IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i6p1140-d1663140.html

Towards a De-Polarisation of Climate Guidance for Landscape Design and Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Anastasia Nikologianni

    (College of Architecture and Design, Birmingham City University, City Centre Campus, Birmingham B4 7BD, UK)

  • Alex Albans

    (College of Architecture and Design, Birmingham City University, City Centre Campus, Birmingham B4 7BD, UK)

Abstract

For disciplines and professions concerned with the design and management of the physical environment, climate emergency has become an integral part of research and practice because these environmental challenges are inextricably linked to the land and how we use it. Working from an understanding of landscape as the vast infrastructure upon which we depend for everything, landscape is the setting for all matters of environmental sustainability, impacting towns, cities, and countryside, communities and well-being, economics, governance, and politics. This paper explores the extent to which landscape and landscape design are considered in professional guidance pertaining to climate emergencies and environmental sustainability. Noting a tendency for such policy and guidance in the UK to cluster around the opposite poles of generalised targets and highly detailed technological solutions, this paper raises questions about what is missing from the middle of this spectrum. Our findings show that beyond carbon and biodiversity targets and the technological solutions to meet them, policy has been slow to respond to the climate emergency in relation to the landscape level. Furthermore, policy frameworks largely fail to account for the cultural and/or intangible factors affecting carbon and sustainability measures, such as the quality of space and well-being. This research suggests that guidance and policy relating to holistic, integrated understandings of landscapes are key to addressing the climate emergency, which also provides quality places and spaces for our communities and nature alike.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Nikologianni & Alex Albans, 2025. "Towards a De-Polarisation of Climate Guidance for Landscape Design and Policy," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:6:p:1140-:d:1663140
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/6/1140/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/6/1140/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank, 2009. "Europe and Central Asia - Health insurance and competition," World Bank Publications - Reports 3064, The World Bank Group.
    2. Patsy Healey, 2004. "The Treatment of Space and Place in the New Strategic Spatial Planning in Europe," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 45-67, March.
    3. Georgia Giannakourou, 2005. "Transforming spatial planning policy in Mediterranean countries: Europeanization and domestic change," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 319-331, January.
    4. Anastasia Nikologianni & Kathryn Moore & Peter J. Larkham, 2019. "Making Sustainable Regional Design Strategies Successful," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Wolsink, Maarten, 2007. "Planning of renewables schemes: Deliberative and fair decision-making on landscape issues instead of reproachful accusations of non-cooperation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2692-2704, May.
    6. Bridge, Gavin & Bouzarovski, Stefan & Bradshaw, Michael & Eyre, Nick, 2013. "Geographies of energy transition: Space, place and the low-carbon economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 331-340.
    7. Mulugetta, Yacob & Urban, Frauke, 2010. "Deliberating on low carbon development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 7546-7549, December.
    8. World Bank, 2009. "Adapting to Climate Change in Europe and Central Asia," World Bank Publications - Reports 3052, The World Bank Group.
    9. Ramos, Isabel Loupa & Bernardo, Fátima & Ribeiro, Sónia Carvalho & Van Eetvelde, Veerle, 2016. "Landscape identity: Implications for policy making," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 36-43.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cousse, Julia, 2021. "Still in love with solar energy? Installation size, affect, and the social acceptance of renewable energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. O'Sullivan, Kate & Golubchikov, Oleg & Mehmood, Abid, 2020. "Uneven energy transitions: Understanding continued energy peripheralization in rural communities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Bouchra El Houda Lamhamedi & Walter Timo de Vries, 2022. "An Exploration of the Land–(Renewable) Energy Nexus," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Gordon, Joel A. & Balta-Ozkan, Nazmiye & Nabavi, Seyed Ali, 2022. "Beyond the triangle of renewable energy acceptance: The five dimensions of domestic hydrogen acceptance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    5. Zerrahn, Alexander, 2017. "Wind Power and Externalities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 245-260.
    6. Kim, Eun-Sung & Chung, Ji-Bum, 2019. "The memory of place disruption, senses, and local opposition to Korean wind farms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 43-52.
    7. Fan Zhang, 2015. "Energy Price Reform and Household Welfare: The Case of Turkey," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    8. Fan Zhang, 2015. "Energy Price Reform and Household Welfare: The Case of Turkey," The Energy Journal, , vol. 36(2), pages 71-96, April.
    9. Hallan, Celia & González, Ainhoa, 2020. "Adaptive responses to landscape changes from onshore wind energy development in the Republic of Ireland," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    10. Ferrario, Viviana & Castiglioni, Benedetta, 2017. "Visibility/invisibility in the 'making' of energy landscape. Strategies and policies in the hydropower development of the Piave river (Italian Eastern Alps)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 829-835.
    11. Zhou, Dequn & Chen, Ting & Ding, Hao & Wang, Qunwei, 2024. "Tracking the provincial energy transition in China: A comprehensive index," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    12. Frauke Urban & Johan Nordensvärd, 2018. "Low Carbon Energy Transitions in the Nordic Countries: Evidence from the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, August.
    13. Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir & C. Michael Hall, 2018. "Floating Away: The Impact of Hydroelectric Power Stations on Tourists’ Experience in Iceland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-33, July.
    14. Zhai, Jihua & Burke, Ian T. & Stewart, Douglas I., 2021. "Beneficial management of biomass combustion ashes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    15. Wiegand, Julia, 2017. "Dezentrale Stromerzeugung als Chance zur Stärkung der Energie-Resilienz: Eine qualitative Analyse kommunaler Strategien im Raum Unna," Wuppertaler Studienarbeiten zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, volume 11, number 11.
    16. Mónica de Castro-Pardo & Fernando Pérez-Rodríguez & José María Martín-Martín & João C. Azevedo, 2019. "Planning for Democracy in Protected Rural Areas: Application of a Voting Method in a Spanish-Portuguese Reserve," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-17, October.
    17. Funcke, Simon & Bauknecht, Dierk, 2016. "Typology of centralised and decentralised visions for electricity infrastructure," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 67-74.
    18. Nichifor Maria Alexandra, 2016. "Public reactions towards wind energy instalments. Case study: Romania and the Netherlands," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 11(3), pages 532-543, September.
    19. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zheng, Xian, 2020. "Land use regulation and urban land value: Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Caragliu, Andrea & Graziano, Marcello, 2022. "The spatial dimension of energy transition policies, practices and technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:6:p:1140-:d:1663140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.