Chapter 2
Landscape Change in Europe
María García-Martín, Cristina Quintas-Soriano, Mario Torralba,
Franziska Wolpert, and Tobias Plieninger
Abstract The study of the evolution and change of landscapes’ ecological conditions through history has fascinated professional and amateur scientists for centuries.
However, the understanding of why these changes happen and what these changes
fully entail is still an emerging field of research, which nowadays broadly covers
the study of the evolution of landscapes as complex social-ecological systems. This
field has become particularly relevant in the current context of rapid global change,
widespread environmental degradation and increasing land use conflicts, as an important source of information to facilitate sustainable landscape management. In this
chapter, we provide an overview of the current state of landscape change research
in Europe and of the main findings and methodological challenges therein. These
methodological challenges are bound up with the complex, dynamic and interlinked
nature of landscapes, which require co-designed approaches that combine different
perspectives, such as quantitative analysis with participatory approaches, and that
capture diverse spatial and temporal scales. Together, these make it possible to
achieve a comprehensive understanding of past changes and future trajectories.
Keywords Land use and land cover change · Intensification · Abandonment ·
Drivers of change · Transdisciplinary approaches
M. García-Martín · T. Plieninger (B)
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, University of Göttingen, Platz
der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
e-mail: plieninger@uni-kassel.de
M. García-Martín
e-mail: maria.garcia-martin@uni-goettingen.de
C. Quintas-Soriano · M. Torralba · F. Wolpert · T. Plieninger
Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Steinstr. 19, 37213 Witzenhausen,
Germany
e-mail: cristina.quintas@uni-kassel.de
M. Torralba
e-mail: mario.torralba@uni-kassel.de
F. Wolpert
e-mail: franziska.wolpert@uni-kassel.de
© The Author(s) 2021
T. Weith et al. (eds.), Sustainable Land Management in a European Context,
Human-Environment Interactions 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50841-8_2
17
Landscape Change in Europe
María García-Martín, Cristina Quintas-Soriano, Mario Torralba,
Franziska Wolpert, and Tobias Plieninger
Abstract The study of the evolution and change of landscapes’ ecological conditions through history has fascinated professional and amateur scientists for centuries.
However, the understanding of why these changes happen and what these changes
fully entail is still an emerging field of research, which nowadays broadly covers
the study of the evolution of landscapes as complex social-ecological systems. This
field has become particularly relevant in the current context of rapid global change,
widespread environmental degradation and increasing land use conflicts, as an important source of information to facilitate sustainable landscape management. In this
chapter, we provide an overview of the current state of landscape change research
in Europe and of the main findings and methodological challenges therein. These
methodological challenges are bound up with the complex, dynamic and interlinked
nature of landscapes, which require co-designed approaches that combine different
perspectives, such as quantitative analysis with participatory approaches, and that
capture diverse spatial and temporal scales. Together, these make it possible to
achieve a comprehensive understanding of past changes and future trajectories.
Keywords Land use and land cover change · Intensification · Abandonment ·
Drivers of change · Transdisciplinary approaches
M. García-Martín · T. Plieninger (B)
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, University of Göttingen, Platz
der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
e-mail: plieninger@uni-kassel.de
M. García-Martín
e-mail: maria.garcia-martin@uni-goettingen.de
C. Quintas-Soriano · M. Torralba · F. Wolpert · T. Plieninger
Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Steinstr. 19, 37213 Witzenhausen,
Germany
e-mail: cristina.quintas@uni-kassel.de
M. Torralba
e-mail: mario.torralba@uni-kassel.de
F. Wolpert
e-mail: franziska.wolpert@uni-kassel.de
© The Author(s) 2021
T. Weith et al. (eds.), Sustainable Land Management in a European Context,
Human-Environment Interactions 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50841-8_2
17