Characterizing European cultural landscapes: Accounting for structure, management intensity and value of agricultural and forest landscapes

Abstract

Almost all rural areas in Europe have been shaped or altered by humans and can be considered cultural landscapes, many of which now are considered to entail valuable cultural heritage. Current dynamics in land management have put cultural landscapes under a huge pressure of agricultural intensification and land abandonment. To prevent the loss of cultural landscapes, knowledge on the location of different types of cultural landscapes is needed. In this paper, we present a characterization of European cultural landscapes based on the prevalence of three key dimensions of cultural landscapes: landscape structure, management intensity, and value and meaning. We mapped these dimensions across Europe at a 1-km resolution by combining proxies on management intensity and landscape structure with new indicators such as social media usage and registered traditional food products. We integrated the three dimensions into a continuous "cultural landscape index" that allows for a characterization of Europe's rural landscapes. The characterization identifies hotspots of cultural landscapes, where all three dimensions are present, such as in the Mediterranean. On the other hand, Eastern and Northern European cultural landscapes are mostly characterized by only one of the dimensions. Our paper can help to identify pressures to cultural landscapes and thus to target measures for the conservation of these landscapes, to link similar landscapes in different regions, and to inform policy design on the most important characteristics of cultural landscapes at a regional scale.

Valuation of public goods and ecosystem services provided by agriculture

“…Withal, most of values are outside the market and best considered as non-tradable public benefits [16]. As noted above, agricultural (cultural) landscapes provide important ecosystem services, be shelter for agricultural land biodiversity, and are devoted to heritage [11]. As examples the main indicators, characteristics and data for agricultural landscapes' valuation are indicated in Table 1.…”

“…Some sources indicate agricultural landscapes as cultural landscapes, which are increasingly threatened by both intensification and abandonment [11].…”

Appreciation of landscape aesthetic values in Slovakia assessed by social media photographs

“…Metadata from geolocated photos have been used to identify and analyze the most popular visual attractions of European metropolises [22] or for extracting scenic routes in the state of California [23]. Density of Panoramio photos was used as a proxy for evaluating the value and meaning of landscape types at European scale [24].…”

“…National typologies [25][26][27] as well as European typologies [24,28] are based on combination and synthesis of various layers of geographical and biophysical data [29]. In Slovakia, the Landscape types, or Representative Landscape Ecosystems of Slovakia, were designed as homogeneous units considering landscape character, functions and current land-use [30].…”

Cultural landscapes of the future: using agent-based modeling to discuss and develop the use and management of the cultural landscape of South West Devon

“…Yet despite these changes, Europe still contains landscapes that have managed to retain a traditional small-scale character. Landscapes such as the French Bocage and the Tuscan valleys are attributed special cultural values (Tieskens et al 2017) and host large amounts of biodiversity. However, current drivers of landscape change, such as an increasing demand for agricultural produce, urbanization, and climate change, can have a devastating effect on these traditional landscapes (Plieninger and Bieling 2013).…”