TY - JOUR

T1 - Perceived contributions of multifunctional landscapes to human well-being: Evidence from 13 European sites

AU - Fagerholm, Nora

AU - Martín-López, Berta

AU - Torralba, Mario

AU - Oteros-Rozas, Elisa

AU - Lechner, Alex M.

AU - Bieling, Claudia

AU - Stahl Olafsson, Anton

AU - Albert, Christian

AU - Raymond, Christopher M.

AU - Garcia-Martin, Maria

AU - Gulsrud, Natalie

AU - Plieninger, Tobias

N1 - We would like to thank the residents in our study areas for participating in the survey. We also acknowledge the contributions of M. Azevedo Coutinho, I. Balsa da Silva, J. Bódis, V. Caudon, A. Dind, F. Franchella, P. Francon‐Smith, E. Galanou, S. García‐de‐Jalón, J.M. Giralt Rueda, M. Horváth, Q. Louviot, K. Mantzanas, J. Palma, G. Petrucco, A. Sidiropoulou and A. Teixeira to the survey data collection. We acknowledge funding through Grant 613520 from the European Commission (Project AGFORWARD, 7th Framework Program). N. Fagerholm's contribution was funded through the Academy of Finland (grant 321555) and E. Oteros‐Rozas' through Andalucia Talent Hub REVERDEA (EU MC‐IF and Andalusian Regional Government), International Campus of Excellence on Environment, Biodiversity and Global Change. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. People and Nature published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society

PY - 2020/3/1

Y1 - 2020/3/1

N2 - Multifunctional landscapes provide critical benefits and are essential for human well-being. The relationship between multifunctional landscapes and well-being has mostly been studied using ecosystem services as a linkage. However, there is a challenge of concretizing what human well-being exactly is and how it can be measured, particularly in relation to ecosystem services, landscape values and related discussions. In this paper, we measure self-reported well-being through applying an inductive free-listing approach to the exploration of the relationships between landscape multifunctionality and human well-being across 13 rural and peri-urban sites in Europe. We developed a face-to-face online survey (n = 2,301 respondents) integrating subjective perceptions of well-being (free-listing method) with mapping perceived ecosystem service benefits (Public Participation GIS, PPGIS approach). Applying content analysis and diverse statistical methods, we explore the links between well-being (i.e. perceived well-being items such as tranquillity, social relations and health) and social-ecological properties (i.e. respondents' sociocultural characteristics and perception of ecosystem service benefits). We identify 40 different well-being items highlighting prominently landscape values. The items form five distinct clusters: access to services; tranquillity and social capital; health and nature; cultural landscapes; and place attachment. Each cluster is related to specific study sites and explained by certain social-ecological properties. Results of our inductive approach further specify pre-defined conceptualizations on well-being and their connections to the natural environment. Results suggest that the well-being contributions of multifunctional landscapes are connected to therapeutic well-being effects, which are largely neglected in the ecosystem services literature. Our results further point to the context-specific character of linkages between landscapes and human well-being. The clusters highlight that landscape-supported well-being is related to multiple interlinked items that can inform collective visions of well-being in the future. For landscape planning and management, we highlight the need for place-specific analysis and consideration of perceptions of local people to identify the contributions to their well-being. Future research would benefit from considering the experiential qualities of value and well-being as they relate to direct experiences with the landscape and wider psychological needs, specifically over time. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

AB - Multifunctional landscapes provide critical benefits and are essential for human well-being. The relationship between multifunctional landscapes and well-being has mostly been studied using ecosystem services as a linkage. However, there is a challenge of concretizing what human well-being exactly is and how it can be measured, particularly in relation to ecosystem services, landscape values and related discussions. In this paper, we measure self-reported well-being through applying an inductive free-listing approach to the exploration of the relationships between landscape multifunctionality and human well-being across 13 rural and peri-urban sites in Europe. We developed a face-to-face online survey (n = 2,301 respondents) integrating subjective perceptions of well-being (free-listing method) with mapping perceived ecosystem service benefits (Public Participation GIS, PPGIS approach). Applying content analysis and diverse statistical methods, we explore the links between well-being (i.e. perceived well-being items such as tranquillity, social relations and health) and social-ecological properties (i.e. respondents' sociocultural characteristics and perception of ecosystem service benefits). We identify 40 different well-being items highlighting prominently landscape values. The items form five distinct clusters: access to services; tranquillity and social capital; health and nature; cultural landscapes; and place attachment. Each cluster is related to specific study sites and explained by certain social-ecological properties. Results of our inductive approach further specify pre-defined conceptualizations on well-being and their connections to the natural environment. Results suggest that the well-being contributions of multifunctional landscapes are connected to therapeutic well-being effects, which are largely neglected in the ecosystem services literature. Our results further point to the context-specific character of linkages between landscapes and human well-being. The clusters highlight that landscape-supported well-being is related to multiple interlinked items that can inform collective visions of well-being in the future. For landscape planning and management, we highlight the need for place-specific analysis and consideration of perceptions of local people to identify the contributions to their well-being. Future research would benefit from considering the experiential qualities of value and well-being as they relate to direct experiences with the landscape and wider psychological needs, specifically over time. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

KW - ecosystem services

KW - free listing

KW - human well-being

KW - landscape planning

KW - multifunctional landscapes

KW - PPGIS

KW - quality of life

KW - self-reported well-being

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Environmental planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088936421&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/pan3.10067

DO - 10.1002/pan3.10067

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 2

SP - 217

EP - 234

JO - People and Nature

JF - People and Nature

SN - 2575-8314

IS - 1

ER -