A new open-access perspective paper published in the journal Society & Natural Resources
reflects on the global use of “landscape” concepts in environmental planning and governance.
What if the application of “landscape” scales, systems, or approaches were an obstacle for
sustainable development in cultures where there is no such notion of “landscape”? “The way
we see and interpret our environment is important for land use decision making. A global
‘landscape approach’ to the planning and governance of Andean risk zones, for instance, could
fail if local people do not see their environment as a ‘landscape’—be it a scenery, possession,
or ecosystem,” says Andreas Haller, a geographer at the Institute for Interdisciplinary
Mountain Research. “This does not mean we should not apply ‘landscape approaches,’ but
planning and governance could profit from acknowledging so-called cosmophanic diversity.”
This paper is part of the project “Periurban form in the Peruvian Andes,” supported by the
Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [Grant P31855-G].
Citation: Andreas Haller & Domenico Branca (2022) More than Landscape: Toward
Cosmophanic Diversity in Environmental Planning and Governance, Society & Natural
Resources, https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2022.2105461