Acronym

V4-2527

Department:

Department of Landscape Architecture

Type of project

ARIS projects

Type of project

CRP projects

Role

Lead

Financing

Slovenian Research And Innovation Agency Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning

Duration

01.09.2025 - 29.02.2028

Value of co-financing

€125,000.00

Total

€250,000.00

Project manager at BF

Penko Seidl Nadja

Research Organisation Partners

  • The Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies
  •  The Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia

 

Abstract

Monitoring pressures and stresses that affect landscapes and monitoring changes are part of the objectives of European Landscape Convention (ELC, 2000), but in practice landscape monitoring is often reduced to one or few qualitative indicators within environmental assessments, such as“landscape quality” and “perceptive value”. The complex character of landscapes, consisting of both physical as well as perceptual aspects requiresa comprehensive and applicable framework for landscape monitoring within diverse landscapes.

This research proposal was encouraged by: (1) the absence of methods and indicators to describe the complexity of landscape and changes that are taking place in it, accompanied by increased interest in the subject reflected in growing research in this field and (2) the demands of ELC to establish (national) landscape monitoring systems. Its main objective is to develop a comprehensive methodology for landscape monitoring in Slovenia, which will: (1) enable periodic monitoring of the state of the landscape and (2) serve as a source of information for the preparation of the Spatial Development Report. The project will also examine possibilities to incorporate the individual indicators of the Regulation on Nature Restoration (Regulation (EU) 2024/1991) in the landscape monitoring system.

The project will start with the review of the scientific literature and existing landscape monitoring methods to identify key topics that the landscape monitoring system has to address and to provide a list of indicators that proved to be relevant for monitoring. The focus will be on the relationships between three approaches, which could be presented with three groups of indicators. The first group of indicators is “data-driven” and will be interpreted using a geographic information system. Where possible and reasonable, machine learning methods will be used to analyse and interpret the data. The second group of indicators is based on expert assessment, combining results from the first group of indicators and fieldwork to encompass the perception of landscape that cannot be captured by data analysis alone. The third group of indicators will include public opinion as a method to understand the cultural relevance of the landscape and the meaning and/or acceptability of change. Special emphasis will be put on the efficient and transparent way of combining indicators into comprehensive yet robust methodology, which will enable monitoring of landscapestructure, meaning and function.

Methodology will be tested on workshops with experts and in selected areas in Slovenia and later revised. Correlation and replaceability among individual indicators will be analysed to achieve the cost-efficiency and repeatability of methodology. Whereas indicators, based on data will betested on wider areas (whole Slovenian territory or selected landscape units), expert assessment will be performed within selected landscape sub-units, as defined within the project Renovation of the Regional Distribution of Landscape Types and Outstanding Landscapes in Slovenia and their Digitalization (Golobič et al., 2024). Pilot areas will cover different landscape types and processes that change them.

The research will produce fundamental knowledge on the possibilities of quantitative and qualitative description of landscape as a complex phenomenon on the intersection between physical space, social construction and subjective perception of individuals. As landscape is a very common topic in public policies, the results of the project will be socially extremely relevant with many possibilities for further application. Based on the proposed method, it will be possible to periodically monitor the landscape. The monitoring of the state of the landscape can become one of the starting points for the preparation of the Spatial Development Report, and the data will be useful in the expert basis for spatial plans, environmental assessments and sectoral policies.

 

Researchers

UL BF

ZRC SAZU

UIRS

 

The phases of the project and their realization

DS1: Scoping and Conceptual Framework

DS1.1: Theoretical Framework and Terminology

DS1.2: Review of Landscape Monitoring Systems

DS1.3: Analysis and Assessment of the Relevance of Existing Indicators

DS2: Design of the Landscape Monitoring System

DS2.1: Drafting of the Initial Methodology

DS2.2: Testing, Evaluation, and Refinement of the Methodology

DS2.3: Assessment of Indicator Relevance and Correlations

DS2.4: Proposal of the Final Methodology

DS3: Development of Data-Based Indicators

DS3.1: Collection and Harmonisation of Geospatial Data

DS3.2: Derivation of Indicators from Geospatial Data

DS3.3: Assessment and Selection of Indicators for Landscape Monitoring

DS4: Development of Indicators Based on Expert Judgment and Public Perception

DS4.1: Selection and Evaluation of Perception-Based Indicators

DS4.2: Selection of Pilot Areas for Indicator Testing

DS4.3: Assessment of Landscape Condition (and/or Change) Based on Expert Indicators

DS4.4: Assessment of Landscape Condition Based on Public Opinion Survey

DS5: Project Coordination and Dissemination of Results

DS5.1: Project Coordination

DS5.2: Reporting, Workshop, and Presentation

DS5.3: Communication and Outreach to the Wider Public

DS5.4: Validation of Results and Dissemination

 

Project partners