Working Group 1.7

Multifunctional Rural Landscapes: Between the Local and the Global, Between the Social and the Natural

Convenors:
Thanasis Kizos, University of the Aegean akizos@aegean.gr  (contact person)
Lone.S.Kristensen
Anne Gravsholt Busck

Until recently most rural land was treated as “mono-functional” with emphasis almost exclusively on productive functions. While such functions still are important for many parts of rural Europe, other functions are gaining importance: ecological, environmental, leisure, dwelling services, etc. These transitions and the changing relationships they imply are encapsulated in the concept of landscape. Landscapes are multifunctional by definition: they are more than just shapes and morphological features of the surface of the earth, more than habitats, more than images, more than cultural signs. They are the interfaces where the social and the natural interact and a space where the global and the local meet.

This Working Group aims to encourage interchange of theories, concepts and methodological approaches in defining, describing, analyzing, understanding and unravelling the multifunctional nature of rural landscapes from different disciplines. Within this framework we welcome papers that focus on:
-       Identification of new landscape patterns and new relationships between man and nature as a results of the introduction of new functions;

1. The rural landscape and its functions between the local and the global, including conflicting values, attitudes and worldviews;
2. The social and the natural in the rural landscape;
3. Policy challenges for the multifunctional rural landscape;
4. ‘Protected’ landscapes, sustainability and multifunctionality;
5. Landscape character and identity as drivers of rural development.

Participants will be asked to discuss a paper from another participant. Therefore drafts of the presentations and/or papers will be distributed to the members of the WG prior to the presentations. The previous ‘landscape-theme’ WG in ESRS 2007 proved successful and will produce in the near future a special issue in “Landscape Research”. Possible publication opportunities will be investigated for the papers of this WG as well.