Sustainable development is a principle with the potential to inspire and guide action, but it is also a nebulous idea which is hard to operationalise. The concept of landscape character helps to turn this principle into practical action. Landscape character can be defined as 'the things that matter' about a landscape. Landscape characterisation is the process of determining what matters by identifying and assessing the complex interactions and relationships between people and their environment. The central argument of this paper is that existing approaches to characterisation are failing to realise the full potential of the process for the pursuit of more just and sustainable landscapes. A transformed process of characterisation is needed: one which is situated, problem-orientated and rooted in public discourse. This approach is outlined in theoretical terms and its fuller potential is signposted through the particular example of Govan, an urban landscape in Scotland. KEY WORDSLandscape character; sustainable development; landscape justice IntroductionWhat is landscape character? What is the role of characterisation in determining the future of a landscape? What is the future of landscape characterisation? In this paper, we will tackle these questions head on.Our starting point is the organising principle of sustainable development, which has its origins in the recognition that there are limits to economic growth and natural resource exploitation, but which has come to denote a more complex appreciation of the relationships between culture, society, economy and environment. In 1980, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) argued that the purpose of development is:"to satisfy human needs and improve the quality of life. For development to be sustainable it must take account of social and ecological factors, as well as economic ones; of the living and non-living resource base; and of the long term as well as the short term advantages and disadvantages of alternative actions." (IUCN, 1980, p. 2).The Brandt Commission similarly argued that we "must avoid the persistent confusion of growth with development" (Brandt, 1980, p. 23), prefiguring the Brundtland report's oft-quoted statement that sustainable development "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs", emphasising human needs (especially the needs of the poor) and environmental constraints to meeting these needs (WCED, 1987, p. 43).

Scotland, like many other countries, is undergoing a transition to renewable energy. This paper discusses the social context within which this transition is taking place and which is conditioning the possibilities for energy development and its effects on people. In particular, the paper explores historically-rooted conflicts relating to land rights and wild land protection, considering these issues and their relationship to energy development in terms of landscape justice (i.e. the principle of fairness in the ways people relate to the landscape and to each other through the landscape). Pursuing a more just settlement between people and landscape is often a matter of understanding problematic pasts and working to overcome their harmful legacies. It is argued that there is an important role for heritage practice in helping to deliver energy development which takes the historical, social and cultural context more fully into account and thereby helps to bring about a more just settlement between people and the landscape.

Excavation by GUARD in 1999 on the southern defences of Balmuildy Roman fort exposed small sections of three ditches: two to the W of the S gate of the fort, one to the E. All were found in locations consistent with Miller's 1922 excavation plan of the site, though, contrary to expectations, none of these features appeared to have been previously excavated. The limited investigations produced no information which would substantially alter our understanding of the chronological context or occupational history of the Roman fort, though the undisturbed character of the evidence was surprising. The waterlogged conditions in the innermost ditch to the W of the S gate preserved organic material within the fill, and it was considered worthwhile attempting to study the environmental material in some detail, presenting as it did an opportunity to provide some stratigraphically secure evidence for the fort's contemporary environment with the original excavation report, which – in common with others of its time – largely ignored this type of evidence. The terminal of the middle ditch to the W of the S gate produced pottery of Antonine date from the primary fill. Two radiocarbon dates were also obtained from the fill of the inner ditch: one, of 37 BC-AD 217, was derived from early in the sequence of ditch fills, while a second, of AD 439–661, was obtained from a later, charcoal-rich layer sealing accumulated peat deposits.

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