Discursive relationships between landscape science, policy and management practice: Concepts, issues and examples

Abstract

Different approaches have been proposed to help the science of landscape ecology achieve greater policy relevance. A common feature is the central role of landscape scientists as experts in solving 'place based problems' in effective ways. In practice however landscape ecologists have seldom had the impact they seek. This chapter uses concepts drawn from deliberative planning and case examples from the USA and Denmark to critically examine the science-practice interface between landscape ecology and landscape planning. It highlights the way that different roles, values, and interests interact at different stages in place based studies, and this may require a re-framing of landscape ecological science to become part of a multivalent discourse about landscape conditions and possibilities.