Dr. Matthias Buchecker

Function

scientific staff member

Economics and Social Sciences

Social Sciences in Landscape Research

Contact

matthias.buchecker(at)wslto make life hard for spam bots.ch

+41 44 739 23 60+41 44 739 23 60

Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Zürcherstrasse 111
8903 Birmensdorf

Site

Birmensdorf Bi HV F 06

Research interests and projects

I am mainly concerned with social science research on landscape development, landscape services and natural hazards:
Key-topics: life quality, place identity, authenticity of place, outdoor recreation, public participation, risk communication, social learning.

Fur research projects, in which I am currently involved as a project manager, supervisor and/or researcher, see my projects page.

Other Professional Activities

Board member of the journal Naturschutz und Landschaftsplanung

Detailed CV (pdf) and publication list (pdf)

Professional Experience

Since July 2006: Senior Researcher at WSL, Group Social Sciences in Landscape Research
2002-2007: Head of module “Societal requirements of local life quality and negotiations of land use decisions” of the WSL Research Program “Land Resources Management in Peri-Urban Environments”.
1999-2006: Senior Researcher at WSL and deputy head of the section “Landscape and Society”
1992-1994: Collaborator at the consultant firm for forest and landscape “Pan” at Berne.1991-1992: Research assistant at the Laboratory of Hydraulics and Glaciology of ETH Zürich.

Academic Education

1999: Promotion at the Geographical Institute of the University of Berne. PhD-Project under the direction of Prof. P. Messerli and co-supervised by PD Felix Kienast of WSL: Landscape as the lifeworld of the residents: sustainable landscape development by need satisfaction, identification and participation. [PDF]
1991: University diploma in geography (with a focus on land use planning and hydrology) at the University of Berne, Switzerland.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Projects

Integrated risk and resources management

This project contributes to a better understanding of the social and institutional barriers of an integrated management as strategy to climate-change related problems in Alpine regions.

Conceptual evaluation of the Swiss landscape monitoring program 2018-2020

What are the qualities of the Swiss landscape? How do people assess the state of the landscape? These are the kinds of questions being taken up by the Landscape Monitoring program (LABES) launched in 2008. This project evaluates the program for relevance and use of up-front technology.

Partizipatives GIS als Planungsinstrument für Windenergieprojekte

Erhebung von lebensräumlichen Aspekten und partizipativ-interaktiver Standortwahl.

Revitalisierung der Wigger: Die Ansprüche der regionalen Bevölkerung

Ziel des Projektes ist es, zu ermitteln, welche Ansprüche die regionale Bevölkerung an die zukünftige Gestaltung der Wigger und ihre Nebengewässer hat. Dabei sollen insbesondere auch die Erholungsansprüche berücksichtigt werden. Die Erhebung sollte gleichzeitig eine Baseline für die Evaluation der sozio-kulturellen Aspekte des Revitalisierungsprojektes bereitstellen.

Media renaturation

River renaturation has become an increasingly important issue in our society. Since 2011, Swiss cantons have been required to counteract adverse ecological effects. Various interests and demands around the river area inevitably lead to tensions and conflicts that are often difficult to resolve. An analysis of media coverage and presentation of the topic from a long-term perspective offer deeper insights into the course of the public debate and into some of the social and historical issues surrounding river renaturation.

Analyzing the Contribution of Participatory Environmental Planning to Social Learning

The research project studies the role of social learning in the context of participatory negotiation processes based on the case study of a complex planning project in the field of natural hazard management and use of natural resources.

Photovoltaic-panels on avalanche protectionconstructions

In Switzerland exist around 600 km of avalanche protection constructions, mainly between 1800m and 2500m of altitude. Two pilot creations in Bellwald (VS) test whether avalanche protection constructions are suited as carriers of photovoltaic panels and for producing electric power. In our project we evaluated with qualitative and quantitative methods how local tourists and local inhabitants perceive these pilot creations and, more generally, to which degree they accept solar panels in different environmental settings.

KULTURisk

This EU FP7-project aims at promoting a culture of risk prevention against natural hazards. To achieve this goal benefits and costs of different prevention measures are compared, and the effectiveness of risk communication within these measures are evaluated.

Nearby Outdoor Recreation

This project has the goal to develop a GIS-based model to forecast which near-by areas local inhabitants in Switzerland preferably use in their leisure time for outdoor recreation.

CapHaz-Net

CapHaz-Net is a unique collaboration project that brings together social scientists from various European countries. Funded by the European Community it reviews how institutions and people in Europe cope with and adapt to natural hazards.

ENHANCE M4

Enhancing ecosystem quality (e.g. through intervention or defragmentation) is relevant for society and economy. Which ecosystem enhancement contributes best to perceived quality of life and is economically most beneficial?

Nutzen von D-PHASE für Enduser

Die D-PHASE-Visualisierungsplattform, welche Information zu Hochwasservorhersage auf eine innovative Weise mittels hydrologischer und meteorologischer Ensemble-Modellen bereitstellt, wurde hinsichtlich des Nutzungs für ihre Enduser evaluiert.

Erholungsnutzung im periurbanen Raum

Durch Zunahme der Freizeit steigt der Druck auf Naherholungsräume im periurbanen Raum. Um Nutzungskonflikte zu vermindern, braucht es Informationen zu Nachfrage, Potential und Intensität der Raumnutzung. Wissenschafter ermitteln deshalb Kriterien, die das Naherholungsverhalten bestimmen und entwickeln Naherholungsmodell.

Requirements for local quality of life

Today the development of space and Mobility is far away from the principle of sustainability. New ways of spatial planning are required. This project aims at establishing a basis for a more sustainable spatial planning and mobility.

Alpine landscape development

In the context of sustainable development of the resource alpine landscape it is necessary that these developments are supported by a large part of the population. Therefore people's manifold objectives and desires must be known and included in planning measures.

Wahrnehmung und Bewertung von Naturgefahren

Sozialwissenschafter möchten im Projekt herausfinden, wie sich die Wahrnehmung und Bewertung von Lawinen, Murgängen, Steinschlag, Hochwasser, Stürmen usw. auf die Akzeptanz von Präventionsmassnahmen auswirken.

Socially sound river restorations

What is the meaning of the river space for the local public? What are the attitudes and demands of the population in regard to river restoration and which demands do people have regarding participation? This project shows possible ways towards socially sound river restorations.

Participation in landscape development

Scientists developed a guide designed to help local communities start up and carry out participation-in-development. The guide has been published in the form of a brochure. You will also find a web-paket.

Need-oriented landscape development

Rural communities in Switzerland experience a process of urbanization running contrary to the needs of the locals. In order to stop this harmful process, answers to the following questions are needed: What needs of the people can be met by the "every-day-landscape"? Why don't people shape their "every-day-landscape"? How could they be encouraged to participate?

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Publications WSL

Scientific publication article peer reviewed

Verbrugge, L.; Buchecker, M.; Garcia, X.; Gottwald, S.; Müller, S.; Præstholm, S.; Stahl Olafsson, A., 2019: Integrating sense of place in planning and management of multifunctional river landscapes: experiences from five European case studies. Sustainability Science, 14: 669-680. doi: 10.1007/s11625-019-00686-9

Maidl, E.; Buchecker, M., 2019: Social representations of natural hazard risk in Swiss mountain regions. Geosciences, 9, 1: 2 (30 pp.). doi: 10.3390/geosciences9010002

Navratil, J.; Picha, K.; Buchecker, M.; Martinat, S.; Svec, R.; Brezinova, M.; Knotek, J., 2019: Visitors' preferences of renewable energy options in "green" hotels. Renewable Energy, 138: 1065-1077. doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2019.02.043

Williams, D.R.; Di Masso, A.; Raymond, C.M.; Buchecker, M.; Degenhardt, B.; Devine-Wright, P.; Hertzog, A.; Lewicka, M.; Manzo, L.; Shahrad, A.; Stedman, R.; Verbrugge, L.; Von Wirth, T., 2019: Between fixities and flows: navigating place attachments in an increasingly mobile world. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 61: 125-133. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.01.006

Suškevičs, N.B.; Eiter, S.; Martinat, S.; Stober, D.; Vollmer, E.; De Boer, C.L.; Buchecker, M., 2019: Regional variation in public acceptance of wind energy development in Europe: what are the roles of planning procedures and participation?. Land Use Policy, 81: 311-323. doi: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.10.032

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Further scientific publications

Eiter, S.; Roth, M.; Röhner, S.; Kruse, A.; Schmitz, S.; Frantál, B.; Centeri, C.; Frolova, M.; Buchecker, M.; Stober, D.; Karan, I.; Van der Horst, D. (eds), 2018: Renewable energy and landscape quality. 296 p.

Müller, S.; Plum, C.; Hunziker, M., 2018: Switzerland. In: Roth, M.; Eiter, S.; Röhner, S.; Kruse, A.; Schmitz, S.; Frantál, B.; Centeri, C.; Frolova, M.; Buchecker, M.; Stober, D.; Karan, I.; Van der Horst, D. (eds), 2018: Renewable energy and landscape quality. Bern, jovis Verlag. 88-89.

Hunziker, M.; Braunschweiger, D., 2018: Hydro energy. In: Roth, M.; Eiter, S.; Röhner, S.; Kruse, A.; Schmitz, S.; Frantál, B.; Centeri, C.; Frolova, M.; Buchecker, M.; Stober, D.; Karan, I.; Van der Horst, D. (eds), 2018: Renewable energy and landscape quality. Bern, jovis Verlag. 111-114.

Buchecker, M.; Stober, D., 2018: Sociocultural aspects of renewable energy production. In: Roth, M.; Eiter, S.; Röhner, S.; Kruse, A.; Schmitz, S.; Frantál, B.; Centeri, C.; Frolova, M.; Karan, I.; Van der Horst, D. (eds), 2018: Renewable energy and landscape quality. Bern, jovis Verlag. 174-211.

Maidl, E.; Buchecker, M.; Wiederkehr, B., 2016: Is the Swiss population prepared to cope with natural hazards? Findings from a comprehensive survey of the Swiss population. In: Koboltschnig, G. (eds), 2016: 13th congress Interpraevent, Lucerne. 38-39.