Understanding Perceptions of Cultural Landscapes in Europe: A Comparative Analysis Using ‘Oppida’ Landscapes

ABSTRACT

Climatic, social and demographic change is putting increasing pressure on Europe’s cultural landscapes. The European Landscape Convention (ELC) recognises these threats and the need to integrate a wider range of stakeholders in the active management of landscapes in order to negotiate the trade-offs needed for future sustainability. This study explores the complexity of the ELC’s aims by analysing stakeholder perceptions and values connected to four European cultural landscapes. Connected by the presence of Late Iron Age oppida, the historic significance of these landscapes is integrated alongside their other ecosystems services in order to make detailed comparisons between approaches to landscapes management in France, Spain and the UK. The analysis highlights conflicts and solutions regarding the unification of heritage, farming, environmental and social needs from the diverse contexts in order to make suggestions for wider best practice in the management of cultural landscapes which align more closely with the integrated stakeholder aims of the ELC.

KEYWORDS:

• Oppida
• cultural landscape management
• stakeholder collaboration

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the AHRC under Grant number AH/N504403/1; ANR under Grant number ANR-15-EPAT-0002-01; and MINECO under Grant number PCIN-2015-022; through the European Union, JPI-Heritage Plus initiative. Support was provided by the Cotswold AONB and GWT. We are extremely grateful to stakeholders for their participation and to Tom Moore, Vincent Guichard and Jesús Álvarez-Sanchís for comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Taylor and Lennon, Managing Cultural Landscapes.

2. Fairclough and Rippon, Europe’s Cultural Landscape.

3. Jones and Stenseke, The European Landscape Convention, 14. There are exceptions, e.g. The Hercules Project, see http://www.hercules-landscapes.eu/.

4. Both case studies in this paper are from England, however much of the legal framework and implications resonate with the wider UK.

5. The term ‘oppida’ (plural; ‘oppidum’ singular) is used by archaeologists to describe a range of proto-urban sites dating from the 4th century BC to the 1st Century AD. Moore, “Alternatives to Urbanism?”.

6. Ibid.

7. Council of Europe, European Landscape Convention.

8. Council of Europe, Valletta Convention.

9. Council of Europe, Faro Convention.

10. Moore, Álvarez-Sanchís and Guichard, “The place of archaeology.”

11. E.g. Natural England, Capturing the ‘Cultural Services’; and Natural England, Towards a Judgement-Making Framework.

12. Cf. Reed, “Stakeholder Participation for Environmental Management.”

13. Moore and Tully, “Connecting Landscapes.”

14. Tully, “Re-situating Cultural Landscapes.” For a discussion of REFIT’s definition of integrated stakeholder management and sustainability see note 13 above; and note 10 above.

15. Benková and Guichard, Gestion et Présentation des Oppida.

16. Guichard, “An Example of Integrated Management”; Álvarez-Sanchís and Rodríguez-Hernández, “Engagement Strategies”; and note 13 above.

17. Hernández-Morcillo, Plieninger and Bieling, “An Empirical Review.”

18. Helm, Natural Capital.

19. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

20. See note 10 above.

21. E.g. Fluck and Holyoak, Ecosystems Services, Natural Capital.

22. Schaich, Bieling and Plieninger, “Linking Ecosystem Services.”

23. See note 13 above.

24. Álvarez-Sanchís and Rodríguez-Hernández, “Engagement Strategies”; and Tully and Allen, “Participatory Augering.”

25. E.g. Martín Civantos and Bonet García, “MEMOLA Project”; and García-Martín et al., “Integrated landscape initiatives in Europe.”

26. See note 10 above for a more comprehensive overview of the Spanish, French and UK legal frameworks for the protection of the historic and natural environment.

27. Cotswolds AONB, Landscape Character Assessment.

28. See note 13 above, 3; and note 10 above.

29. Bell et al., Social Research Evidence Review.

30. Natural England, Towards a Judgement-Making Framework.

31. See note 13 above, 3–6.

32. Beasley-Suffolk, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.

33. There does, however, appear to have been a recent increase in uptake of historic environment options (Vince Holyoak, personal communication, 25 April 2017).

34. Cf. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Heritage Statement 2017, 8.

35. Ruiz Zapatero, Castro de Ulaca.

36. González-Álvarez and Rodríguez-Hernández, “Luna Celta (Solosancho, Ávila, Spain).”

37. See above 20.

38. Elorrieta and Sánchez-Aguilera, “Landscape Regulation.”

39. E.g. Martín Civantos and Bonet García, “MEMOLA Project.”

40. Goudineau and Peyre, Bibracte et les Éduens.

41. Dietler, “A Tale of Three Sites.”

42. See above 20.

43. Guichard, “An Example of Integrated Management.”

44. See above 20.

45. Cf. Chazelle, Bibracte Mont-Beuvray; and Darroux, Journée participative.

46. See note 43 above.

47. See above 20.

48. Van der Valk, ‘Introduction: Sharing knowledge’, 379.

49. See note 13 above, 2–4. The methodology also outlines the project’s definitions of stakeholders, perceptions and ‘values’.

50. Cf. note 10 above.

51. See note 13 above, 4.

52. See note 17 above.

53. Swanwick, Landscape Character Assessment.

54. Bass, Groenewoudt and Raap, ‘The Dutch Approach’, 51.

55. 18.1% of interviewees and 265.5% of online survey respondents had heard the term but could not describe it.

56. Martín Vázquez, “Proyecto red de castros y verracos.” Verracos are stone animal statues which were erected by the Vettones (the Late Iron Age tribe of the area) between 300–50 BC. Ruiz Zapatero and Álvarez-Sanchís, “Los verracos y los vettones.”

57. See note 15 above.

58. See above 20.

59. See note 7 above.

60. See note 13 above, 5–9.

61. A higher wildlife focus was evident at Salmonsbury, reflecting the Wildlife Trust’s management, whereas Bagendon’s connections with the environment were perceived to be more aligned with features of a ‘working landscape’. Ibid.

62. See above 23.

63. See above 20.

64. Álvarez-Sanchís and Rodríguez-Hernández, “Engagement Strategies.”

65. See above 23.

66. Ibid., 9–11.

67. Ibid.

68. See above 46.

69. See above 20.

70. See note 13 above, 10.

71. Goudiard, 12^e Entretiens de Bibracte. There is growing interest in reviving common land initiatives in France. See, e.g. Comité technique « Foncier & développement », Opportunités et Défis.

72. UK Government, “Common Land and Village Greens.”

73. See note 13 above, 8.

74. Ibid., 11–13.

75. See note 13 above; and Tully and Allen, “Participatory Augering.”

76. E.g. Tudor, An Approach to Landscape.

77. Cf. Geoghegan and Leyshon, “Shifting Shores: Managing Challenge.”

78. See also Tully and Moore, Stakeholder Engagement in Cultural Landscape.

79. E.g. Berlan-Darqué, Luginbuhl and Terrasson, Paysages: De la Connaissance; and Bohnet, “Integrating Social and Ecological Knowledge.”

80. E.g. note 22 above.

81. Cf. Lock and Cole, Public Perceptions of Landscapes, 48.

82. See note 78 above.

83. See note 10 above; and Trow and Grenville, “Agriculture, Environmental Conservation.”

84. See note 13 above, 9–11.

85. See above 20.

86. Downing and Coe, Brexit: Future UK agricultural policy.

87. E.g. Mills et al., Farmer Attitudes and Evaluation.

88. Kolen and Renes, “Landscape Biographies.”

89. See above 23.

90. E.g. note 54 above.

91. See above 23.

92. Robertson, “The Nature that Capital.”

93. See note 77 above.

94. See note 13 above, 11–13.

95. Darroux, Journée participative.

96. E.g. note 78 above.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gemma Tully

Gemma Tully is a community archaeologist and museum professional who has worked on collaborative projects to enhance mutual understandings of cultural landscapes and museum collections between diverse stakeholders in Europe and North Africa. Her PhD (University of Southampton, 2010) focused on innovative, community-based approaches for the representation of ancient and modern Egypt in museums. This research was used recently to develop a ground-breaking exhibition at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, in which contemporary Egyptian art and ancient Egyptian artefacts were displayed side-by-side. Gemma has taught on Undergraduate and Masters programmes in archaeology and museology, worked in the Museum sector and co-ordinated community archaeology projects, from excavations and exhibitions to co-authored publications, in the UK, Germany, Sudan and Egypt. She has also published widely on heritage, community archaeology and museology and is currently a Research Associate at both Durham University and the University of Cambridge.

Chiara Piai

Chiara Piai is PhD student in Anthropology in the EDYTEM laboratory of the Université de Savoie Mont Blanc, where she writes her PhD thesis about place branding as a singularizing process of place building in the context of two French rural mountain areas, the Bauges massif (Savoy) and the Morvan massif (Burgundy). She previously studied anthropological sciences at the University of Bologne and Copenhagen, before moving to France, where she obtained a Master degree in Comparative research in anthropology, history and sociology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.

Jesús Rodríguez-Hernández

Jesús Rodríguez-Hernández is an archaeologist with diverse interest in Iron Age, cultural landscapes and public engagement with archaeological heritage. His PhD (Complutense University of Madrid, 2017) focused on the communities who inhabited Western Spain during the Iron Age from a social perspective. Jesús has taught on Undergraduate programmes in History and co-directed field projects around the oppidum of Ulaca (Central Spain). He has also published several papers on the Iron Age in Western Spain and is currently a postdoctoral researcher of the Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain).

Elodie Delhommeau

Elodie Delhommeau was born in 1989 and grew up in the Morvan (Burgundy). When she was 13, she discovered archaeology, and popular traditions of her territory. Curious about the relationship between people and landscapes, she studied archaeology and tourism. She has been a mediator for the archaeological site of Bibracte since 2012.