While renewable energy sources enjoy high public support, projects are rarely implemented without opposition. The term energy landscapes indicates that landscape change is amongst the most frequent ...issues. This study researched lay people’s perceptions of landscapes changed by solar power plants. The first objective was to discover how likely solar power plants are to be noticed in the landscape. The second objective was to determine the associations observers make when spotting a solar power plant. The data was collected by participatory photography and focus groups. Participants visited six solar power plants. The results show that they are highly noticeable and contentious objects. Participants who understood the landscape as a rural idyll disapproved of solar power plants, while for those who perceived the landscape through a utilitarian narrative, the (mis)fit of the solar power plant depended on its relation to the surrounding landscape structure. Landscape degradation was contrasted with low-carbon energy and developmental benefits. The results provide evidence on the interdependence of visual and non-visual factors and suggest improvements in planning and design of solar power plants. While the method gives a rich in-depth insight into landscape perception, it is also context dependent and needs further research to obtain more generalisable results.
•A novel in situ method shows photovoltaics are highly noticeable landscape elements.•Laypeople mostly contrast energy benefits with landscape degradation.•Mimicking landscape structure improves power plant’s integration with the landscape.•Issues exposed by laypeople correspond well with impacts proposed by experts.
This paper shows a novel approach of assessing landscape elements and their contribution to CES using two methods of data collection. The paper attempts to bridge the identification gap between CES ...and structures providing them by introducing different methods of 1) field evaluation, allowing interaction in person and 2) through an online survey, which, although restrictive in terms of interaction, facilitates the processing of the collected data. A checklist of landscape elements important for CES is proposed and investigated – which elements are highly valued, where they are valued, and how they are valued across Slovenia as a case example. The sequence of methods includes literature review, field surveying in 18 test areas, and validation through an online questionnaire. The results indicate that identity is the common denominator of landscape elements' CES value, linked to both widespread and region-specific elements assessment. Vegetation and water elements are strongly associated with CES of aesthetic and health. The built elements and cultivated elements are associated with heritage and traditional knowledge.Both field research and online surveying have their strengths and limitations. However, conclusions can be drawn about landscape elements important for identity and other CES. The study highlights the complexity of individual perceptions and the need for different evaluation methods, including in-person and online surveys. The methodology used can be applied, with some adaptations, to specific sites depending on the planning problem, as well as a research approach for fundamental or detailed CES and landscape evaluation studies.
•Landscape heterogeneity is a combination of land use and landscape features.•Land use heterogeneity describes landscape’s composition and structure.•Landscape features’ heterogeneity reflects the ...diversity and the amount of features.•The index provides a robust assessment agricultural landscapes’ heterogeneity.
The biodiversity of agricultural landscapes is strongly dependent on extensive traditional management practices and the proportion of natural and semi-natural habitats within the landscape. Within Europe, contemporary agricultural management practices, as well as nature conservation regimes are often oriented toward establishing suitable preconditions for maintaining biodiversity; this requires operational methods to assess and monitor the effects of policy measures on landscape heterogeneity. In this article a method for evaluating landscape heterogeneity of agricultural landscapes is proposed, which measures two main components: (1) land cover heterogeneity and (2) landscape features’ heterogeneity. The first can be defined as a function of compositional (number of land cover categories) and configurational (distribution of land cover categories) heterogeneity, whereas the latter is the result of landscape features diversity (the number of different types of landscape features) and landscape features count (the overall number of landscape features). Considering the proposed index, the heterogeneity of agricultural landscapes is ranked into three classes. The proposed land use and landscape features inventory, combined with the landscape heterogeneity evaluation index, could serve as a basis for the development of landscape management practices, which aim to fulfill objectives of several EU policies (e.g. Common Agricultural Policy, Natura 2000). Nevertheless, spatial context, as well as nature protection and agricultural objectives need to be considered when applying the proposed index in management practice.
The Slovenian national planning policy has been in a renewal process since 2014. The process required an evaluation to reveal to which level the defined measures have been delivered and discuss the ...policy's future role. The mixed-methods evaluation approach consisted of a document analysis, a questionnaire with local communities and interviews with representatives of the ministries. Implementation of measures depends on multiple factors: capacity, personal priorities of actors, interpretation skills, financial support, political will for co-operation, etc. The potential to mitigate the influence of factors on implementation through a co-evolutionary trend of planning is elaborated in the light of Europeanization.
Slovenian children are facing considerable health challenges from the rapid social changes that influence their opportunity to engage in daily physical activity.
To overlay the social changes to the ...established Report Card model as a means of contextualising the extreme changes in physical activity and fitness observed over several years.
Benchmarks were graded for 10 core indicators, plus two (Sleep, Seasonal Variations). Active Healthy Kids Slovenia members met (predominantly via zoom) liaising with team leader(s) on a flexible, individual basis, based on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) regulations, over the ∼2-year assessment period of the project. Data were separated to the years prior to, ‘pre’ 2018–2020, and ‘during’ the global pandemic (2020–2021). Where sufficient data existed for both timeframes, grades were averaged to produce an overall grade.
Grade results are expressed as pre/during/final grade, where the final grade (bolded) is a straight average of the two preceding time epochs: Overall Physical Activity (A-/A-/A-), Organized Sport and Physical Activity (C+/C/C), Active Play (D/C+/C), Active Transport (C/INC/C), Sedentary Behaviour (B/C/C+), Physical Fitness (A+/A-/A), Family and Peers (B+/INC/B+), Schools (A/A/A), Community and Environment (A+/A+/A+), Government (A/F/D), Sleep (D-/INC/D-), Seasonal Variations (D/C-/D+).
Although Slovenia has some of the most consistently physically-active children in the world, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic exerted significant reductions in physical activity opportunities, and especially when coupled with funding re-distributions, resulted in the steepest decline of child physical fitness observed within the >35-year history of Slovenia's well-established national fitness surveillance system.
•Research including methods and findings of various disciplines: landscape planning, scenario development and psychology.•Landscape scenario based on Markov chain method.•Research focused on two ...different groups of stakeholders: farmers from the test area and the decision makers.•Adapted survey questionnaire for test and control group and a Delphi study were applied in the research.•Landscape scenarios can influence attitudes and consequently lead to the adaptation of actions in the landscape.
Landscape scenarios are a well-recognized and often applied tool in landscape and spatial planning. Their frequent use raises the question of how the use of the scenario influences the attitudes and actions of the individual stakeholders in the landscape.
The study was performed in the area of two rural communities in western Slovenia and focused on two groups of stakeholders, farmers and decision-makers, because these groups have the ability to directly or indirectly impose landscape changes. The farmers were separated into a test and control group and participated in an experiment that included a scenario experience different for the test and control group and ended with a survey interview. Decision-makers participated in a two-round Delphi study, which also involved a scenario exercise.
Overall, the results confirmed that landscape scenarios influence attitudes associated with the landscape. The impact on actions was only partially confirmed, as many external factors that might also influence future actions could not be excluded, such as personal characteristics, professional occupation or the characteristics of the farm. The study provides implications for further research, such as the magnitude of scenario impact and the interaction of scenario use with other factors which might affect the formation of and changes in attitudes and actions associated with landscape.
Agriculture is among the main drivers of Alpine cultural landscape diversity. Therefore the specific integration of landscape diversity into the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) ...objectives can potentially have an important effect on cultural landscape diversity. This paper presents an evaluation of a selected set of CAP's agricultural measures and their impact on this diversity, using quantitative analysis combined with expert qualitative evaluation. Our hypothesis is that although the CAP's measures consider landscape diversity up to a point, they are too general to embrace the diversity of European landscapes and may have unwanted impacts for the diversity of Alpine landscapes.
The research reported in this paper addresses the relationship between quality of open space and health related lifestyle in urban residential areas. The research was performed in the residential ...developments in Ljubljana, Slovenia, dating from the time of political and economic changes in the early nineties. Compared to the older neighborhoods, these are typically single-use residential areas, with small open spaces and poor landscape design. The research is concerned with the quality of life in these areas, especially from the perspective of the vulnerable users, like the elderly and children. Both depend on easily accessible green areas in close proximity to their homes. The hypothesis is that the poor open space quality affects their health-related behavior and their perceived health status. The research has three methodological phases: (1) a comparison between urban residential areas by criteria describing their physical characteristics; (2) behavior observation and mapping and (3) a resident opinion survey. The results confirm differences between open spaces of the selected residential areas as well as their relation with outdoor activities: a lack of outdoor programs correlates with poor variety of outdoor activities, limited to transition type, less time spent outdoors and lower satisfaction with their home environment. The survey also disclosed a strong influence of a set of socio-economic variables such as education and economic status on physical activity and self-perceived health status of people. The results therefore confirm the hypothesis especially for less affluent and educated; i.e., vulnerable groups.
Although each landscape has its own identity, only some of them are recognized as nationally important because of their cultural and natural values and their contribution to national identity. In ...Slovenia, these landscapes are listed in the national Spatial Development Strategy (adopted in 2004). However, this list was neither supported by implementation instruments nor integrated in any conservation or management policy documents and was poorly integrated into spatial plans. The aim of this research was to renew the methodology for identifying landscapes of national importance. The methods included in-depth interviews with experts, an online questionnaire, participatory workshops, and field visits. The questionnaire results showed that only eight landscapes from the original list of 62 were explicitly recognized as nationally important, which confirmed the hypothesis that the initial method was not transparent and that the criteria were biased. The proposed approach included the following criteria: (1) representativeness, (2) the quality of the landscape features, and (3) the cultural and scientific value. The methodology was accompanied with the list of landscape features and landscape types that are important for Slovenian national identity; recommendations for implementing the method on national, regional, and local levels; and the general guidelines for spatial planning and management of these landscapes.
The prevailing scientific and political consensus considers accelerated landscape transformations problematic and difficult to manage in a sustainable way. This article compares two possible views ...and responses: the traditional top-down view, and the increasingly promoted bottom-up view. Analysis of policy measures in the European Union and Alpine countries confirms that the top-down response is in many respects inadequate for achieving sustainable development. The bottom-up view is discussed here as an alternative, using the results of two research projects in the Alpine area to reveal the views of local people and to identify local governance capacity. Some empirical evidence about the effects of a participatory approach is provided by an analysis and evaluation of a set of "best practice" examples. The tentative conclusions support the introduction of a more bottom-up view, but also indicate that the most important success factor is adequate consideration of the socioeconomic context and local governance capacity.
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