Files
Abstract
Agricultural landscapes are important elements of European culture. There is an increasing
recognition that agricultural landscapes represent economic assets; not only because of the
production of agricultural commodities, but also by offering significant opportunities for the
socioeconomic development of rural areas. However, in literature there is no clear evidence of
which causal relationships exist between the valorisation of landscapes and the creation of
socioeconomic benefits. The objective of this paper is to assess causal connections between
actors, the goods provided in agricultural landscapes, the socioeconomic benefits created by
these goods and the contribution of such benefits to regional competitiveness, using an
Analytical Network Process supported by qualitative stakeholder validation. Network
evaluation is done on basis of a stakeholder panel exercise conducted in 9 rural European
study regions, which are all coping with different basic natural and social conditions. The
results show, that various elements impact on the system of landscape valorisation. It can be
seen that agricultural production still plays a key role in the relations between landscape and
rural development; however the exercise also shows, that public goods lead to socioeconomic
benefits and that differing regional conditions influence the importance of single elements
playing a role in the system.