Biosphere reserves as landscape laboratories for sustainability transitions

Markus Leibenath, Nadja Diemunsch, Myriam Pregizer and Jannou Catrin Bergsträßer

Landscape Research, 2025, vol. 50, issue 3, 491-504

Abstract: While the relations between landscapes and sustainability have been investigated from various perspectives, the link between landscapes and sustainability transitions is still under-researched. Biosphere reserves are a promising object of study in this regard as they can be viewed as model regions and laboratories for sustainable development. Here we develop the concept of landscape laboratories as a landscape-centred form of real-world laboratory. Based on a qualitative analysis of strategy documents and interviews with management staff, we elucidate how the notions of experimenting, learning and scaling are understood by those involved in Germany’s biosphere reserves. In particular, we discuss what kind of landscape laboratories these biosphere reserves represent and which challenges and dilemmas they face. In our conclusion, we propose ways of strengthening the effectiveness of biosphere reserves as landscape laboratories as well as lines of further in-depth research, for example regarding the mediation of planetary and local discourses.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/01426397.2024.2421336

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