Vernacular Farm Buildings and Rural Landscape: A Geospatial Approach for Their Integrated Management

Abstract

Over the centuries, farm buildings, which accompany the development of agriculture, have played an important role in defining spatial and environmental planning. In some European countries in particular, these rural structures have been built based on traditional agricultural needs and typical land characteristics. Considering the land abandonment that has occurred over the last five decades, with farmers moving to more comfortable residences in neighboring urban settlements, historical farm buildings have often been abandoned, thus causing a leakage of the historical-cultural heritage of the rural landscape. Nowadays, open data and geographic technologies together with advanced technological tools allow us to gather multidisciplinary information about the specific characteristics of each farm building, thus improving our knowledge. This information can greatly support the protection of those buildings and landscapes that have high cultural and naturalistic value. In this paper, the potential of Geographic Information Systems to catalogue the farm buildings of the Basilicata region (Southern Italy) is explored. The analysis of these buildings, traditionally known as masserie, integrates some typical aspects of landscape studies, paving the way for sustainable management of the important cultural heritage represented by vernacular farm buildings and the rural landscape.

Modeling urban sprinkling with cellular automata

“…This is due to the high altimetry in which most of the municipalities of the Basilicata region reside, as highlighted in the research conducted by (Cillis et al, 2019), rural buildings (abandoned or not) in the Basilicata region are found at an average altitude of 500 meters above sea level.…”

Study on the Level and Type Identification of Rural Development in Wuhan City’s New Urban Districts

“…The more rural the population, the more abundant the rural labor force [61]. The building area plays a crucial role in rural landscapes, reflecting the scale and living standard of rural development [62]; the higher the value, the better the level of rural development. These are all positive indicators.…”

A Multidimensional Model for the Vernacular: Linking Disciplines and Connecting the Vernacular Landscape to Sustainability Challenges

“…This interaction has taken shape in both material and immaterial rural culture, for instance, through rural buildings, infrastructures, tools or agricultural techniques. However, global and local drivers of change such as urbanization, rural depopulation, land abandonment, proliferation of industrial agriculture and the introduction of standardized buildings, codes of practice or techniques, have generated an increasing interest in the preservation and management of rural heritage [54,55] and consequently, of the significant part of that heritage that is produced through vernacular processes. This interest is based on multiple socio-cultural, environmental and economic reasons that are often grouped under the overarching goal of sustainable and resilient (rural) development [56,57].…”

“…Additionally, they are a crucial component in the definition of the landscape character, and consequently, there is an increasing research on methodologies to facilitate the consistent analysis, renovation, maintenance and transformation of rural buildings or ethno-villages [54,57]. Additionally, rigorous mapping of vernacular constructions is reported [55], as well as the development of new and deeper interactions between protected rural settlements and the environment by approaching them as complex social-economic-natural systems [58].…”