Anna M. Hersperger

Driving forces of landscape change - current and new directions

The concept of driving forces is gaining increasing attention in landscape-change research. We summarize the state of the art of this field and present new conceptual and methodological directions for the study of driving forces of landscape changes. These new directions address four major challenges faced by landscape-change studies, i.e., studying processes and not merely spatial patterns, extrapolating results in space and time, linking data of different qualities, and considering culture as a driver of landscape change. The proposed research directions include: studying landscape change across borders and transects, focusing on persistence as well as change, investigating rates of change, considering attractors of landscape change, targeting correlation and causality, and searching for precursors of landscape change. Based on established knowledge and the new approaches we outline a standard procedure to study driving forces of landscape change. We anticipate that our analytical and systematic approach increases the relevance of studies of landscape change for science as well as for the solution of real world problems.

Linking Land Change with Driving Forces and Actors: Four Conceptual Models

Models in land change research are often chosen arbitrarily based on practical rather than theoretical considerations. More specifically, research on land change is often based on a research framework with three crucial elements - driving forces, actors, and land change - in an ad hoc and case- specific configuration. The lack of solid and widely applicable concepts about the conceptual link between these three elements can negatively affect individual research projects and hamper communication and generalizations beyond the individual project. We present four basic models for linking land change with driving forces and actors. These models are illustrated with examples from the research literature. Based on the main characteristics of the models and practical considerations, we propose guidelines for choosing among the four models for specific studies. More generally, we want to raise awareness that land change research is especially demanding with respect to conceptual backgrounds and that conceptual considerations will help improve the scientific quality of individual studies as well as their potential contribution towards generic theories of land change.

How Do Policies Shape Landscapes? Landscape Change and its Political Driving Forces in the Limmat Valley, Switzerland 1930–2000

Abstract Over the past few decades, urbanization, agricultural intensification, and greening have enormously changed the traditional cultural landscape of the study area in the Swiss lowlands. The aim of this research is to quantify the importance of political driving forces, to identify the most important ones, and to describe the landscape changes associated with them. The landscape changes were quantified based on the comparison of historical maps and driving forces were compiled and linked with changes based on document analysis and expert interviews. We found that political driving forces contributed 26% to landscape change. Landscape changes such as new roads and buildings, changes in the agricultural and forestry network, the loss of elements of the traditional agricultural landscape, new solitary trees, and new roadside slopes have been associated with political driving forces. Though many political driving forces shaped the landscape, depending on the question, a few crucial ones might be appropriate for understanding and managing many aspects of landscape change.

Actors, Decisions and Policy Changes in Local Urbanization

ABSTRACT Land-use policies have long been recognized as important driving forces of urbanization, but little research has been conducted on the interrelationship of actors, policy decision processes and changes in the built environment. In this paper, we use the advocacy coalition framework to analyse policy decisions that affected the development of the built environment in three Swiss municipalities between 1970 and 2007. We found that all three municipalities experienced the same major policy changes, namely a new definition of the role of urban management (1970s); the adoption of an environment- and problem-oriented approach in land-use planning (1980s) as well as an increased emphasis on public participation and intra-municipal coordination (1990s). Although national laws and actors have shaped the crucial driving forces of urban change, local actors, their coalitions and the local distribution of resources crucially determined these decisions in the study period. Our findings suggest that a stronger focus on local actors, their coalitions and resources could greatly improve our understanding of spatial development processes in Switzerland. For instance, as land ownership turned out to be a crucial resource, Swiss municipalities could benefit from engaging more actively in the land market.

Using the past to understand the present land use and land cover

Landscapes must be understood as dynamic time-dependent entities rather than static associscapes, oral, written, (carto-)graphic and ecological sources can be used. Combinations of these sources usually provide reliable historical information, if based on a critical analysis of the quality and background of the data, including cross-checking information from the different data sources. The general public, planners, politicians, land managers, ecological modelers, and restoration ecologists are just some of the potential users of landscape history.

Implementing comprehensive plans: indicators for a task-sheet based performance evaluation process

Evaluation in spatial planning aims to raise effectiveness of plans as well as efficiency in planning processes. Given that research regarding evaluation of performance and especially plan implementation is sparse, this study presents a minimal set of indicators for a task-sheet based performance evaluation approach for Swiss cantonal comprehensive plans. Thematic task-sheets are a promising characteristic of cantonal comprehensive plans. They translate the comprehensive planning strategy into concrete evaluable tasks. The presented indicators allow assessing procedural efficiency of coordination and implementation of planning tasks (performance). We argue that if task-sheets comply with certain plan quality characteristics, a task-sheet based performance evaluation approach can support the effectiveness of plans and promote the objectives of the planning strategy. We point out plan content and characteristics necessary for effective execution of our approach. As a result, our findings can serve as a framework for designing evaluation processes for comprehensive planning documents beyond Switzerland.

Impact of planning mandates on local plans: a multi-method assessment

ABSTRACT An increasing number of subnational government bodies mandate municipalities to establish a vision for their future development with a local plan. Outside the U.S., few studies have assessed whether these mandates succeed at increasing formal quality, policy focus and implementation of local plans. In addition, the reasons that prompt governments to impose mandates remain unclear. To tackle these issues, we used a multi-method approach combining interviews, plan content analysis and questionnaires to compare mandated and voluntary planning in Switzerland. Our analysis reveals that mandates only have limited impact on local plans. In particular, they do not produce higher quality plans than voluntary planning and do not improve implementation of policies. Our results may imply that (a) planning mandates from subnational governments are ineffective in general or (b) Swiss mandates in particular entail too few requirements and enforcement mechanisms to show a clear effect. Further studies could explore this issue empirically by comparing the characteristics of different planning mandates and assessing their effect on the quality and implementation of local plans. Alternatively, future research efforts could also examine how to find a compromise between mandated and voluntary planning in order to increase local commitment towards plan making.

Visualizing Planning Intentions: From Heterogeneous Information to Maps

The future development of urban regions is frequently envisioned through strategic spatial plans. The main objectives and means of spatial development contained in these documents, called planning intentions, can be fragmented and are commonly presented throughout the planning document in text, graphs, tables, diagrams, and maps. Presentation of the information rarely allows for clear visualization of each planning intention and of how the synthesis of all planning intentions builds an overall spatial development strategy. In this paper, we present a method to translate planning intentions into maps in order to better understand their spatiality. Focusing on the case study of Copenhagen, we conduct an analysis of the content of the urban region’s latest strategic spatial plan (i.e., the Fingerplan 2013) in order to identify the main planning intentions. For each of these planning intentions, we systematically collect all information contained in the plan, such as details on location, extent, and fuzziness. We then transform the main planning intentions into pixel-based maps to visualize the planning intentions. Finally, a map of the composite planning intention is presented. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the spatiality of strategic planning.

Response to “On the appropriate use of QCA in environmental management research: A comment on Hossu et al.” by Ide

1Centre for Environmental Research and Impact Studies, University of Bucharest, Nicolae Balcescu 1, 010041, Bucharest, Romania 2Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Avenue 77, Cambridge, MA 02139, Unites States of America 3Swiss Federal Research Institute of Forest, Snow and Landscape, Landscape Dynamics, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland