The Need to Articulate Historic and Cultural Dimensions of Landscapes in Sustainable Environmental Planning—A Swedish Case Study

Ingegärd Eliasson (), Susanne Fredholm, Igor Knez and Eva Gustavsson
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Ingegärd Eliasson: Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Susanne Fredholm: Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Igor Knez: Department of Occupational Health Science and Psychology, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden
Eva Gustavsson: Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: Ignoring the historic and cultural dimensions of landscapes makes environmental planning unsustainable, which in the long run, will have a negative impact on both the environment and society. This paper examines the work and perceptions of practitioners with a focus on the role of historic and cultural landscape dimensions and their relation to the recent implementation of the ecosystem service framework in sustainable environmental planning. Semi-structured interviews with officials at local and regional planning levels in a Swedish case study showed that the historical landscape forms the basis for environmental work. Respondents expressed an integrated view of the landscape, and historic and cultural landscape dimensions were considered important in the initial planning process. However, several challenges existed later in the planning process and final decision-making, such as conceptual ambiguities, unclear policy and assignments, limited cross-sectorial coordination and lack of awareness, knowledge, resources and other priorities. The results also show that the respondents worked regularly with intangible landscape dimensions, which can be defined as cultural ecosystem services, but they do not label them as such. Furthermore, established knowledge and expertise of heritage planning was not activated in the implementation of the ecosystem service approach. We conclude that historic and cultural landscape dimensions are not ignored in practice, but there is a need to articulate these aspects more clearly in order to achieve sustainable environmental planning. There is also an unexplored opportunity to connect skills and create new forms of cross-sectorial collaboration between heritage planning and the ES approach.

Keywords: cultural heritage; cultural ecosystem services; historic environment; spatial planning; landscape policy; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:11:p:1915-:d:955425

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