Search

Agricultural heritage systems are receiving increasing attention due to their multifunctional role, their capability to provide ecosystem services, and for representing sustainable development models for rural areas. At the international level, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations launched in 2002 the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Program to identify and safeguard traditional agro-silvo-pastoral systems that are the result of the adaptation of rural communities to the surrounding environments. Following this approach, similar national programs have been developed, among which the Italian National Register of Historical Rural Landscapes and the China Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (China-NIAHS) initiative stand out. This research compares the China-NIAHS initiative and the Italian Register of Historical Rural Landscapes, highlighting similarities and differences and identifying strengths and weaknesses, to contribute to the development of proper tools for the conservation and valorization of agricultural heritage systems. Both initiatives were established in 2012 and share similar aims and inscription criteria, including historical and current significance, knowledge system and social structure, economic and productive framework, and causes of vulnerability. The main differences are related to the delimitation of the boundaries of the proposed sites and to the inscription process; in addition, while for the Italian National Register spatial analyses of land-use changes and landscape structure are mandatory according to a precise methodology, for the China-NIAHS no specific landscape analyses are required. The main critical issues are the lack of public participation and the lack of a monitoring plan after the inscription. The absence of monitoring is also the main vulnerability of the FAO GIAHS Programme. This research can offer important information for different stakeholders at the international, national, and local levels dealing with agricultural heritage conservation and valorization. In particular, it highlights the need of developing a multidisciplinary monitoring system with a standard methodology based on different indicators that can contribute to maximizing the impact of these initiatives. This research also provides useful information for the countries that are interested in developing a national initiative for agricultural heritage systems' identification and valorization/conservation or for countries that intend to improve their national programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research concerns the issue of landscape risk due to the progressive spread of construction in rural areas through the creation of a "site-specific" analysis and evaluation model and its application to the context of the municipal area of Noto (Italy). The phenomenon of construction in rural areas was facilitated by the regulatory evolution of the Sicilian Region, which supported the construction of artifacts in agricultural areas to boost cultivation and production, but which, for the most part, was intended for seasonal residential use. In particular, the municipal territory of Noto is characterized by remarkable landscape values, including very low building density, large portions of the territory remaining almost uncontaminated, and the widespread presence of cultural and ethno-anthropological assets. Consequently, the demand for localization in rural areas, now also driven by the tendency to decongest dense urban areas in order to contain the effects of the pandemic, is a phenomenon that must be countered, on the one hand, and addressed and regulated on the other. The objective of this study is to provide the local administration with a planning tool to determine permissible interventions in various areas of the landscape context. This has guided the process of representing the phenomenon in quantitative and spatial terms, and of evaluating the territory targeted. A large set of data, coordinated in a hierarchical set of indices by means of a multidimensional valuation approach, allows us to provide an orderly and robust representation of the resilience of the landscape at risk from building pressure while considering multiple perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural landscape can provide a wide range of cultural ecosystem services to humans through direct and in situ interactions. The benefits provided depend on the quality of the landscape, but also on the real possibility for people to access and enjoy it. One of the best ways is to do it in a "slow" way, namely active and non-motorized, through a soft mobility network. The goals of the study are: (i) to develop a methodology to plan a soft mobility network that enhances existing infrastructures and maximizes the cultural ecosystem services provided by rural landscapes; (ii) to validate the methodology in the Alto Ferrarese territory through defining a soft mobility masterplan at the supra-municipal scale. The method is made up of three phases: analysis, with the inventory of the resources to be connected and the paths that could potentially be used; assessment, with the evaluation of the suitability of the paths to realize the soft mobility network; and planning, with the definition of the masterplan for the study area. The application resulted in a proposed network of 525.2 km, hierarchized in a primary and a secondary network, and proved that the methodology is effective to maximize the use of existing paths (81% of the proposed network), and to connect the elements of interest (98.5% of the resources are within a distance of 500 m, and 86.4% within a distance of 100 m). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-chronological examination of territory using GIScience and historical cartography may reveal a strategic tool for investigating changes in land use and the surrounding landscape structure. In this framework, the soil plays a key role in ecosystem evolution, since it governs all the mechanisms at the basis of vegetal growth, as well as all components of the total environment contributing to the formation of a rural landscape, including the balance of carbon dioxide. The present study was developed using a GIS approach applied to historical maps and aims to assess the environmental impact of land-use change, with particular attention to its effects on agricultural soil and atmospheric carbon dioxide balance. Thanks to a comparison between historical cartographic maps of different periods, this geospatial approach has enabled the assessment of the evolution of the rural land of the study area in the municipality of Ruoti (Basilicata Region—Southern Italy). This area, indeed, has been affected by deep land-use transformations, mainly caused by agricultural activities, with a resulting impact on the atmospheric CO2 balance. These transformations have been analyzed and quantified in order to contribute to the understanding on how the changes in land use for agricultural purposes have led to unforeseen changes in the rural landscape, ecosystems and the environment. The results showed that the greatest changes in land use were caused by the abandonment of large rural areas, resulting in the expansion of urban areas, a decrease in orchard and arable land (about less 25%), and an increase in woodland (more than 30%). These changes have resulted in a doubling in soil carbon fixation value. The final results have therefore confirmed that historical cartography within a GIS approach may decisively offer information useful for more sustainable agricultural activities, so as to reduce their negative contribution to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Evaluation of olive landscape changes since WWII. • Remote sensing and aerial imagery to classify and quantify landscape pattern changes. • Analysis of the diversified landscape spatial units to the sub-units. • Evaluation of intensity of landscape transformation by landscape metrics. • Prospects of the existing olive landscapes and evolutionary features. This research examines the evolution of olive landscapes in Cartoceto, Italy, post-World War II. This study investigates the structural and functional attributes of two distinct olive cultivation models, mixed olive groves with a low tree density and high-density olive groves. The research employs remote sensing aerial imagery and land use cartography to reconstruct the past terrain and classify distinct categories of olive orchards. Landscape metrics are utilised to evaluate the impact of human and natural factors on the temporal development of olive landscapes across multiple spatial configurations, defined as Landscape-scale and sub-units or Landscape Units. The results indicate that olive landscapes have experienced noteworthy alterations, characterised by a reduction in the conventional large-scale system and an increase in specialised planting models of smaller sizes, classified as "high intensity". The region surrounding Cartoceto's historic centre has conserved a greater variety of mixed olive heritage and has witnessed the emergence of novel high densities of trees compared to other areas. Obtaining these results has been facilitated solely by utilising diverse spatial configurations of smaller sub-units than the entire landscape. The outcomes of this investigation provide a foundation for forthcoming enquiries into olive terrains and the development of sustainable rural landscape strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The indication of the food origin is one of the most important tools to ensure the protection of consumers and farmers. It is also very important to maintain and enhance rural landscape, especially in Italy and within agri-food productions with geographical indications. The strong link in terms of identity and culture between the territory and these products, a heritage preserved by farmers from generation to generation, is apparently intangible, but actually, it emerges in the fields configuration and in the traditional landscape features. Supporting agri-food production with deep territorial and cultural origins, means promoting a model anchored in local economies and rural communities. However, the risk of losing this heritage is still real, especially in our country and despite the several tools of protection and promotion in the agri-food sector. In this paper, the author shows the authenticity of the link between landscape and agri-food products through the analysis of a Piedmont case and the spatial analysis of the geographical context and territorial relationship (protection, naturalness, visual integrity and accessibility). In addition, the paper suggests some technical and political issues that can contribute to the debate on the heritage integrated vision, considered also as a potential lever of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apparent features of a rural landscape are the final result of the interaction among several natural and anthropic factors. The analysis of a landscape, as well as the identification of its best management strategies, can be improved when useful information about its modifications along a wide time period is available, so as to assess the effect of the transformations that have taken place there. The implementation within a geographic information system (GIS) of geographical information derived from ancient historical maps, combined with modern digital cartography and recent remote sensing images may provide a very powerful tool for a better-informed analysis and targeted decision-making strategies about the most appropriate rural landscape planning. With the purpose to detect the land use changes in a typical rural landscape in the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy), spatial analysis using free and open-source GIS tools, in which data covering a period of about two centuries, from 1829 to 2017, were implemented. This multi-temporal analysis was carried out to investigate the landscape structure transformations through the assessment of land use change and the implementation of a methodology for the identification of areas in which there has been a natural evolution of the rural landscape. Then, using landscape metrics and spatial analysis tools, some areas in which the landscape has naturally evolved without any anthropic intervention during these 188 years have been identified, and changes occurred on the rural landscape were assessed quantitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural landscape is undergoing rapid changes, and catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, can speed up this mutation, bringing to a loss of its traditional signs. In May 2012, two strong seismic events hit the Emilia Romagna region, in northern Italy. Those earthquakes caused several damages and collapses to historical rural buildings, highlighting their high seismic vulnerability. In this paper, damages and collapses collected in the aftermath surveys on 22 rural historical buildings, are presented and commented. It was observed that in the area hit by the earthquake few recurrent typologies are present, and buildings of the same typology showed similar damage mechanisms. Therefore, in order to define the most typical damages affecting rural constructions, the building stock has been classified in different categories, based on plan distribution and intended use of each building. The first criterion suggests considering isolated and composed buildings. The second separates the structures in dwellings for residential use, stable-haylofts and buildings used for other minor services. The outcomes presented in this paper allowed to identify the rural building typologies most vulnerable to earthquakes and to define recurring deficiencies for the various categories. In general, the main reasons of the collapses can be ascribed to lack of effective connections between orthogonal walls, poor connections between floor elements and walls, and excessive flexibility of floor diaphragms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses, with reference to the landscape, a precise request of the EU to quantify the benefits of public expenditure in agriculture. It analyses the implications on rural landscape of some measures of the Common Agricultural Policy at a regional level, taking the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2007-2013 of the Veneto Region, in north-eastern Italy, as case study. A choice experiment (CE) is applied to value four measures of the RDP that directly affect the landscape characteristics. The CE results point out that the landscape benefits of the measures in the Veneto RDP are higher than the subsidies paid to farmers for the provision of services that improve landscape quality. The CE results suggest the opportunity to rethink the distribution of the subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay describes how a heterogeneous set of data can become a planning tool for understanding and sharing information with public institutions and stakeholders; in particular the article refers to an integrated approach to surveying rural buildings heritage in the City of Volpiano (a small town close to Turin, Italy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work reports the findings of an investigation by Etna’s local councils whose publicly owned land has high concentrations of particularly significant towers. The towers are original stone constructions, presumed to have been built between the end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 1900s and so are unrelated to medieval towers, emblems of ancient yet sophisticated building techniques and located in numerous agricultural areas on the slopes of Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano. They are built out of the stones removed from the agricultural land of the soils regenerated from the lava flows wedged in between basalt outcrops. Together with other stone artefacts, they form part of a renewable heritage of great value both for their recognised role in maintaining biodiversity as well as for their cultural, landscape and historical significance. These constructions are in a state of extreme abandonment or are gradually disappearing due to the loss of agriculture or the changeover of agricultural land into building sites. The enquiry used historical documents, censuses of tower characteristics and field data. Four council zones were identified and in each only clearly identifiable towers were considered (total: 19). The field data highlighted considerable architectural complexity in their proportions and construction techniques. Their historico-cultural-landscape validity was confirmed as was the necessity of appropriate and urgent state intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the shared knowledge held by a rural population of the ecosystem services supplied by rural landscapes and woods in the Rome Province of Italy. It is part of a wider research initiative conducted to estimate the non-use values of the same ecosystem services elicited through the contingent valuation method. Our findings demonstrate that: (i) most of the information on ecosystem services comes from a deep-seated community shared knowledge; (ii) some gaps exist between official (scientific/normative) and shared knowledge in the study site; and (iii) stated economic preferences are driven by both consequential motivations, as predicted by the standard economic model, as well as some others. Making explicit the motivational framework behind environmental economic estimates allows one to represent the socio-cultural legacy indispensable for providing a monetary value useful to inform public decision and policies. The use of this approach could contribute to the development of payment for ecosystem services schemes in rural policies affecting common goods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Landscape changes during the last two centuries were analysed, comparing two rural areas of about 5000 ha at the interface between the Alps and the Po plain (north-west Italy). Two centuries ago the areas were both set within a rural context. In the last few decades one of the two (15 km from Torino) has become mainly residential. The comparison has been made using ancient cadastral maps focused on land use which date back to the eighteenth century (Napoleonic cadastre) and recent land-use maps based on aerial photographs. The comparison highlights that changes of socio-economic frames determine different rural landscape dynamics in spite of geomorphologic similarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Only a few decades have passed since when in Italy spatial planning considered the countryside as an indistinct “blank space” only deserving marginal attentions. At the same time it is well known that the outcomes of the spatial and economic planning systems developed and tested over the past decades have been showing their critical poor suitability compared to the complexity of the socioeconomic system, which calls for specific planning policies, differentiated according to the various features, vocations, expressions and attitudes of the countryside. Therefore, the rural space experienced a long time after urban areas the use of specific spatial planning criteria aimed at a well-ordered, efficient, and sustainable development and a better quality of the settlement system, crucial issues which still wait for thorough and final answers. Moreover, the following issues have become more and more topical: the importance of defining specific planning policies for rural areas, and the need to go beyond the identification of zones to be intended for a specific and homogeneous type of development, by carrying out an ever more focussed and proper classification of rural areas. This paper reports the results of a critical discussion about the above-mentioned themes. The work is part of a broader research dealing with the development of a research model aimed to define a new idea of “spatial units”, meant as analytical and design tools suitable to support syntheses of land-use, economic, agricultural, and landscape planning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurales is the property of Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• Land use pattern over 138 years to identify ecological and anthropic dynamics of rural landscape. • GIS and historical cartography to define rural landscape and its influence on environmental aspects. • Analysis of naturalness degree, landscape diversity, visual quality of visible landscape. • Multi-temporal and multidisciplinary analysis to study rural landscape. • Methodology to restore, monitor and manage ecosystems, integrating human and natural components. A rural landscape is the result of the interaction among natural elements and human activities which takes place in time and space. It represents a non-renewable resource that can provide incomparable information on the general state of the environment. The rapid transformations that are taking place in the last century push towards the implementation of monitoring actions able to take into account the various components of the land use, including their concurrent time evolution as well. We performed an analysis of temporal transformations of a rural landscape using an open-source GIS approach that allowed for mainstreaming of the main features of this rural landscape, i.e. land use patterns, naturalness dynamics, landscape diversity and visual quality. These four parameters have been selected since they represent those which most affect the processes at the base of the environmental planning and management of a rural landscape. The survey has been carried out over a period of 138 years, using historical maps, interpretation of aerial photos and implementing digital cartography, that have been retrieved with reference to a study area located in the Basilicata Region (southern Italy), which is considered a territory with an high rural – i.e., both natural and agricultural - landscape value. This methodology has allowed for the examination of the landscape from different points of view, experimenting the performance of a multi-temporal and inter-disciplinary analysis. The main results show – since the landscape has been completely transformed by man in terms of land use – that the areas covered in the past by forest have been transformed into agricultural areas, as opposed to some areas where re-naturalisation processes have taken place. Starting from this first analysis, the implemented methodology, based on a multidisciplinary approach, has enabled to identify the transformations which have greatly influenced the time evolution of the study area. The resulted assessment of land use patterns, landscape diversity, naturalness dynamics and visual quality of this study area, thus enables suitable strategies for the restoration of the local rural ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]