Extended applications of landsenses ecology: an introduction

ABSTRACT

The trajectory of landsenses development is characterized with three phases: the phase of concept formation, the phase of proposing landsense creation and its connection with ecosystem services, and the phase of applying landsenses ecology to the sustainability of the natural-social-economic complex ecosystem. This special issue covers landsenses ecology research progress in the first two phases and points out the research direction of Phase III. This issue contains ten articles, covering a broad range of application areas and research topics. Ecosystem cultural and provisioning services dominated these studies. Most of the articles emphasize societal and environmental components of sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Landsenses ecology
• ecosystem services
• sustainable development
• natural-social-economic complex ecosystem
• ecosystem cultural services

As an emerging scientific discipline, landsenses ecology is still in its infancy though it has been applied in a broad range of research. Landsenses ecology involves natural elements, physical senses, psychological perceptions, socio-economic perspectives, and process-risk, as well as associated aspects in land-use planning, construction, and management (Zhao et al. 2016). The development of landsenses ecology has undergone three phases. Phase I started in 2016, when Zhao et al. (2016) depicted the concept of landsenses ecology by integrating traditional and contemporary architectures and accentuating local-level human well-being in studying sustainable development. The technical aspects of landsenses ecology include mix-marching data, meliorization models, and Internet of Things (IoT). In Phase II, Zhao et al. (2020) defined landsenses, proposed the methods of landsense creation, and expanded landsenses ecology into landsenseology (or general landsenses ecology). They address that the goal of landsenses ecology research is to promote sustainable development that depends on maintaining, improving, and enriching ecosystem services. Among the four ecosystem services, cultural services were impacted the most by landsenses ecology (Becker 2020; Xiong et al. 2020; Tang et al. forthcoming). To better apply landsenses ecology in sustainable development, Zhao et al. (2021a) clarified the human well-being oriented hyperfeedback mechanism of meliorization towards sustainable development of society-economy-nature complex systems. The authors address that human well-being is based on the physical or material quantities of ecosystem services. This is a starting point of Phase III.

Ecosystem services and human well-being do not flow directly. It is essential to adopt a broad, transdisciplinary perspective to address ecosystem services (Costanza et al. 2014). Breslow et al. (2017) suggest that ecosystems need to be actively managed to achieve the well-being of humans from ecosystems, and thus, it is important to assess conditions to inform choices about potential management actions in and across complex systems. Human well-being is supposed to cover the willingness, ability, and actions of people who want to shape their own lives based on their preferences. Landsenses ecology focuses on the local-level the human well-being of ecosystem services by recognizing and creating landsenses, facilitating people’s active participation in ecosystem protection and restoration (Tang et al. in press), and the sustainability of society-economy-nature complex systems (Zhao et al. 2021a) (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Pivotal role of landsenses ecology in ensuring the sustainability of society-economy-nature complex systems by promoting local-level human well-being through landsense creation

Landsenses ecology has experienced fast development during the past five years. Increasingly more studies have been conducted over time (e.g., Tang et al. 2020; Han et al. 2021). The further development of landsenses ecology needs ongoing discussion among researchers. In particular, landsenses ecology is an interdisciplinary field and intersects with other existing disciplines (Shao and Wu 2020). How to better distinguish landsenses ecology from other disciplines is an important task. The technological contents of landsenses ecology are in varying stages of development. Their research applications generally need acceptable approaches. Landsenses make landsenses ecology unique, and their valuation requires human-oriented considerations.

To strengthen the development of landsenses ecology, we publish this special issue titled Extended Applications of Landsenses Ecology. This issue contains ten articles, which cover a broad range of application areas (Table 1). The studies were carried out mainly from historically culture-rich geographic regions. Ecosystem cultural and provisioning services dominated these studies. Most of the articles emphasize societal and environmental components of sustainable development.

Table 1. Summary of 10 articles within this special issue

Authors	Application Topics	Geographic Regions	Ecosystem Service Types	Sustainability Components
Chen et al.	Urban vegetation	Eastern China	Regulating, supporting	Environment
Cortegano et al.	Sustainable development	Southern Portugal	Provisioning, supporting	Society, economy, environment
Kaymaz et al.	Urban public space management	Northern Turkey	Cultural	Society, environment
Ouyang et al.	Architecture	Southeastern China	Cultural	Society, environment
Pan et al.	Poverty alleviation	Southwestern China	Provisioning	Society, economy
Tarsitano et al.	Park recreation	Eastern Italy	Provisioning	Environment, society
Yaacovi et al.	Urban stream restoration	Northern Israel	Provisioning, supporting	Environment, society
Zhang et al.	Language carriers	N/A	Cultural, provisioning	Society, environment
Zhao (J) et al.	Sustainable development	N/A	Physical or material quantities	Society, economy, environment
Zhao (Y) et al.	Ecological aesthetics	Central China	Cultural	Environment

Revolving landsenses ecology, the ten articles introduce landsenses ecology research that results in findings from different aspects of human well-being and sustainable development. Chen et al. (2021) suggest that non-cultivated vegetation is urban space enriches ecosystem services; Cortegano et al. (2021) imply that a local-level learning case benefits accelerating transformation towards more sustainable territories; Kaymaz et al. (2021) indicate that people’s daily involvement in urban space helps appreciating ecosystem cultural services; Ouyang et al. (2021) demonstrate that counter-tradition architecture is explainable with landsense creation considerations; Pan et al. (2021) argue that human well-beings at the individual and community levels need to be balanced; Tarsitano et al. (2021) suggest that community education promotes citizens’ active involvement in sustainability; Yaacovi et al. imply that urban ecosystems have important non-market benefits for valuation; Zhang et al. (2021) indicate that language plays a positive role in correctly recognizing and protecting ecosystem services; Zhao et al. (2020) argue sustainable development of a complex system has hyperfeedback mechanisms that need to be emphasized; and Zhao et al. (2021b) demonstrate that a traditional view can be part of ecosystem cultural services for consideration at present. Yaacobi et al. (2021) include water quality, water flow, and maintenance of the riverbanks to characterize the benefit of an urban stream to citizens. Pan et al. (2021) evaluate landsenses according to their physical setting and psychological perceptions, and community-level environment for poverty alleviation migrants. Either complicated or straightforward, these approaches consider people’s demands, which is critical for sustainable development (Zhao et al. 2021a).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (71673265) and Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA23030105).