A refined literature review to promote sustainable development through integrated frameworks in the European landscape

Abstract

Humans and human communities influence—and are influenced by—the landscapes or ecosystems of which they are a part. The contemporary landscape which much of the world’s population inhabits is a complex matrix of interrelated human and natural systems. The European Landscape Convention’s comprehensive definition recognizes the importance of landscape but is deficient in classification frameworks and cohesive approaches to planning, particularly sustainable development. This paper provides a critical literature review for the term ‘landscape’; it’s evolving and iterative procedure synthesizes interdisciplinary perspectives of literature’s varied theories, paradigms, frameworks and concepts. Results indicate the disciplines of Social Science and Environmental Science transcend the literature and current paradigms for the concept of ‘landscape’ still lack interrelated perspective and are generally poorly understood among disciplines. This literature review concludes that sustainable development within the European landscape requires an integrated spatial approach for applying the concept of ‘landscape’. The context of the human-nature relationship within a socio-ecological production landscape (SEPL) allows the interactions of its interdependent components to be viewed comprehensively. This critical analysis grounds perspectives of landscape and assist students, practitioners, and researchers to interpret concepts of the term ‘landscape’ within multiple frameworks. This paper fills interdisciplinary gaps and provides the structural, spatial, and contextual considerations for further integrated research, theory, and planning in thinking about sustainable development within Europe’s rapidly changing landscapes.