TY - JOUR

T1 - The role of co-evolutionary development and value change debt in navigating transitioning cultural landscapes

T2 - the case of Southern Transylvania

AU - Horcea-Milcu, Andra I.

AU - Abson, David J.

AU - Dorresteijn, Ine

AU - Loos, Jacqueline

AU - Hanspach, Jan

AU - Fischer, Joern

PY - 2018/5/12

Y1 - 2018/5/12

N2 - Cultural landscapes and their social–ecological values are threatened by changing lifestyles, policies and land-use practices, making their appropriate management a key sustainability challenge. Drawing on five years of interdisciplinary research in Transylvania, we conceptualise the notion of a ‘landscape interface’ – the intersection between the ecological and social subsystems, which through time, shapes and is shaped by the local value system. The landscape interface is a source of system continuity and stability. In Transylvania, many locals still act according to the value system associated with a disappearing landscape interface, a phenomenon we term a ‘value change debt.’ We argue that the erosion of the old value system, together with the weakening of the landscape interface, threatens sustainability – whereas reconnecting social–ecological feedback and thus strengthening the landscape interface could foster sustainability. The new conceptual perspective proposed here could foster greater understanding of cultural landscapes, including the social dimension of human–environment interactions.

AB - Cultural landscapes and their social–ecological values are threatened by changing lifestyles, policies and land-use practices, making their appropriate management a key sustainability challenge. Drawing on five years of interdisciplinary research in Transylvania, we conceptualise the notion of a ‘landscape interface’ – the intersection between the ecological and social subsystems, which through time, shapes and is shaped by the local value system. The landscape interface is a source of system continuity and stability. In Transylvania, many locals still act according to the value system associated with a disappearing landscape interface, a phenomenon we term a ‘value change debt.’ We argue that the erosion of the old value system, together with the weakening of the landscape interface, threatens sustainability – whereas reconnecting social–ecological feedback and thus strengthening the landscape interface could foster sustainability. The new conceptual perspective proposed here could foster greater understanding of cultural landscapes, including the social dimension of human–environment interactions.

KW - human–nature connection

KW - landscape interface

KW - reconnecting feedback

KW - resilience

KW - social–ecological system

KW - Sustainability Science

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85023209139&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/09640568.2017.1332985

DO - 10.1080/09640568.2017.1332985

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85023209139

VL - 61

SP - 800

EP - 817

JO - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

SN - 0964-0568

IS - 5/6

ER -