Matthias Buchecker

• Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

Although community project planning is widely understood as crucial to equitable wind energy infrastructure planning, involved members of the public nevertheless perceive such participatory interventions as merely pseudo-participatory. Drawing on agonistic planning literature, we argue that this disposition towards tokenism can only be tackled with...

The ‘Aarhus Convention’ – regulating access to environmental information, public participation and justice in environmental decision−making – is a key international agreement with a long history and a considerable number of signatory countries. While implementation has been studied nationally, there is little comparative research at the transnation...

Uncertainty and change are increasingly commonplace as communities respond to impacts of social-ecological change including climate change, and dangerous levels of pollution. Given the extent of these crises, new approaches are needed to support responses. Here we identify challenges and discuss insights that the nexus of Senses of place (SoP) and...

Die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels in der Schweiz verstärken sich, wie die jüngsten Hitzewellen und verheerenden Hochwasser deutlich zeigen. Angesichts der erwarteten Verschärfung des Problems stehen Gemeinden und Regionen vor grossen Herausforderungen. Die neue Plattform «Integrierte Klimaanpassung» (IKA) unterstützt sie dabei, durch partizipative...

Les effets des changements climatiques en Suisse s'intensifient, comme en témoignent de manière indiscutable les récentes vagues de chaleur et les crues dévastatrices. Cette aggravation annoncée présente des défis majeurs pour les communes et les régions. La nouvelle plateforme «Adaptation aux Changements Climatiques Intégrée (ACCI)» les aide à met...

Previous experiences play a multifaceted role in shaping current perspectives in integrated natural resource management. We used qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey to study the similarities and differences in terms of the links between the diverse actors' previous experiences and their current perspectives on the various issues to be...

Participatory mapping for landscape planning is gaining in popularity. With a participatory geographic information system, the local spatial knowledge of the affected public can be collected and included in planning decisions. For its proponents, participatory mapping is deemed useful not only for rendering planning more inclusive but also for faci...

Das Thema «Landschaft als Erholungsort» zeigt gut wie Forschung und Praxis gemeinsam neues Wissen generieren können. Die Kultur der Co-Produktion von Wissen erleichtert es, die «Einbahnstrasse des Wissens» von der Forschung zur Praxis zu überwinden. Die Erfahrung zeigt, dass diese Kultur mithilft, theoretisch gut untermauerte, tragfähige Lösungen z...

While ample attention is given to the hydrological and ecological aspects of river restoration projects, local residents and their perspectives on changing environments are often neglected. In this chapter we argue that including the meanings and values these environments hold for this stakeholder group is vital for long‐term public support. This c...

A growing number of academics and practitioners call for the consideration of the benefits of ecosystems to support restoration. In river restoration, anthropocentric valuation has gained ground in large part due to the development of the ecosystem services (ES) concept. The main objective of this chapter is to provide a useful insight for practiti...

Hazard risk managers in Switzerland face multiple challenges due to increasing damage potential resulting from climate change. This calls for a new integrative risk management paradigm that targets involvement of all relevant actors. An innovative program to strengthen knowledge was introduced in 2011 by the Federal Office for Environment and Natur...

A large part of the Swiss population lives in peri­urban (close to city) areas, in which natural recreational opportunities can make a signifi­ cant contribution to their quality of life. The question arises about the potential for upgrading waters as so­called “green­blue infrastructure” (e.g. river restoration) and its effects on local recreation...

Context The implementation of landscape-management decisions is often blocked because actors disagree in their perception of the problem at hand. These conflicts can be explained with the concept of problem framing, which argues that actors’ problem perspectives are shaped by their interests. Recent literature suggests that social learning through...

Building a culture of risk is an essential objective within the integrated risk management paradigm. Challenges arise both due to increasing damage from natural hazards and the complexity in interaction of different actors in risk management. In Switzerland, the Strategy for Natural Hazards Switzerland, aims to establish efficient protection of the...

Many scholars have argued that participatory tools designed around people's site preferences for renewable energy infrastructure require capturing the invisible and often intangible associations that people hold for places. In this study we propose that mapping meaningful places may be a suitable participatory tool to capture such associations. The...

A profound understanding of actors’ perspectives on issues to be resolved is essential for researchers and practitioners in integrated natural resource management. Existing mental model approaches to systematically elicit such perspectives have been based on qualitative interviews, which implies small sample sizes or time-consuming analyses. Few st...

Akzeptanz von Massnahmen bei Trockenheit: Bevölkerungsbefragung zum Extremsommer 2018 Mit extremen Ereignissen wie der Trockenheit 2018 muss in Zukunft in der Schweiz häufiger gerechnet werden. Es ist daher von Interesse zu wissen, ob sich die Bevölkerung der Probleme, die aus vermehrter Trockenheit resultieren, bewusst ist und inwieweit sie bereit...

In the last decades, prosperous regions in Europe have experienced a tremendous rate of urbanization. In spite of considerable research efforts in the last decades, the socio–psychological implications of urbanization are still poorly understood. This paper aims to systematically determine the influence of urbanization on the relationships between...

The Swiss population supports the promotion of renewable energy sources. However, when it comes to specific implementation, conflicting goals can be identified. Various studies indicate that public participation during the planning stages is key for social acceptance of renewable energy plants. Due to its direct democratic institutions, Switzerland...

Human activities have caused the degradation of rivers and streams, and consequently, the disruption of the provision of valuable services. Therefore, the rehabilitation of these ecosystems can provide many benefits that will contribute to the well-being of society. However, these projects often meet with controversial public responses because of c...

River landscapes are complex social-ecological systems with many benefits for people. A common challenge is to integrate social values in river planning and management. In particular, there is a paucity of research on the meaning and significance of place in river recreation and how people feel emotionally and spiritually connected to river landsca...

The successful transition towards renewable energy (RE) technologies is closely intertwined with various societal aspects. Wind energy (WE) is one of the most controversial RE-types, possibly due to the multiplicity of related public concerns. Although some European country-comparisons exist, research concerning acceptance factors in different poli...

This paper develops a theoretical argument for how place attachments are forged and become dynamically linked to increasingly common mobility practices. First, we argue that mobilities, rather than negating the importance of place, shift our understanding of place and the habitual ways we relate to and bond with places as distinct from a conception...

Tourism belongs to the industries with significant energy consumption. Visitors as well as hotel managers have, however, a positive attitude towards the responsible use of energy resources. The level of research on visitors' preferences of using different types of renewable energy is low, unlike findings on factual characteristics of conventional a...

This paper develops a theoretical argument for how place attachments are forged and become dynamically linked to increasingly common mobility practices. First, we argue that mobilities, rather than negating the importance of place, shift our understanding of place and the habitual ways we relate to and bond with places as distinct from a conception...

Building a culture of risk is an essential objective within the integrated risk management paradigm. Challenges arise both due to increasing damage from natural hazards and the complexity in interaction of different actors in risk management. In Switzerland, the Strategy for Natural Hazards Switzerland, aims to establish efficient protection of the...

The term “risk” is connoted with divergent meanings in natural hazard risk research and the practice of risk management. Whilst the technical definition is accurately defined, in practice, the term “risk” is often synonymously used with “danger”. Considering this divergence as a deficiency, risk communication often aims to correct laypersons’ under...

The term “risk” is connoted with divergent meanings in natural hazard risk research and the practice of risk management. Whilst the technical definition is accurately defined, in practice, the term “risk” is often synonymously used with “danger”. Considering this divergence as a deficiency, risk communication often aims to correct laypersons’ under...

Context People’s well-being is influenced by the ability to establish a bond with a place and attach meanings to it. Many studies show that the longer people reside in a place, the stronger their place attachment becomes. In today’s global societies, the length of residency is vastly reduced because of, e.g., individualistic lifestyles, global work...

In response to climate change and limited fossil fuels, renewable energy is being heavily promoted throughout Europe. Despite general support for green energy, perceived landscape change and loss of landscape quality have featured heavily in opposition campaigns. The COST Action ‘Renewable Energy and Landscape Quality’ (RELY) systematically investi...

Wind energy has been one of the most controversial renewable energy types considering its acceptance by the public and different stakeholders. This chapter first discusses the role of different acceptance concerns of wind energy. Then examples are provided about most relevant acceptance concerns across Europe based on the results of a recent expert...

This chapter discusses the concept of public participation in the context of renewable energy planning. Against this background, examples of over 20 innovative participatory planning practices in Europe are given. Furthermore, the chapter also provides some more detailed illustrative case studies of innovative practices. More info about the book:...

https://www.jovis.de/en/books/details/product/renewable-energy-and-landscape-quality.html Abstract of the whole book: In response to climate change and limited fossil fuels, renewable energy is being heavily promoted throughout Europe. Despite general support for green energy, perceived landscape change and loss of landscape quality have featured...

Modelling and simulating the movement of humans during outdoor nearby recreational activities can deliver important insight into the landscape services available to people in urbanized areas. Recreational activities such as walking, jogging and cycling are known to have a positive effect on people's mental and physical health, however in urban area...

Die Planung von Revitalisierungen von Fliessgewässern umfasst die komplexe Aufgabe, die unterschiedlichen Interessen des Hochwasserschutzes, der Ökologie und der Naherholung zu vereinen. Die Ausprägung dieser zum Teil konträren Interessen ist nicht nur abhängig von technischen und gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingungen, sondern auch von der Akzeptanz der l...

Damit die Gewässer schweizweit wieder naturnäher werden, benötigen sie genügend Raum. Der Gewässerraum dient der Sicherstellung der natürlichen Funktionen der Gewässer, dem Hochwasserschutz und der Gewässernutzung. Um diese Funktionen zu gewährleisten, verpflichtet das revidierte Gewässerschutzgesetz (GSchG) die Kantone, bis 2018 an allen Gewässern...

Zur Debatte: •Wie beurteilen Einheimische und lokale Touristen verschiedene Standorte im alpinen Raum für die Nutzung von Solarenergie? •Welche Rolle spielt bei dieser Einschätzung die Einstellung zu erneuerbaren Energien, welche die Ortsbeziehung? •Wie kann die Nutzung der Solarenergie im alpinen Raum gefördert werden?

Research on visualization during participatory planning workshops is widespread, but there are hardly any studies comparing workshops with and without visualization. We conducted four workshops with local stakeholders to develop landscape visions for the year 2030. In three workshops we used different techniques to support the visioning process wit...

With the shift to a service based society, providing opportunities for outdoor recreation that enables mental and physiological self-regulation has become an increasingly important landscape function. Recent research has provided considerable evidence that visits to near-natural everyday landscapes promote psychological and physical health. However...

During the last decade, most European countries have produced hazard maps of natural hazards, but little is known about how to communicate these maps most efficiently to the public. In October 2011, Zurich's local authorities informed owners of buildings located in the urban flood hazard zone about potential flood damage, the probability of flood e...

With the increasing emergence of renewable energy sites in Switzerland, new impacts on the landscape can be observed. Above the Alpine village of Bellwald, a pilot project testing avalanche barriers as a possible site for photovoltaic installations was inaugurated in 2012. This study focused on social aspects of the project and asked questions abou...

Since January 1th, 2011, Swiss cantons are obliged to restore rivers. This aim, to minimize the human, economic and ecological losses while maximizing the benefits of ordinary floods, is on the one hand typically supported by the general public. On the other hand, concrete river restoration and revitalization projects are often confronted with larg...

How does people’s everyday recreation/recovery in nearby nature change over the lifespan? What restorative needs, uses, effects are of more general, stable nature and remain the same over the course of life? What restotative needs, uses, effects change over the course of life depending e.g. on a specific life phase and personal and contextual ciru...

In recent years, the frequency of catastrophes induced by natural hazard has increased and flood events in particular have been recognized as one of the most threatening water-related disasters. Severe floods have occurred in Europe over the last decade causing loss of life, displacement of people and heavy economic losses. Flood disasters are grow...

Die Energiewende bedeutet, dass künftig mit vielen teilweise landschaftlich expo­ nierten Anlagen Energie erzeugt, übertragen und gespeichert werden muss. Die dabei entstehenden Landschaftsveränderungen werden kontrovers diskutiert. Der folgende Beitrag greift diese Debatte auf, postuliert die Bedeutung der Konnota­ tionen der Energielandschaftsele...

During the last decade, most European countries have produced risk maps of natural hazards, but little is known about how to communicate these maps most effectively to the public. In October 2011, Zurich's local authorities informed owners of buildings located in the urban flood hazard area about potential flood damage, the probability of flood eve...

Over the last few decades, Europe has suffered from a number of severe flood events and, as a result, there has been a growing interest in probing alternative approaches to managing flood risk via prevention measures. A literature review reveals that, although in the last decades risk evaluation has been recognized as key element of risk management...

Participatory planning that includes interest groups and municipal representatives has been presented as a means to deal with the increasing difficulty to reach arrangements due to progressively scarce land resources. Under dispute is whether collaborative forms of planning augment social capital or whether they might actually cause the destruction...

Recent literature suggests that dialogic forms of risk communication are more effective to build stakeholders' hazard-related social capacities. In spite of the high theoretical expectations, there is a lack of univocal empirical evidence on the relevance of these effects. This is mainly due to the methodological limitations of the existing evaluat...

The need for social-ecological systems to become more adaptive is widely acknowledged. Social effects generated by participatory planning have been claimed to contribute to this transformation, but little empirical evidence is available that backs up or opposes this notion. We aimed to offer some insights regarding questions as to which social effe...

The need for social-ecological systems to become more adaptive is widely acknowledged. Social effects generated by participatory planning have been claimed to contribute to this transformation, but little empirical evidence is available that backs up or opposes this notion. We aimed to offer some insights regarding questions as to which social effe...

In Städten und im dicht besiedelten Raum zwischen den grossen Ballungszentren stehen Naherholungsgebiete unter enormem Nutzungsdruck. Um die Qualität der Naherholung zu bewahren und die Freizeitmobilität in Grenzen zu halten, ist dem Erholungsverhalten der städtischen Bevölkerung in der Raumplanung Rechnung zu tragen. In einem vom Bundesamt für Umw...

Current legal requirements of Switzerland as well as the EU require that the affected public shall be involved in the planning of environmental projects such as river revitalization. There is, however, no general agreement as to how comprehensively involve the public and according to which objectives the involvement process should be designed. At t...

The research focussed on the active participation of volunteers in landscape development by maintenance work, based on the thesis that landscape is a dynamic concept influenced by human action. The method chosen was a qualitative, descriptive case study with two cases. The first case is the local community of Frastanz in Austria that works with vol...

Although both improved risk communication and the building of social capacities have been advocated as vital ways to increase societies’ resilience towards natural hazards across the world, the literature has rarely examined the ways in which these two concepts may integrate in theory and practice. This paper is an attempt to address this gap in a...

The understanding of determinants and underlying mechanisms of everyday nearby outdoor recreation behavior (NORB) remains insufficient for use in urban planning. We explored the nearby recreational decisions of walkers, cyclists, and joggers in problemfocused interviews (N = 18). The identified influences include various demands of work and private...

This study aimed at identifying types of users of nearby outdoor recreation areas (NORAs) with respect to individuals’ recovery needs and behaviours. We applied a combined cluster and linear discriminant analysis approach to analyse workday and weekend visits of 389 respondents with respect to 17 recovery goals, seven recreational activities, and...

a b s t r a c t Green space around settlements is increasingly important for recreation. However recreation managers have limited spatially explicit data on recreation potential around cities, and representative field data are expensive to gather. To support the identification of hot spots for nearby recreation we devel-oped a GIS model based on a...

In the last decades, in many parts of Europe involving local stakeholders or the local public in river management has become a standard procedure. For many decision makers, the purpose of involving other interest groups is limited to achieving a sufficient local acceptance of the project, and accordingly they adopt minimal forms of involvement. The...

In the last decade, in most of the European countries risk maps on natural hazards have been elaborated but there is so far little experience how to efficiently communicate these maps to the public. Recently, the public authorities of Zurich informed the owners of buildings located within the hazard zone on urban flood risks The owners received off...

Participatory approaches and computerised tools such as decision support systems (DSS) represent conflicting tendencies in state-of the-art sustainable forest management. As a result, there may be considerable tension between these two developments in practice. The objective of this paper is to explore how participatory approaches and DSS could be...

Social capacity building for natural hazards is a topic increasingly gaining relevance not only for so-called developing countries but also for European welfare states which are continuously challenged by the social, economic and ecological impacts of natural hazards. Following an outline of recent governance changes with regard to natural hazards,...

Contact with nature positively impacts one's wellbeing and overall health. This study examined the relevance of 16 personal, social, and living environment factors for workday use frequency of nearby outdoor recreation areas (NORAs) by 262 gainfully employed Swiss citizens. Hierarchical regression revealed that emotion work, sedentary work, low ene...

Farm buildings that have become redundant due to agricultural change often find themselves in an area of conflict between conservation and further development. The Swiss Maiensäss, Alpine farms traditionally used at the intermediate altitude from spring to fall, are a prominent example of such a landscape element. The qualitative case study on whic...

Nearby outdoor recreation areas (NORAs) can provide important opportunities for individuals to recover from their various demands of daily life. To design NORAs that support individual coping with daily demands, it is important to understand what individual benefits people associate with particular landscape characteristics. Therefore, we investiga...

Nearby outdoor recreation areas provide important opportunities for the public to recover from the demands of their daily life. But peoples’ need for these areas conflicts with the current landscape development in peri-urban areas in Western Europe. There, competing forms of land use, such as settlement, and road construction, increase the pressure...

A growing number of people live in agglomerations, and the need for nearby outdoor spaces that provide the population with opportunities for recovery and to sustain health is increasing. However, urban sprawl dissects and consumes near-natural outdoor spaces in periurban regions. In order to manage and design the remaining nearby outdoor recreation...

In recent years, both environmental policy and research have emphasized the importance of involving the public in decision-making. This push for more participation is driven by considerable optimism about its ability to improve the quality of decisions and developments. There is, however, a lack of empirical research to support this assumption. The...

Several studies have shown that local residents increasingly withdraw from local public places either into the privacy of their homes or into remote recreation areas. The villages thus mutate more and more into dormitory towns. Often this tendency is seen as a consequence of spatial alienation. To understand this process we investigated two Swiss r...

Recovering from workloads in nearby natural areas: how concentration demand, emotion work, and sedentary work relate to nearby outdoor recreation behavior [Erholung von Arbeitsbelastungen in Naherholungsgebieten: Zusammenhänge zwischen Konzentrationsanforderungen, Emotionsarbeit und sitzender Tätigkeit mit Naherholungsverhalten] Abstract Nearby out...

The development of Swiss Alpine landscapes must comply with the needs of different interest groups. We assume that the way people relate to places, and particularly the sense of place they have, is a basis for their needs and aims regarding future landscape development. Conflicts among aims can be better understood if the underlying place relations...

During recent decades, the active participation by local people in the development of their everyday landscape has become an issue of increasing interest in Swiss landscape planning. Following the recommendations of federal and cantonal planning agencies, more and more local governments have been using not only traditional forms of participation su...

Abstract Stress-related illnesses and health costs are increasing in modern societies. Nearby outdoor recreation areas are important for recreation, but little is known about their actual use and the role they play in recovery from different forms of work-related strains. This study aims to answer the question of whether the type of strain – that i...

Landscape is an important resource for mountain regions, particularly for tourism. Guiding future landscape development is necessary to meet the expectations of mountain inhabitants, tourists, and the general public outside mountain areas. The studies presented here show how different societal groups perceive past and future landscape changes in th...

Landscape is an important resource for mountain regions, particularly for tourism. Guiding future landscape development is necessary to meet the expectations of mountain inhabitants, tourists, and the general public outside mountain areas. The studies presented here show how different societal groups perceive past and future landscape changes in th...

How do river restorations affect the local population? What kinds of associated needs do locals have?How can they be optimally involved in planning projects? Untilrecently, such social aspects of river restorations have, unlike their ecological aspects, been mainly ignored, in part because a scientific basis for exploring them is lacking. This new...

Restoring rivers has become a common practice in the management of natural resources. While the ecological rehabilitation of river corridors is a clear objective for project planners, it cannot necessarily be assumed that the public will perceive the effects to be aesthetically positive. To assess people's perceptions of the visual attractiveness o...

In an increasingly urbanized world more and more people are turning to our forests and woodland for recreation and tourism. Planning and providing for this growing demand poses challenges that need to be addressed by managers and designers alike. Based on a study of forest recreation from across Europe, the editors bring together the expertise of m...

Naherholungsgebiete erfüllen wichtige Funktionen in modernen Gesellschaften (z. B. Bewegung, Ruhe), trotzdem gehen sie zunehmend verloren. Für ein bedarfsgerechtes Management und für Planungsinstrumente fehlt derzeit ein vertieftes Wissen über das Freizeitverhalten in Naherholungsgebieten und seine Einflussfaktoren. Mittels problemfokussierten Inte...

Participation has become an important issue in landscape planning. Within the relevant literature, an increasing number of authors emphasise the meaning of psycho-social effects such as the building of trust and engagement for planning projects. Yet, empirical studies examining psycho-social effects of participatory techniques in landscape planning...

River restoration as a measure to improve both flood protection and ecological quality has become a common practice in river management. This new practice, however, has also become a source of conflicts arising from a neglect of the social aspects in river restoration projects. Therefore appropriate public involvement strategies have been recommend...

Landscape research needs to consider physical features and processes, as well as human prefer- ences. Anthropocentric value systems rule the world of perception and valuation of landscape quality, but different stakeholders have different motivations for planning, managing or protect- ing landscapes. The potential for conceptual or practical confli...

Value systems are generally acknowledged to be a constitutive element of human life and certainly play a fundamental role in human-landscape interactions. Whereas, however, values form main factors within the most influential action theories, there is only little empirical knowledge about the role of values in landscape research. Based on existing...

Studies of the “human dimension” of landscapes have become increasingly important in landscape also as a “place” with its meanings and contributions to societal identity. In this chapter, we present some of the key theories of landscape experience and empirical research related to those theories. They are grouped around three concepts: First, we su...

Outdoor recreation, and in particular nearby recreation, is of growing importance in urban areas. However, previous research into nearby recreation areas has been subject to several limitations, including being restricted to target area surveys and inadequate explanation of the use of these areas. The present study predicts the degree of use of a n...