Spatially explicit data about the everyday landscape: small landscape object

The Swiss periurban landscape is an open landscape (including forests) with interspersed settlements, characterized by many small objects such as benches, signposts, and fruit stands. This landscape is still hard to grasp, partly because of the lack of appropriate models for periurban land dynamics and partly because of a lack of data at an appropriately fine scale. The small objects are crucial for the periurban landscape, as they contribute to the character and quality of the periurban landscape, affect landscape services, and indicate processes of landscape change.

Our research is based on a conceptual model for periurban land change that includes four processes and their driving forces. The four processes are settlement enlargement, the increase of recreational activities and associated facilities, the adaptation of agriculture and forestry to their periurban setting, and infrastructure development.

Currently, four goals are pursued: (1) to develop and test a method to inventory the small landscape objects, (2) to describe the patterns of small landscape objects, (3) to specify and further develop the conceptual model based on the small landscape objects, and (4) to understand the contribution of the small object to landscape character, quality, and services.

We conducted a pilot study in summer 2009 to develop and test a method to inventory the small landscape objects (question 1). We sampled 47 randomly selected 1 km² sampling plots in the Canton Aargau, Switzerland. In the sampling plots, all objects not included in the topographic map but big enough to be perceived by a pedestrian were recorded. The preliminary results confirm that there are many small landscape objects. For example, benches and firewood deposits are most frequent (more than 170 times recorded). In contrast, 75 objects were found only once.

The small landscape objects of this pilot study have been photographed, geo-referenced, and visualized with a google earth application.

The inventory reflects the enormous complexity of the periurban landscape and its small landscape elements but allows deepening our understanding of the patterns, processes, and driving forces of the periurban landscape. The method proves to be very useful and we are currently investigating the options to inventory a larger area of periurban Switzerland.