Changing landscapes and their effects on non-material benefits: challenges and opportunities for landscape science

Landscape changes are occurring at unprecedented rate and pace, affecting non-material benefits of human-nature interactions and highlighting the need for better integration of perceptions into decision-making. However, links between landscape changes and impacts on non-material benefits remain poorly understood, despite being core topics in landscape science. This paper aims to provide insights into current approaches to assess landscape changes and related impacts on non-material benefits, highlighting limitations and challenges of research in landscape science. In an interactive workshop setting, experts in landscape science collected and discussed assessment approaches to capture impacts on non-material benefits due to landscape changes as well as factors influencing perceptions of these changes. Current challenges and opportunities of research in landscape science are pointed out applying a Strengths–Weaknesses–Opportunities–Threats (SWOT) analysis. While landscape science as an interdisciplinary and increasingly transdisciplinary research field enables the holistic assessment of human-nature interactions and impacts from landscape changes on non-material benefits, conceptual and methodological issues limit knowledge production and hamper the integration into landscape planning and decision-making. Factors influencing perception of changes are still insufficiently understood, while technological developments can help to develop novel integrative methods. Landscape science has the potential to holistically assess the impacts on human-nature interactions caused by landscapes changes. However, there are several challenges and limitations that still need to be addressed, requiring a steady exchange between research and governance, as well as a better integration of the perception of diverse types of users and beneficiaries.