European rural landscapes as we experience them today are the result of ongoing processes and interactions between nature and society. These are changing fast: the future landscapes will be different from those we know currently. Written for academics, policy-makers and practitioners, this book is the first to explore the complex histories of rural landscapes in Europe as a basis for their sound governance in future. Tensions between the needs of agricultural spaces driven by economic incentives and a variety of non-agricultural functions are explored to demonstrate current challenges and the shortfalls in the policies that address them. Using inspiring case studies that highlight the roles of regional agents and communities, the authors go further than the usual analyses to illustrate the importance of local context. Written by experts currently working to revitalise the rural landscapes of Europe, the text concludes with suggestions for improving landscape policy and planning practice.

This book is the result of three symposia of the Dutch Society for Landscape Ecology. The first symposium in 2005 was about the National Ecological Network in the Netherlands . The reason was that the implementation of the NEN, decided upon in 1990, was halfway. The second symposium, in 2006, was about urban ecology and the third one, to be held in 2007, will be about civil infrastructure. This book does not cover the conferences completely and new contributions are added. The three themes are important contexts in which landscape ecologists do their research and apply their knowledge and skills. Of course, there are many more subjects to hold conferences about, for example climate change, urbanisation, agriculture, landscape ecology itself etc. The focus of the conferences is on the Netherlands, with its urbanisation, intensive land use and water management as characteristic features. Although many WLO members do their work abroad or in an international context, these conferences offer a window on what happens in the Dutch context. The experiences may be of value for other contexts and that is why we present the results in English. The selected themes and the focus on the Dutch context are serious demarcations of what landscape ecology in the Netherlands is all about. The book does not represent all research and applications of landscape ecology.