Belgeo (Sep 2004)
Landscape research in Switzerland: exploring space and place of a multi-ethnic society
Abstract
Landscape research in Switzerland enjoys a high technological and intellectual standard. It is influenced by both region-independent stimuli (e.g. remote sensing, sociology, population biology or statistics), and stimuli that have a strong bounding to the regional context. Region-specific stimuli for Landscape Research in Switzerland are:- the highly heterogeneous topography of the mountains as prerequisite to develop and test landscape-related theories,- the contrasting individualistic lifestyles of a multi-ethnic society that generates contrasting notions towards landscapes and thus contrasting methods in landscape research,- the long tradition of environmental research, monitoring and education and the high public motivation to support landscape-related research, as well as- the direct democracy where Landscape Research finds an ideal experimental ground to test theories and research hypothesis about how public participation or diverse (public) value systems and stakeholder values affect landscapes.Landscape research in Switzerland developed under the institutional umbrella of several public universities and research Institutions, primarily in the disciplines of geography, botany, remote sensing, forestry, agriculture, ethnology and sociology.Modern landscape research in Switzerland is performed as basic as well as applied research. It is well-positioned in the following fields: (1) the interactions between stakeholder values (towards nature & landscapes) and landscape development, (2) integrating spatial aspects of population genetics with landscape ecology, (3) the impact of communications technology on landscape resources, exploring heterogeneity in ecosystem processes across landscapes, relating landscape indicators to ecological processes, landscape historical approaches, and communicating research to the public and to policy makers.
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