The social aspects of landscape change: protecting open space under the pressure of development

Abstract

The extent of developed land in many parts of the world has increased rapidly in recent decades, posing significant challenges to the protection of forests, agricultural lands, and other natural and culturally modified green areas in urban and rural settings. Sustaining these open spaces has long been seen as a critical issue economically, and it is now increasingly being seen as integral for sustaining our psychological health and our ethical relationship to the non-human world as well. As human population spreads across the landscape, natural resource managers and policymakers need to better anticipate and respond to the widespread changes and increasing pressures affecting open spaces. Social science research can play an important role in providing answers to address these vexing management concerns.

Citation

Gobster, Paul H.; Stewart, Susan I.; Bengston, David N. 2004. The social aspects of landscape change: protecting open space under the pressure of development. Landscape and Urban Planning 69 (2004) 149-151