Parameterization in the Analysis of Changes in the Rural Landscape on the Example of Agritourism Farms in Kłodzko District (Poland)

Anna Bocheńska-Skałecka, Maria Ostrowska-Dudys, Edward Hutnik and Wojciech Jakubowski
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Anna Bocheńska-Skałecka: Department of Landscape Architecture, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 50-357 Wroclaw, Poland
Maria Ostrowska-Dudys: Department of Civil Engineering, The Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 50-357 Wroclaw, Poland
Edward Hutnik: Department of Civil Engineering, The Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 50-357 Wroclaw, Poland
Wojciech Jakubowski: Department of Applied Mathematics, The Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 50-357 Wroclaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: The European Landscape Convention (2006) indicates that landscape conservation is as important as the protection of the overall environment. Although the boundaries between urban and rural areas in many countries are blurring, the rural landscape is still perceived as a valuable landscape artefact. Traditional rural landscapes have undergone significant transformations over the past few decades. The authors attempt to analyze factors causing apparent changes in the rural landscape, based on the example of agritourism farms in Kłodzko District, Lower Silesia. The changes taking place in Poland after 1989 resulted in reduced profitability of agricultural production. This was why small farms stopped using land for agricultural production. Agritourism has become one of the forms of business activity. Therefore, it became necessary to adapt farms to a new function. The 37 agritourism farms registered in rural and rural-urban municipalities of Kłodzko District have been randomly selected for the survey. The research has shown the extent of changes related to the transformation of agricultural farms into agritourism ones. Six areas (categories) where changes took place have been identified based on the analysis of collected data. The authors have included the collected data in the parameterization of surveyed agritourism farms, taking into account: the condition of the agricultural farm before introducing its new role (0) and the present condition, with an agritourism function (1). The complete linkage clustering (the maximum distance) known as cluster analysis was used to examine the variables in terms of farm change. The aim was to select outstanding units from the research sample for further research as case studies.

Keywords: rural landscape; agritourism; cluster analysis/ complete linkage clustering; Kłodzko district (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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