Terraced Landscapes Regeneration in the Perspective of the Circular Economy

Antonia Gravagnuolo and Mauro Varotto
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Antonia Gravagnuolo: CNR IRISS Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development, National Research Council, 80134 Napoli, Italy
Mauro Varotto: Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World-DiSSGeA, University of Padova, 35123 Padova, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: Terraced landscapes were for centuries forms of sustainable and multifunctional land management, results of a long and intimate relationship between peoples and their environment. They demonstrated a rich cultural diversity and agrobiodiversity through sustainable land-use systems. These productive cultural landscapes in many cases were expressions of a pre-industrial circular model of rural development, where no resource was wasted. However, not all terraced landscapes have to be considered sustainable in themselves: in recent times, the terraces have undergone changes that have threatened their sustainability with abandonment and degradation as well as exclusively productive exploitation. This paper explores whether and how terraced landscape can recover an active role in modern society, analyzing emerging terraces recovery practices from the perspective of the circular economy. Innovative circular and productive uses of abandoned terraced landscapes aim at reducing the waste of natural and cultural resources, enlarging the lifetime (use value) of landscapes and preserving cultural and natural values for present and future generations. Results show that new functional uses of terraced landscapes are able to enhance in different ways their role as “middle landscapes” or places of mediation among economic, ecologic, ethical and aesthetic needs through circular adaptive reuse practices, becoming key drivers of new “circular” economies and a new pact between rural and urban regions.

Keywords: terraced landscapes; circular economy; middle landscapes; cultural heritage; cultural landscape; adaptive reuse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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