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Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management
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Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 24157

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pietro Picuno

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Interests: agricultural, forest and biosystems engineering; environmental and ecological engineering; farm buildings and rural land; rural-built heritage; sustainable building materials; greenhouse technology; plastic and biodegradable materials for protected cultivation; rural landscape analysis and planning; integration of multi-temporal data into a GIS environment; agricultural biomass and plastic waste management and valorization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Dina Statuto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Interests: environmental engineering; geographic information system; spatial analysis; rural landscape; agroforestry land; environmental assessment; landscape planning; environmental management; renewable energy, agricultural biomass, circular economy; plastic film and nets for protected cultivation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rural landscapes, being the result of the interaction in time between natural and anthropic actions, play a central role in mainstreaming the sustainable development of human activities. This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers addressing the inter-disciplinary issues enabling a holistic approach that aims to (1) analyze rural landscapes and their environmental components; (2) assess existing techniques for their technical and socio-economic planning, proposing new methods and cutting-edge tools; (3) evaluate the implementation of suitable management practices that aim to preserve their rurality, enabling the sustainable development of alternative fruition options—e.g., tourism—as well. Covered topics would include, among others, the urban–rural gradient and integration process, the interaction between rural landscapes and farm buildings, the impact of renewable energies on rural landscapes, people’s attitudes and perceptions of rural landscapes, the preservation of historical rural landscapes, rural landscapes and cultural/environmental services, new models and tools for the governance of resilient rural landscapes, the role of rural landscapes as witnesses of community identity heritage, the impact of depopulation, and rural landscapes and quality of life. Papers selected for this Special Issue are subject to a rigorous peer-review procedure, which aims to widely and effectively disseminate the research outcomes.

Prof. Dr. Pietro Picuno
Dr. Dina Statuto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • rural landscape
  • land-use changes
  • urban–rural gradient
  • farm buildings
  • renewable energies
  • historical landscapes
  • identity heritage
  • cultural services
  • environmental services
  • geographic information systems

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 2645 KiB  
Article
Expert Opinion Dimensions of Rural Landscape Quality in Xiangxi, Hunan, China: Principal Component Analysis and Factor Analysis
by Bin Wen and Jon Bryan Burley
Sustainability 2020, 12(4), 1316; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041316 - 11 Feb 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2872
Abstract
Scholars and planning/design professionals are interested in the quantitative, metric properties influencing the quality and assessment of rural landscape space. These metrics are important for guiding rural planning, design, and construction of cultural rural environments. Respondents and metrics from four sampled villages (Qixin, [...] Read more.
Scholars and planning/design professionals are interested in the quantitative, metric properties influencing the quality and assessment of rural landscape space. These metrics are important for guiding rural planning, design, and construction of cultural rural environments. Respondents and metrics from four sampled villages (Qixin, Hangsha, Yanpai Xi, and Lvdong) in the Xiangxi District of Hunan Province in China were examined, employing statistical principal component analysis and factor analysis methods to understand the identifying properties concerning planning and design features of these rural mountain village landscape spaces. The two approaches reveal different aspects from the same variables. Through factor analysis and rotation, four general dimensions were revealed explaining approximately 62% of the variance: a settlement and environmental axis, an intangible culture axis, a productive landscape axis, and a transportation and public space axis, supporting the standing notion that the variables were ordinated across four dimensions in these mountain villages and occupied an elliptical plane that was different than the predicted space occupied by nearby cites. In contrast, principal component analysis revealed that the variables could be grouped into one latent dimension explaining 48% of the variance and revealing an alternative interpretation and spatial plot of the sites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management)
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18 pages, 6318 KiB  
Article
Contribution to the Knowledge of Cultural Heritage via a Heritage Information System (HIS). The Case of “La Cultura del Agua” in Valverde de Burguillos, Badajoz (Spain)
by Victoria Domínguez-Ruíz, Julia Rey-Pérez and Gloria Rivero-Lamela
Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 1141; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031141 - 05 Feb 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2762
Abstract
Modern science is going through a period of important reflection on the role of different agents and multiple disciplines in the management and safeguarding of architectural heritage. This new focus generates a greater amount and diversity of information, so the implementation of a [...] Read more.
Modern science is going through a period of important reflection on the role of different agents and multiple disciplines in the management and safeguarding of architectural heritage. This new focus generates a greater amount and diversity of information, so the implementation of a unifying tool in the framework of digital information models would mean a better knowledge of cultural heritage as well as aiding its safeguarding and protection. In addition, it must be taken into account that, for the correct management of information in its broadest dimension, this tool must make it possible to relate alphanumeric data about an item of heritage to its spatial location. In this sense, this article proposes a Heritage Information System (HIS)—understood as a digital knowledge tool—that consists of a relational database and a map manager with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology (a geodatabase). The methodology suggested here sets out the steps that make up the HIS, so that the system can be applied to other geographical elements or realities. For this reason, a study was made of “La Cultura del Agua” in Valverde de Burguillos (Spain), a heritage ensemble that consists of rural architecture and dispersed preindustrial elements, which are currently at risk. The HIS seeks to develop a more complete identification of these elements (individually and as a system) and a justified argument for their being given value and great visibility. This new approach encourages sustainable development in terms of efficiency and effectiveness for the analysis, diagnosis, and reactivation of cultural heritage, always placing importance on the balance of social participation with the territory in which the system is applied, and with global society. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management)
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13 pages, 3283 KiB  
Article
Planning the Flows of Residual Biomass Produced by Wineries for the Preservation of the Rural Landscape
by Canio Manniello, Dina Statuto, Andrea Di Pasquale, Gerardo Giuratrabocchetti and Pietro Picuno
Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 847; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030847 - 23 Jan 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2668
Abstract
Circular economy aims to create a system that allows an optimal reuse of products and materials. According to an appropriate planning hierarchy, agricultural and agro-food co-products, by-products and wastes should be primarily employed to re-balance soil fertility, and afterwards valorized as new secondary [...] Read more.
Circular economy aims to create a system that allows an optimal reuse of products and materials. According to an appropriate planning hierarchy, agricultural and agro-food co-products, by-products and wastes should be primarily employed to re-balance soil fertility, and afterwards valorized as new secondary raw materials used in the same agricultural sector or in different industrial chains (e.g., cosmetics, nutraceuticals, etc.). Finally, only at the end of this process, they could be conveyed to energy production through co-generation. In this paper, different residues generated by the wine production chain have been considered with reference to the Basilicata region (Southern Italy). These biomasses have been quantitatively assessed and qualitatively classified, in order to find the most rational and convenient solution for their valorization from a technical, economic and environmental point of view. From the spatial analysis—elaborated by implementing a Geographic Information System—some thematic maps have been obtained, which allow us to highlight the areas with the highest concentration of residues. In this way, focusing the analysis on these areas, some possible strategies for their management and valorization have been proposed, so as to restore soil fertility and contribute to the sustainable preservation of the rural landscape. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management)
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19 pages, 5936 KiB  
Article
Vernacular Farm Buildings and Rural Landscape: A Geospatial Approach for Their Integrated Management
by Giuseppe Cillis, Dina Statuto and Pietro Picuno
Sustainability 2020, 12(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010004 - 18 Dec 2019
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 5917
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. [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management)
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18 pages, 1620 KiB  
Article
National Land Use Policy against the Misuse of the Agricultural Land—Causes and Effects. Evidence from Poland
by Alina Źróbek-Różańska and Joanna Zielińska-Szczepkowska
Sustainability 2019, 11(22), 6403; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226403 - 14 Nov 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2864
Abstract
Land suitable for agricultural production is limited and should be used in a sustainable manner and protected. Countries of the former communist bloc, where the majority of the agricultural land was dynamically privatized, are in a special situation. Land has been used there [...] Read more.
Land suitable for agricultural production is limited and should be used in a sustainable manner and protected. Countries of the former communist bloc, where the majority of the agricultural land was dynamically privatized, are in a special situation. Land has been used there also to serve the needs of growing cities, for investment speculation and as entitlement to subsidies. Therefore, legal regulations protecting agricultural land were introduced. In the case of Poland, particular attention should be paid to the radical act of 2016, which completely stopped the sale of Treasury resources and strongly limited sales on the private market. However, the new act caused a number of side effects and various pathologies. This article examines the real effects of policy aimed at combating the misuse of agricultural land. It was assumed that most of the side effects will be observed around big cities, defined as Functional Urban Areas. The following methods were used: a survey in Polish FUAs, analysis of transactions on the real estate market in 2015–2018 and in-depth interviews with representatives of local governments and relevant institutions. The study revealed a number of pathologies, such as ways of circumventing new restrictions or searching for legal loopholes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management)
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21 pages, 6761 KiB  
Article
Social Landscape Optimization of Towns and Villages at the County Level by Developing a Compound Ecological Capital System
by Kai Ren and Jianqiang Yang
Sustainability 2019, 11(10), 2764; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11102764 - 14 May 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3622
Abstract
The development of the social landscape of towns and villages at the county level in China currently lacks sustainability and urgently needs to be optimized. By developing a compound ecological capital system, the optimization of the social landscape will be an important process. [...] Read more.
The development of the social landscape of towns and villages at the county level in China currently lacks sustainability and urgently needs to be optimized. By developing a compound ecological capital system, the optimization of the social landscape will be an important process. Based on the dialectical relationship between landscape production and landscape sustainability, a theoretical framework is proposed as a paradigm of landscape structure. By highlighting the culture base and life proposed in ecosystem services (ES) described in the common international classification of ecosystem services (CICES) methodology, we propose a new social landscape order. We used Hequ County, Shanxi Province, China as the study case, evaluating the ecology level of social capital by gravity. In this paper, four types of optimization approaches for social landscape structure are proposed: completing urbanization (urbanized approach), shaping social landscape (prioritized development approach), protecting nature (scale-controlled approach), and increasing agricultural landscape (migrated and merged approach). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management)
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13 pages, 594 KiB  
Discussion
State Interventionism in Agricultural Land Turnover in Poland
by Agnieszka Stacherzak, Maria Hełdak, Ladislav Hájek and Katarzyna Przybyła
Sustainability 2019, 11(6), 1534; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061534 - 13 Mar 2019
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 2873
Abstract
The study discusses the problem of land grabbing and state interventionism in agricultural land transactions in Poland, and presents the effects of active policy implemented by the state on limiting the flow of agricultural land. The research covers the period from the time [...] Read more.
The study discusses the problem of land grabbing and state interventionism in agricultural land transactions in Poland, and presents the effects of active policy implemented by the state on limiting the flow of agricultural land. The research covers the period from the time of country’s accession to the European Union, starting from 2004. Poland introduced restrictions on the purchase of agricultural land for fear of mass land grabbing, and has currently tightened the restrictions on agricultural land purchase by foreigners and by non-owners of a family farm. The analyses concern the number of permits issued for foreigners to turn over agricultural land in Poland, the area of property eventually purchased by foreigners, the right of pre-emption exercised by the National Support Centre for Agriculture (NSCA), and the number of transactions concluded in an open market and in the form of a tender. Based on the collected data and their in-depth analyses, the following phenomena were interpreted: an extensive impact of interventionism exercised by the Polish state on restricting the sale of agricultural land to foreigners is observed, and interventionism of the Polish state affects the suspension of functional changes in rural areas and agricultural land transition to non-agricultural purposes. The research shows that the majority of property turnover by foreigners in Poland required permits issued by the Minister of the Interior Affairs and Administration. Moreover, priority is given to owners of family farms, which results in a reduction of the total number of transactions concerning agricultural land in Poland after introducing changes in legal transactions of agricultural land in 2016. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Landscape Analysis, Planning and Management)
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