Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
8.4 Relevance of the Concept in Landscape Planning
The search for all the five components of landscape memory brings us a vital under-
standing about landscape development, about the landscape of the past. Researchers
can read the narratives of landscape history. The result of their research is not and
cannot be a simplified statement about the loss of landscape memory. The narratives
remain in the landscape. Some may perish, others may emerge. Only the story told
by each of them individually and all of them together is changing. A complete loss
of landscape identity cannot be the conclusion either, because the landscape may
acquire a new identity. The purpose of the scholarly examination of, and search for,
the components of landscape memory lies in the interpretation of landscape his-
tory. How was the story of the past landscape reflected in its functioning? What was
the impact on biodiversity, ecohydrological functions, stability, soil fertility, and the
quality of the natural components of the environment (air, ecosystems etc.)? How
did it influence the social environment? Did it provide enough job opportunities and,
as a whole, allow well-being and healthy living? Did it create a harmonious inter-
connection between the social and the ecological subsystems so that we can label
them sustainable (cf. Balej & Andel, 2008)?
Interpretations along these lines provide many desirable answers to landscape
management and landscape planning. Scientists need to listen in order to understand
what policy-makers care the most about. Understanding needs and beliefs will allow
scientists to design their research so that it is truly relevant and salient to policy-
makers. It is particularly vital to include the viewpoints of the land users themselves
throughout the process (Reid et al., 2006). Without the inclusion of interpretations
based on the knowledge of the land users themselves it is not possible to justify
consistently any recommendation regarding the optimum landscape development
scenario or plan.
Policy research that aims to be useful to policy-makers starts with a clear defi-
nition of a policy research problem, including an assessment of policy objectives
and the impact of existing policies, the identification of relevant policy instruments,
and establishing working relationships with the policy-makers who have influence
over those policy instruments. Land use scientists need to work closely with policy-
makers and land users to identify - and in many cases develop, test, and validate -
workable policy levers that effectively influence the rate and patterns of land-use
change (Tomich et al., 2004).
As examples of landscape narratives, agricultural levees, road networks, green-
ways, hedgerows, sacral elements, and cemeteries, as well as the urban planning
and architectural concepts of settlements, allow us to monitor and assess the various
manifestations of landscape memory components and to examine their conformity
or contradiction with each other. A harmonious landscape development or, better
still, the continuity of landscape development can be defined as a mutual reflec-
tion of the historical context and its manifestation, i.e. as a consonance between
all the five components (aspects) of landscape memory in the individual landscape
Search WWH ::
Custom Search