (1) describe their biophysical features and birds’ use, (2) determine habitat and landscape characteristics that influence the bird community, and (3) assess the willingness of farmers to support wildlife use. The studied ponds were small (0.17 ha) and had rectangular shape with rocky/muddy steeply slopes (21°), surrounded by 3 m wide riparian strips and pastures, hayfields, and fallows. They were located about 300 m from farmhouses, buildings, streams, and adjacent ponds. A total of 1963 individuals belonging to 46 bird species were observed. The abundance of all bird species, of species with declining populations, and of crop damaging species were positively related to the area of fallow land and to the width of riparian strips; the areas of cereals and of mixed-wood forest had a negative influence. Only two habitat variables had influence on species richness: the width of riparian strips (+) and the distance to the closest farm buildings (–). Most pond landowners (>80%) were in favour of increasing wildlife use if they were given access to associated financial support and logistical assistance. Wider riparian strips and adjacent uncultivated field margins are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes an automated method for distinguishing trees (T) from no-trees (NT) by means of optical data. We make use of an optical approach based on a statistical threshold to detect T areas on visible and near infrared bands. An object-based image classification allows to detect three kinds of tree out of forest (TOF) structures: forest patches (FP), isolated trees (IT), tree hedgerows (THR), distinguished from forest (F). Ground truth validation allows estimating the accuracy of classification. Four optical bands and six spectral indices are compared detecting images' T areas: B2, B3, B4 and B8 bands, Negative Luminance (NL), Normalized Difference Vegetation index (NDVI), Green NDVI (GNDVI), Blue NDVI (BNDVI), Panchromatic NDVI (PNDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). NL shows a relatively better capability for TOF detection and classification, with overall accuracy (OA) exceeding 92% and p-value = 10−5. Experiments were conducted on optical data acquired by Sentinel-2 in 2016 over the Alfina highland, central Italy. The tree characteristics were extracted exploiting GNU Octave Image Package. Our results show that this new approach could be extended to the detection and mapping of TOF within large areas of agroforestry landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic interest in ecosystem services has been growing in the past ten years or more with an increasing number of research studies and papers being dedicated to this complex and diverse field of enquiry. However, Cultural Ecosystem Services have been relatively under-researched, especially in terms of their value to landscapes. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) argued that cultural services and values were not recognised enough in landscape planning and management, therefore the implications for rural landscape development are considered in this paper. This paper focuses on the value of Cultural Ecosystem Services in two rural landscapes in Hungary (Őrség and Kalocsa) using in-depth interviews with a range of local stakeholders. The research analyses the relative value of different categories of Cultural Ecosystem Services focusing mainly on social, symbolic and economic values. The findings reveal the central importance of cultural heritage in relation to other categories of CES, especially its social and symbolic values. • Cultural heritage is the most important dimension of cultural ecosystems services. • Cultural heritage has strong social and symbolic values for local communities which are not necessarily connected to use-value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) emphasises that the public should be extensively involved in the processes of landscape protection, planning and management. In spite of the emerging interest in the relationship between animals and landscapes in the study of animal geography, little is known about the influence of the landscape-animal component on public aspirations and the values attributed to landscape. We conducted a survey in the form of an image-based questionnaire in order to evaluate the influence of certain animal species, in this case livestock, on landscape preferences. The results show that all grazing animals have a positive impact on landscape preferences, although some species seem more popular than others. The preference for scenes with animals decreases, however, when compared with scenes with other landscape features (vegetation, traditional buildings or water). Significant differences in preferences for scenes with animals were observed according to certain sociodemographic variables such as gender, familiarity with the landscape and direct involvement in livestock farming. Of the groups surveyed, livestock farmers showed the strongest preferences for the scenes with animals. The findings of this study can be applied within the citizen participation policies encouraged by the ELC, as well as in the protection, management and planning of rural landscapes in which livestock is an appreciable feature.

As the global climate continues to change, extreme weather events such as hurricanes and heavy rainfall are becoming more frequent. Subsequently, flooding and standing water disrupt and negatively impact many communities. The use of nature-based solutions (NBS) is an innovative and sustainable approach to flood mitigation. Geospatial research and applications have developed rapidly to identify and map broad regions in the world, as well as specific locations for NBS. We conducted a geospatial analysis in ArcGIS Pro to identify areas where NBS, referred to as “FloodWise” practices in this study, could be sited in the North Carolina Coastal Plain to strategically reduce flooding and provide water quality and habitat improvement. The study provides a spatially explicit application of integrated remote sensing, scientific and professional knowledge, and extant databases to screen diverse variables and identify potential specific NBS opportunities and sites. The practices modeled in this study are wetland restoration, afforestation, agroforestry, “water farming” (which uses a combination of dry dams and berms), and stream restoration. Maps of specific areas and tracts in the county for the NBS practices in Robeson County, North Carolina were developed based on the land ownership size, biophysical characteristics, current land uses, and water management opportunities. Land suitability locations revealed in these maps can be used in future resilience planning initiatives to reduce floodwaters on North Carolina’s rural landscapes. The geospatial analysis methodologies employed in this study can be followed to model NBS locations for flood reduction and water storage opportunities in other counties in Eastern North Carolina or other regions with similar topographies and land-type characteristics.

The present paper addresses the methodology carried out to obtain a new classification of hedgerow networks in the Mediterranean region using GIS and Remote Sensing. A new methodology has been developed due to the need to establish a typification of the hedgerows in this sector of southern Europe, where the variable conditioning the localization, area and type of these landscapes is degree of surface soil moisture. In the continental Mediterranean context, this age-old agricultural system is closely linked to access to, and management of, water resources, which are vital in the dry season. For this reason, we mapped the hedgerow network of a continental Mediterranean mountain, establishing different levels of surface soil moisture provided by images from the satellite Sentinel-2. The results render three types of hedgerows: moist, semi-moist and dry, each one presenting clearly differentiated localizations and characteristics. To this can be added the analysis of the evolution of their area from 1956 to the present time from aerial pictures and satellite images and their correlation with surface soil moisture and slope. We present results on this tested method from the central sector of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain. • The presented procedure focuses on a new classification of hedgerow networks in the Mediterranean region based on the degree of surface soil moisture. • The method stablishes different levels of surface soil moisture provided by images from the satellite Sentinel-2. • The procedure allows us to analyze and correlate the evolution of Mediterranean hedgerows with surface soil moisture.

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This study adopts a choice modelling framework to disentangle individual preferences for rural landscape attributes based on the viewing of photographs of the Irish countryside. Using ordered logit and standard panel and pooled regression models, societal preferences are quantified for rural landscape attributes, grouped into natural, agricultural and human-built non-agricultural categories. The preferences of 430 individuals towards 50 rural landscape photographs are analysed. The results show positive preferences for landscapes with natural attributes such as cliffs, mountainous features, water and native trees, as well as preferences for neat/managed agricultural landscapes and traditional human-built features such as stone walls and planted hedgerows. The study shows negative preferences for features such as flooding, unmanaged landscapes, industrial turf cutting and mechanised features such as wind turbines. There is significant preference heterogeneity observed across the sample particularity across the urban-rural residency divide. It is argued that analysing preferences for specific attributes of landscapes rather than preferences for individual landscape photographs allows for further applications particularly in the area of simulation.

The integration of field survey data from Eastern Sicily (the Plain of Catania) with legacy data available for the region will expand our knowledge on Mediterranean ancient rural landscapes. With an extent of 430 km2, the area is a perfect case study due to its geographical characteristics and the number of archaeological projects (both excavations and surveys) carried out within it in recent decades. Indeed, combining archaeological data from earlier research projects with new survey data allows us to conduct a settlement pattern analysis of the project’s study area. Heterogenous datasets have been integrated through their implementation into a geo-database, featuring the management and integration of topographical units and archaeological entities through semantic relations. Through geospatial data analysis based on the complete gazetteer of archaeological sites (whether sherd scatters, ruins, caves dwellings, tombs or tracks), a new image of rural landscapes for this area of Eastern Sicily from the Greek Archaic to the Late Roman Age can be visualized, beyond the traditional Sicilia frumentaria narrative.

Nijkamp affirms the Utopians’ claim of an open and flexible future, where development could imply surprising steps towards something better. Castells questions admonishingly whether planning approaches are changeable in a world that has already changed. Following Davidoff’s indications of making urban life beautiful, exciting and creative, planners encounter “surprising steps” within the planning approaches of compact cities, new urbanism, new ruralism, smart growth, green urbanism, and so on. In responding to Castells’ “multidimensional change in the spatial dimension”, the imagination of planners is intercepted, angling them towards a multifunctional planning advent. This article reasons that a combination of the new urbanism, green urbanism and new ruralism may be a beneficial response to multifunctionality, especially as megatrends emphasise the need to abandon the pursuit of a predictable single future or outcome. It questions whether the reciprocal use of these planning approaches may induce multifunctional rural landscapes. The uniqueness of the inherently rural South African landscape also necessitates a rural emphasis in this article, questioning whether the reciprocal use of the three planning approaches in the recently planned rural village of Verkykerskop, acclaimed by the Charter for New Urbanism in 2012, generated multifunctional rural land use.

Abstract In 2011, the ICOMOS-IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes (ISCCL) began the World Rural Landscapes Initiative (WRLI) project to develop a complete and systematic approach to cultural heritage for rural areas. Rural landscapes need further study in terms of methodology, operation and internationally recognised documents: protection and promotion, knowledge, methodology and management at international, national and local levels. The goals of the WRLI were: a principles text containing theoretical, methodological and operational criteria; a website; a glossary; an atlas of rural landscapes; and a general bibliography. The first goal has been achieved: Principles Concerning Rural Landscapes as Heritage was adopted as a doctrinal text by ICOMOS (2017). This paper presents the main cultural premises and contents of the Principles text: (I) the theoretical concepts of the ‘Rural Landscape’ and ‘Rural Landscape as Heritage’; and (II) ‘Action criteria’ which guide the development of policies for rural landscapes as heritage and resources: knowledge, protection, sustainable management, communication and transmission of physical places and associated heritage values. This paper covers: the importance of time in policy strategy; the (false) contradiction of conservation and innovation and the concept of ‘appropriate’ transformation; the role of stakeholders; value recognition; knowledge; information; communication and public reception.