The role of co-evolutionary development and value change debt in navigating transitioning cultural landscapes: the case of Southern Transylvania

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 �...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental planning and management 2018-05, Vol.61 (5-6), p.800-817
Main Authors: Horcea-Milcu, Andra I., Abson, David J., Dorresteijn, Ine, Loos, Jacqueline, Hanspach, Jan, Fischer, Joern
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cultural factors
Cultural values
Debt
Ecology
Erosion
Interdisciplinary aspects
Interdisciplinary research
Interdisciplinary studies
Interface stability
Land use
Land use management
Landscape
Policy making
Property values
Social values
Sustainability
Value
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0964-0568
1360-0559
DOI:10.1080/09640568.2017.1332985