Sustainable Rural Landscape: Study, Planning, and Design

Dear Colleagues,

Rural landscapes are characterised by dynamic and continuous changes. They are the result of continuous land reorganization to adapt their use and spatial structure to the changing of economic and social demands. Rural landscapes are considered as mosaics of land types, providing ecosystem services and developing opportunities for the multiple needs of different stakeholders. In Europe, since the 1950s, the different rural systems have been evolving in two opposite directions: intensification and monoculture versus marginalization and abandonment. Moreover, in the European Union (EU), since 1990, several rural landscapes have been in transition, losing their primary agricultural functions, traditional crops, and historical land uses. The European Commission's Agri-Environmental Measures seek to maintain sustainable farming systems, to sustain traditional landscapes, and to promote rural development. In Europe, many historical rural landscapes have been subjected to transformations following land abandonment or crop conversion caused by processes of polarisation towards more urbanised areas.

Protecting, sustaining, and valorising historical agricultural landscapes are considered priorities by the international community. In 2003, the FAO GIAHS project (Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage System) addressed the relationship between agricultural heritage systems and their landscape and outlined the need to safeguard them over time. Furthermore, up to 2016, 17 historical agricultural sites have been included in the World Heritage List as ‘cultural heritage’ by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO, 2016). These sites are mainly recognized for their distinctive agricultural systems and historical features, such as cultivation practices, land uses, and production or traditional cultivation techniques. In this context, multidisciplinary studies should be applied, and specific actions, policies, measures, and management plans should be developed. The identification of landscape planning policies, strategies, and actions for historical rural areas is a priority.

Reviews, methodological and case-study papers are welcome in order to discuss the multifunctional role of rural landscapes in providing food, biodiversity, pollination, climate change mitigation, water management, air quality, education, and well-being. Guidelines for the planning and design of rural landscapes will be considered.

Prof. Dr. Marco Devecchi
Prof. Dr. Silvana Nicola
Dr. Federica Larcher
Guest Editors

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