This paper presents a review of the presentations and synthesis of the discussion during a Symposium on ‘Transformation
of rural-urban cultural landscapes in Europe: Integrating approaches from ecological, socio-economic
and planning perspectives’ held at the European IALE conference 2009 in Salzburg, Austria. The symposium
addressed an extended and much debated subject of the landscape dynamics in Europe. The papers presented
during the symposium showcased a broad spectrum of cutting edge research questions and challenges faced by

The present study has two aims, to provide a further contribute to the literature on land market, and to highlight the possible relationships between some macroeconomic factors affecting the land values trend in Italy and in Sicily. The data obtainable from the available information sources in the field were collected and processed. More in detail, in the first part of the paper a reference scenario is described through the presentation of the general features of agricultural land market, relying upon the specific scientific literature.

The article highlights the benefits of adopting the practice of long-term planning with the aim of helping decision makers and politicians to include scenario thinking in the process of determining food security in Israel, 2050. This study addresses the question of food security, a step that is in contrast with agricultural planning considerations of the past that have mainly focused on maximizing profits or relied on a closed mathematical model.

The principle of urban-rural gradients can reveal the spatial variations of ecosystem services and socioeconomic dimensions. The interrelations between ecosystem services and socioeconomics have scarcely been considered in the context of urban-rural areas. We investigated the spatial gradients and the mutual linkages of several ecosystem services and

Invasive alien plants have a negative impact on ecosystem goods and services derived from ecosystems. Consequently, the aggressive spread of invasive alien plants (IAPs) in the river catchments of South Africa is a major threat to, inter alia, water security. The Olifants River catchment is one such a catchment that is under pressure because of the high demand for water from mainly industrial sources and unsustainable land-use, which includes IAPs. This study considered the cost-effectiveness of clearing IAPs and compared these with the cost of a recently constructed dam.

In the appraisal of the market value of the properties are applied two important surface indexes: the market surface ratio of the secondary surfaces and the ratio of the site value to total value (allocation method).

To discriminate between the contributions of ecosystems and the human subsidies to agricultural systems,
we propose using an additional terminology to bring clarification into the controversial discussion about i)
ecosystems versus agrosystems and ii) ecosystem services versus agrosystem services. A literature review
revealed that with the exception of some very recent publications, this has not yet been sufficiently
reflected, neither within the scientific nor in the policy discussion. The question remains whether to spoil

There is a rapidly growing body of literature on the theory about the ecosystem service concept and the practical assessment of
ecosystem services in different contexts ranging from natural to urban environments. Yet, where does the concept reach its limits?
This paper critically reflects the application of the ecosystem service concept in urban environments illustrating the handling of
urban structures (incl. built-up areas) and the risk that the normative principle of the concept could be missed. It is shown that in

This study explores the influence of incidence of poverty and plot-level perception of soil degradation, on soil conservation behaviour of small subsistence farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The study results confirm that poverty in assets significantly reduces the probability of soil-conservation efforts as measured by use of stone/soil bund structures in the highlands of Ethiopia.

The set of models available to predict land use change in urban regions has become increasingly complex in recent years. Despite their complexity, the predictive power of these models remains relatively weak. This paper presents an example of an alternative modeling framework based on the concept of a Markov chain. The model assumes that land use at any given time, which is viewed as a discrete state, can be considered a function of only its previous state.

The Red Palm Weevil (RPW), after its accidental introduction in Italy in 2005, determined a progressive
disruption of Canary palms mostly in the central and southern regions. As it is difficult to undertake the
management of this pest, the possibility of substituting the killed/symptomatic palms with other ornamental
trees has been recently discussed. In this context, understanding the citizens’ needs about green areas can
improve the management of public parks and urban greening. Involving citizens on the natural resource

The present chaotic transformation from the industrial to the global information society is accelerating the ecological,
social and economic unsustainability. The rapidly growing unsustainable, fossil energy powered urbanindustrial
technosphere and their detrimental impacts on nature and human well-being are threatening the solar
energy powered natural and seminatural biosphere landscapes and their vital ecosystem services. A sustainability
revolution is therefore urgently needed, requiring a shift from the „fossil age“ to the „solar age“ of a new world