-1 Research Article From hiking through farmland to farming in a leisure landscape: changing social perceptions of the European landscape Arjen E. Buijs 1, *, Bas Pedroli 1 and Yves Luginbu¨hl 2 1 Landscape Centre, Alterra Green World Research, P.O. Box 47, NL 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; 2 Universite ´ de Paris I, LADYSS, 191 rue Saint Jacques, F 75005, Paris, France; *Author for correspondence (e-mail: arjen.buijs@wur.nl) Received 26 September 2003; accepted in revised form 9 November 2005 Key words: Culture, Europe, France, Landscape, Nature Landscape preference, Perception, Spatial plan- ning, The Netherlands, Views of nature Abstract The idea that landscape has been created by human activities on a biophysical basis allows for clear cause– effect reasoning. However, landscape planning and management practice learns that it is impossible to neglect the social perception of landscape, i.e. the ways people think about nature and landscape. It is the result of social research and human sciences of the last decade that a differentiation in views of nature and landscape can be identified in the different groups of social actors in the landscape. Case studies from France and the Netherlands show a marked change in values attributed to nature and landscape in the end of the last century. Social demand for landscape is growing and a shift from a functional image of nature and landscape to a more hedonistic image like the Arcadian and wilderness images has taken place. Comparing the Netherlands with France and rural with urban inhabitants, the influence of urbanisation is evident in this process. It is further shown that images of nature vary considerably between for example farmers, urban residents, hunters and conservationists. The way people perceive landscape seems deter- mined by their functional ties with the landscape and the social praxis in which they encounter the land- scape. It is concluded that the concept of landscape is nearer to the lifeworld of people than the abstract notions of nature and biodiversity. This implies a big challenge both for national and international land- scape policies and for local landscape management initiatives to be developed, taking into due consider- ation both the material and immaterial nature of landscape. Introduction European landscapes are facing a considerable crisis. Traditional functions like agriculture are declining as a consequence of globalisation and the associated economical processes. In remote and less accessible areas, land abandonment continues, leaving behind deserted fields, useless infrastruc- ture and overgrown pastures. In the readily accessible, more urbanised parts of Europe, on the other hand, landscape suffers not less from deg- radation, especially through fragmentation, stan- dardisation and encroachment. Meanwhile, new functions are becoming more and more important for the maintenance of the physical as well as the social landscape in rural areas. European landscapes are increasingly appreciated as leisure commodities. The consequence of this can be Landscape Ecology (2006) 21:375–389 Ó Springer 2006 DOI 10.1007/s10980-005-5223-2