Landscape Research

Landscape science combines many different research disciplines, such as landscape history, landscape ecology, landscape planning and management, landscape architecture, land classification and evaluation. These are based upon scientific domains covered by regional geography, historical geography, geo-archaeology, social geography, ecology and environmental psychology. Common is the holistic approach of our environment and the integration of a wide variety of topics characterized by a regional and spatial differentiation. The approach is fundamentally integrated (interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary). The need for fundamental landscape research is growing because of the fast changes in our environment. Many applied sciences such as regional planning, environmental planning (impact assessment), land evaluation, etc. need this kind of fundamental knowledge, and the demand is still growing. Consequently, fundamental research becomes pragmatically oriented because of the availability of research means.

The interaction between man and society and the environment care spatial organisation will become increasingly important. From the viewpoint of the landscape too, the focus will change to these topics, and disciplines such as landscape ecology and environmental psychology will receive more attention. The growing need to make inventories and study the cultural values and the landscape heritage are becoming more and more important because of the rapid and mostly destructive changes in our environment. This will lead to the development of new and more adapted methods and an increase in the use of new technologies such as remote sensing, GIS and landscape mapping.