Landscape Dimensions

As a key element of individual and social well-being and quality of life, landscape plays an important part in human fulfilment and in reinforcement of European identity. Adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the European Landscape Convention aims to promote the protection, management and planning of landscapes, and to organise international co-operation in this field. It applies to the entire territory of the contracting parties and covers natural, rural, urban and peri-urban areas. It concerns landscapes considered outstanding, as well as everyday or degraded areas. Certain “dimensions” of the landscape are presented in this publication, which addresses key issues for its future, including democracy, education, economy, leisure and advertising. Landscape management processes – and even the term “landscape” itself – are also analysed. This book forms part of a process of reflection on the major themes concerning the living environment.

In this book, the authors discuss the effects that temporal changes in resources have on animal populations. The chapters address the idea of current as well as historical temporal influences on resource availability, quality, and distribution. The authors draw attention to the neglected temporal issues so important to understanding species and community responses. International contributions enable worldwide application of the theories.

Offers planners a practical guide to achieving balance between general planning standards, parameters for different types of open space, and the particular use-related requirements of the specific planning task..Compiles and summarizes dimensions, measurements and threshold values that are crucial to the decision-making process in designing a space.

Designing the outdoor environment is a complex process. Landscape architects must take into account various factors such as space, distance and movement. This volume is a practical reference work for students as well as professionals. It provides all the key dimensions for vertical planning, vegetation and public spaces – everything one needs to design functional and use-specific landscapes.

The European Landscape is under stress of changing land use and a changing attitude of its users. Globalization, the disappearance of the iron curtain and the recent EU enlargement to 25 countries have changed the economic and environmental dimensions of Europe. Europe is changing its face from a western and eastern part to one European Union and to fast connections between its centres of activity. The rural and cultural heritage of Europe has to be adapted to cope with this change. However, its landscape is worth to be conserved as well, because it represents the European history in the same way as castles and churches. It even more represents the history of the common people, because it has been the tradition of the rural population that made these landscapes. It cannot be prevented that Europe is changing and it is good that Europe adapts to the new dimensions of the world. We, in Europe, have to define what we think is important and what must be conserved, what can be adapted to be used for new functions and what can be abolished because it has no value. These decisions will determine the new dimensions of the European landscapes. The Frontis Workshop on the New Dimensions of the European Landscape was held on 10-12 June 2002. Wageningen University and Research Centre organized this workshop aiming to develop visions on the landscape in Europe, its development and design in the future and to strengthen the international network in landscape planning.

As a key element of individual and social well-being and quality of life, landscape plays an important part in human fulfilment and in reinforcement of European identity. Adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the European Landscape Convention aims to promote the protection, management and planning of landscapes, and to organise international co-operation in this field. It applies to the entire territory of the contracting parties and covers natural, rural, urban and peri-urban areas. It concerns landscapes considered outstanding, as well as everyday or degraded areas. Certain “dimensions” of the landscape are presented in this publication, which addresses key issues for its future, including democracy, education, economy, leisure and advertising. Landscape management processes – and even the term “landscape” itself – are also analysed. This book forms part of a process of reflection on the major themes concerning the living environment.

Studies the design of various cities around the world, its effect on the inhabitants, and how cities' environments can be improved

In the summer of 2003, a workshop was held in Portsmouth, NH, to discuss land measurement techniques for the North American Carbon Program. Over 40 sci- tists representing government agencies, academia and nonprofit research organi- tions located in Canada, the US and Mexico participated. During the course of the workshop a number of topics were discussed, with an emphasis on the following: • The need for an intermediate tier of carbon measurements. This level of study would be more extensive than state-level inventories of the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, but less detailed than intensive ecos- tem studies sites such as those in Long Term Ecological Research network. This tier would ideally provide a basis to link and scale remote sensing measurements and inventory data, and supply data required to parameterize existing models (see Wofsy and Harriss 2002, Denning et al. 2005). • The design criteria that such a network of sites should meet. The network and s- pling design should be standardized, but flexible enough to be applied across North America. The design also needs to be efficient enough to be implemented without the need for large field crews, yet robust enough to provide useful information. Finally, the spatial scale must permit easy linkage to remotely sensed data. • The key variables that should be measured at each site, and the frequency of measurement.