Landscape indicators: Evolution and guidelines for their application in land management

Abstract

In the course of the last century, the concept of landscape has experienced a deep renovation whose standpoints necessarily lead to an upgrading effort in territorial governance. The need of assessing the character of our landscapes in the pursuit of a territorial policy that guarantees the maintenance and promotion of their intrinsic values is proving to be a fundamental driver for strengthening local identity and economy. However, the results of landscape character assessments are facing difficulties to be implemen-ted in the regular territorial planning. The goal of the text is to contextualize and argue the potential of landscape indicators as a relevant research line in this open scientific-technical debate.