2 Landscape Change in Europe
33
2.6 Research Gaps and Ways Forward Towards Landscape
Sustainability
Without fundamental social and economic changes, the demand for natural resources
will multiply in the next few decades. The effects of this growing demand will
intensify current land use trends, increasing the impacts described in the previous
sections. Therefore, one of the greatest sustainability challenges in landscape change
research is to identify strategies that will meet society’s demands without further
threatening and degrading European landscapes and their functioning. In light of this,
a broad array of literature has identified pathways towards tackling the challenges of
landscape change research in Europe and beyond (e.g. Bürgi et al. 2004; Plieninger
et al. 2016). Here, we use our review to summarise the major contributions and derive
key opportunities to make advancements in landscape change science:
• Research for more context-specific, regionalised policymaking (Kuemmerle
et al. 2016). A deeper understanding of the outcomes of land use change for
ecosystem service flows and biodiversity can contribute to mitigating the tradeoffs among different land uses. In that regard, one interesting arena for future
research would be to derive typologies of typical land use changes and the effects
of policy interventions that characterise Europe (e.g. Levers et al. 2015; Kuemmerle et al. 2016). There is also a need for research that advances the study of
landscape stability patterns and the drivers behind these patterns (Plieninger et al.
2016) in the local context, which could be very relevant for landscape management
and policy.
• Uncovering the complexity behind the drivers. Comprehension of the underlying drivers of landscape change remains partial (Jepsen et al. 2015). Landscape
research has traditionally considered the spatial determinants of land use changes
(e.g. topography, soil quality, market access) and land use decisions as separate
items. Future research should incorporate joint analysis that favours an understanding of complex behaviour and the linkages behind the various drivers. In
addition, future studies should acknowledge that the landscape change effects of
different underlying drivers reveal themselves at different time intervals, making
attribution difficult if only short time spans are considered in the analysis (Jepsen
et al. 2015).
• Avoiding oversimplification of the complex realities of the land. Verburg et al.
(2013a) criticised global and supra-regional assessments for oversimplifying the
complex reality of landscapes. In that regard, performing cross-site comparison
studies based on place-based research (e.g. Bürgi et al. 2017) could help scholars
grasp these complex realities behind landscapes. Beyond the spatial scale, another
important gap in landscape change studies is the identification and comprehension
of the diversity of actors and their role in landscape changes (Plieninger et al. 2016;
Kizos et al. 2018). Understanding the inherent complexities of landscape change
imply the incorporation of a plurality of research approaches and of underlying
33
2.6 Research Gaps and Ways Forward Towards Landscape
Sustainability
Without fundamental social and economic changes, the demand for natural resources
will multiply in the next few decades. The effects of this growing demand will
intensify current land use trends, increasing the impacts described in the previous
sections. Therefore, one of the greatest sustainability challenges in landscape change
research is to identify strategies that will meet society’s demands without further
threatening and degrading European landscapes and their functioning. In light of this,
a broad array of literature has identified pathways towards tackling the challenges of
landscape change research in Europe and beyond (e.g. Bürgi et al. 2004; Plieninger
et al. 2016). Here, we use our review to summarise the major contributions and derive
key opportunities to make advancements in landscape change science:
• Research for more context-specific, regionalised policymaking (Kuemmerle
et al. 2016). A deeper understanding of the outcomes of land use change for
ecosystem service flows and biodiversity can contribute to mitigating the tradeoffs among different land uses. In that regard, one interesting arena for future
research would be to derive typologies of typical land use changes and the effects
of policy interventions that characterise Europe (e.g. Levers et al. 2015; Kuemmerle et al. 2016). There is also a need for research that advances the study of
landscape stability patterns and the drivers behind these patterns (Plieninger et al.
2016) in the local context, which could be very relevant for landscape management
and policy.
• Uncovering the complexity behind the drivers. Comprehension of the underlying drivers of landscape change remains partial (Jepsen et al. 2015). Landscape
research has traditionally considered the spatial determinants of land use changes
(e.g. topography, soil quality, market access) and land use decisions as separate
items. Future research should incorporate joint analysis that favours an understanding of complex behaviour and the linkages behind the various drivers. In
addition, future studies should acknowledge that the landscape change effects of
different underlying drivers reveal themselves at different time intervals, making
attribution difficult if only short time spans are considered in the analysis (Jepsen
et al. 2015).
• Avoiding oversimplification of the complex realities of the land. Verburg et al.
(2013a) criticised global and supra-regional assessments for oversimplifying the
complex reality of landscapes. In that regard, performing cross-site comparison
studies based on place-based research (e.g. Bürgi et al. 2017) could help scholars
grasp these complex realities behind landscapes. Beyond the spatial scale, another
important gap in landscape change studies is the identification and comprehension
of the diversity of actors and their role in landscape changes (Plieninger et al. 2016;
Kizos et al. 2018). Understanding the inherent complexities of landscape change
imply the incorporation of a plurality of research approaches and of underlying