Landscape perception as a basis for landscape strategies. Developments in Portugal

Abstract

The perception of landscape and its transformation underpins the process of socio-ecological awareness that is essential to a healthy relationship between Humans and Nature. One of the great challenges to contemporary and future society is the vital need to increase knowledge and awareness of the development model that has led us to the global ecological crisis that we face today. We know that resources may become scarce if we continue to consume them at the current rate, especially if the rise in atmospheric temperature exceeds certain limits. The landscape reflects this economic model and the decisions that are taken on the territory. Different expressions may be used depending on the scale and intensity of the transformation that has occurred as the landscape is a resource that is essential not only to the development of economic activities but also to the qualification of the territory and the well-being of the population (Cassatella and Peano, 2011). In Portugal, the result of two critical trends can be observed in the landscape - the depopulation of rural areas with the consequent concentration of population in urban settlements influenced by the coastline, and the inevitable simplification of the agricultural and forest cultural mosaics.