Agriculture and Rurality as Constructor of Sustainable Cultural Landscape

Abstract

Culture is the main determining factor of dynamic changes in the ecological-territorial systems. Agriculture, rurality and landscape are the basic concepts handling the study of said systems. Agriculture is conceptualized as the relationship between human beings and nature based on the degree of artificialization. According to the definition of agricultural problems and phenomena, the ontological and epistemological approaches of nature artificialization, resource management and cultural landscape construction change. The urban, rural and wildland are proposed as territorial typologies, and polis, ager and saltus as territorial components. Deep cultural changes are as necessary as the change in paradigm to generate operative statements related with sustainable development. The emerging schools of thought, associated with the complex and transdisciplinary approach to life quality and existing sustainable development, from a theoretic-conceptual basis, and taking into account the cultural landscape from a holistic, systemic and constructive approach are trying to integrally incorporate the various dimensions of development and life quality. Central concepts for sustainable cultural landscape construction, planning and design, are required to preserve governance in the cultural landscape. It is necessary to subordinate the hierarchical phenomenological limits and threshold from universal legality to construct sustainable cultural landscape adapted to our day and age. The concept of panarchy is fundamental for this orientation and consideration.