Transformative change necessitates a profound shift in how people relate to, understand, value and envision landscapes to find effective pathways for conservation science and practice. In response, we examined the relationships among broad values—biospheric, altruistic and egoistic—that work in conjunction with ecological knowledge acquisition and social–ecological contextual factors to explain specific values assigned to landscapes, visions for human–nature relationships and pro-environmental behaviour. We conducted in-person surveys with residents of the Sierra de Guadarrama in central Spain, which is embedded in an extensive network of protected areas. It includes a national park and two biosphere reserves, and it is close to the capital city of Madrid. Our data were analysed using a path model to test a series of hypothesised relationships. Our models revealed that self-transcendence (i.e. biospheric and altruistic) values as well as the combined effects of local and scientific ecological knowledge were positively associated with (i) specific values prioritising ecological aspects and care for nature, but also with multiple relational values with the landscape and some instrumental values focused on the provision of goods; (ii) visions highlighting a prominent role of nature over humans for the surrounding landscape (eco-centric); (iii) and pro-environmental willingness and behaviour. Indirect positive associations included social–ecological factors such as the intensity of experiences with and learning about nature, lower levels of urbanity and the combined effects of age and income. Our results revealed that these are the kinds of values that, in general, newcomers would be more likely to foster. We conclude that inclusive plural valuations aimed at improving nature conservation interventions should consider the roots of how people hold and assign values to landscapes, envision their relationship with nature and vary in their intentions to perform pro-environmental behaviours for leveraging transformative change around protected areas. An integrative and holistic social–ecological systems perspective will improve human–nature relationships in conservation research and practice. We therefore call for more explicit consideration of the combined associations of social–ecological context, broad values and knowledge systems to expand and articulate the multilevel value of interest groups in protected area management contexts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.