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Indicators Used for Landscape

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Landscape Indicators

Abstract

Each landscape assessment model selects some aspects, component and profiles of interpretation. The chapter provides a state of the art framework, comparing the proposed systems of assessment and the indicators in scientific publications and in international bodies documents. The attention is focused on the categories of indicators : historic, ecological, perceptual, land use and economic are the landscape dimensions which are chosen for the subsequent chapters and proposals.

C. Cassatella wrote Sects. 3.1, 3.3, and A. Voghera wrote Sect. 3.2.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    However, also environmental indicators are not universal: for example, local habits which reflect on legislation, show variations with respect to the tolerance of pollution thresholds and other precise aspects. Of landscape indicators, only ecological indicators seem transferable and admit generalizations: the indexes recur (although with many variations) in international literature, and are applied in a wide variety of countries. In reality, it is the interpretation of these indexes that incorporates the “local” point of view, through the knowledge of the expert. Let’s consider the theme of diversity: as a result of its fragmentation, a periurban area may have a high degree of diversity, which depends on the variety of land uses and the length of the perimeters of the patches, but the expert “corrects” the results by applying a landscape quality model, in which the variety is considered good when it consists of patches of a certain type. Methods for estimating the economic value of the landscape also use apparently universal concepts (willingness to pay for a good, attractiveness and recreational value …): it is easy to see that their declination (and measurement ) must allow for models of social behaviour and the locally differentiated use of the space.

  2. 2.

    For example, in the Andalusia map of landscapes, the urban landscapes are included in the indicator “urban and unaltered landscapes”, the presence and growth of which is obviously evaluated negatively (Rodríguez and Villar 2009).

  3. 3.

    Cf., the identification of European landscapes in particular, by Alterra: Mücher et al. (2010).

  4. 4.

    Studies on the theme of “tranquillity” in England for example: the indicator is made up of numerous indexes, with a broad-ranging cognitive base, associated with national Countryside policies (Haggett et al. 2009).

  5. 5.

    The Countryside Quality Counts programme (Natural England et al. 2009), which assessed the changes in English landscape over the periods 1990–1998, 1998–2003; or the AAAMPB studies on landscape perception in The Netherlands, carried out on a representative sample of the national population, to be repeated in the future (Farjon et al. 2009).

  6. 6.

    LANDMAP2 is a model for the analysis of developed landscapes at a European scale on the basis of four parameters focusing on the biophysical characteristics of the landscape: climate, topography, physical characteristics and land use.

  7. 7.

    This is based on the indications of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (CoE, Sofia 1995) and the European Landscape Convention (CoE, Florence 2000).

  8. 8.

    The general aim of the PAIS project is to help identify agro-environmental indicators that can be used by the European Commission for the assessment of policies, as indicated in the documents COM(2000)201 and COM(2001)1442. In this context PAIS develops three sets of indicators relevant to: Landscapes, Agricultural policies and Rural development.

  9. 9.

    In fact it intends to promote a radical simplification of the implementation of policies, through the introduction of a single financing system and by modifying the programming framework, financial management and control for rural development programmes.

  10. 10.

    The National Nature and Biodiversity Thematic Centre (CTN-NEB) is one of the thematic centres set up as part of the Environmental Information and Control System (SINAnet), on the basis of indications from the APAT with the contribution of the Regional environmental agencies, the regional authorities and the authorities of the autonomous provinces. The CTN was established on the legacy of the previous National Nature Conservation Thematic Centre (CTN-CON) updating the information gathered by the same and developing the knowledge.

References

General References and Literature

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Web Sources

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento Interateneo Territorio, Politecnico ed Università di Torino, Viale Pier Andrea Mattioli 39, 10125, Torino, Italy

    Claudia Cassatella

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  1. Claudia Cassatella
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  2. Angioletta Voghera
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Correspondence to Claudia Cassatella .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipto. Interateneo Territorio, Politecnico di Torino, Viale Pier Andrea Mattioli 39, Torino, 10125, Italy

    Claudia Cassatella  & Attilia Peano  & 

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Cassatella, C., Voghera, A. (2011). Indicators Used for Landscape. In: Cassatella, C., Peano, A. (eds) Landscape Indicators. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0366-7_3

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