TY - JOUR

T1 - Using a multi-lens framework for landscape decisions

AU - Cole, Beth

AU - Bradley, Andrew

AU - Willcock, Simon

AU - Gardener, Emma

AU - Allinson, Ewan

AU - Touza, Julia

AU - Hagen-Zanker, Alex

AU - Calo, Adam

AU - Petrovskii, Sergei

AU - Yu, Jingyan

AU - Whelan, Mick

PY - 2023/5/31

Y1 - 2023/5/31

N2 - 1. Landscape decisions are multi-faceted. Framing landscape decision-makingas a governance process that requires a collective approach can encourage key stakeholders to come together to co-inform a discussion about their priorities and what constitutes good governance, leading to more holistic landscape decisions.2. In this paper, we recognise that a suite of complementary and multidimensionalapproaches are in practice used to inform and evaluate land use decisions. We have called these approaches ‘lenses’ because they each provide a different perspective on the same problem. The four lenses are: i) Power and Market Gain, ii) Ecosystem Services, iii), Placebased Identity and iv) Ecocentric. Each brings a different set of evidence and viewpoints (narrative, qualitative and experiential, as well as quantitative metrics such as monetary) to the decision-making process and can potentially reveal problems and solutions that others do not.3. Considering all lenses together allows dialogue to take place which can reveal the true complexities of landscape decision-making and can facilitate more effective and more holistic decisions. Employing the lenses requires governance structures that give equal weight to all lenses, enable dialogue and coexistence between top down and bottomup approaches, and permit adaptation to local and granular placespecifics rather than developing “one-size-fits-all” solutions.4. We propose that formalising the process of balancing all the lenses requires public participation, and that a lens approach should be used to support landscape decisions alongside a checklist that facilitates transparency in the conversation, showing how all evidence has been considered and critically assessed.

AB - 1. Landscape decisions are multi-faceted. Framing landscape decision-makingas a governance process that requires a collective approach can encourage key stakeholders to come together to co-inform a discussion about their priorities and what constitutes good governance, leading to more holistic landscape decisions.2. In this paper, we recognise that a suite of complementary and multidimensionalapproaches are in practice used to inform and evaluate land use decisions. We have called these approaches ‘lenses’ because they each provide a different perspective on the same problem. The four lenses are: i) Power and Market Gain, ii) Ecosystem Services, iii), Placebased Identity and iv) Ecocentric. Each brings a different set of evidence and viewpoints (narrative, qualitative and experiential, as well as quantitative metrics such as monetary) to the decision-making process and can potentially reveal problems and solutions that others do not.3. Considering all lenses together allows dialogue to take place which can reveal the true complexities of landscape decision-making and can facilitate more effective and more holistic decisions. Employing the lenses requires governance structures that give equal weight to all lenses, enable dialogue and coexistence between top down and bottomup approaches, and permit adaptation to local and granular placespecifics rather than developing “one-size-fits-all” solutions.4. We propose that formalising the process of balancing all the lenses requires public participation, and that a lens approach should be used to support landscape decisions alongside a checklist that facilitates transparency in the conversation, showing how all evidence has been considered and critically assessed.

KW - Ecosystem Services

KW - Landscape decisions

KW - co-informing

KW - participatory approaches

KW - ecocentric

KW - power and market gain

KW - place based identity

U2 - https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10474

DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10474

M3 - Article

JO - People and Nature

JF - People and Nature

SN - 2575-8314

ER -