The landscape is a common space for the activities of living creatures. The interaction between people, animals, plants, soil and climate create the landscape. Human activities, in particular, influence the landscape and the conditions for flora and fauna. When human beings introduced agriculture about six thousand years ago, they domesticated both flora and fauna to a certain extent, by introducing animal husbandry as well as growing crops. Today, thousands of years later, all landscapes in Denmark are in reality cultural landscapes. The landscape is also the basis for the territoriality of society, such as ownership, and the landscape is the common administrative foundation concerning the "area bound" administration within which the state, counties and municipalities work. The landscape is also the basis for the creation of the spatial element of human identity, whether it is rooted at the national, regional or local level. The romantic celebration of the cultural landscape by Adam Oehlenschläger is a case in point.

The main objective of the centre will be to analysise the dynamics of the actual, empirical cultural landscape in the interaction of interests between cultural history and nature conservation and in correlation with the use of the landscape from a production and recreational perspective. In particular, the centre will focus on the cultural aspects of this dynamic including the administration of nature. Emphasis will be given to the various chronological layers, of which the appearance of the present day landscape is a result and decide which of these features should be included in scenarios for the development of the landscape.

The different chronological layers in the landscape demonstrate that human activities have always left traces in the landscape. These traces are to a certain degree acknowledged by experts and ordinary citizens, but only protected by legislation and planning to a limited extent, primarily as segments. One of the main objectives of the centre will be to identify and analyse the chronological layers in a broad historical perspective and see them as a structure in its entirety in the landscape. The aim is to create an overview of what remains and what is protected. Thereby creating a basis for suggestions of how the future landscape can be administered, taking into consideration whole historical layers encapsulated in the landscape.

While the agricultural landscape is controlled primarily by human interference, other types of landscapes subordinate human activities to a larger degree by the dynamic development of nature. Such areas include protected wetlands and the coastal zone. The centre has a particular interest in the examination of the interaction between nature and the economical and recreational use thereof by people.

As the constantly changing landscape is a premise, there is no hidden agenda for a conservationist view of the landscape contra a more liberal usage view. The aim of the centre is to develop viewpoints arguing a dynamic view of the landscape,

• Deeply rooted in the consciousness of the different chronological layers,
• Arguing for the protection of particularly well preserved cultural environments,
• Focusing on flora and fauna as a result of human influence and arguing for the protection of certain particularly selected species,
• Contending a cultural sustainability in land use.

The relevance of the centre for basic research

The main focal points of the centre are relevant and new for research, certainly concerning the holistic view presented here. Five areas of study are of particular importance for their new impulses and contribution to research:

• The view of the cultural landscape as an expression of human utilisation of and intervention into the natural preconditions. These conditions can have been recreated, slightly altered or adapted to a new situation. The decisive difference is the recognition that the activities of people transform the landscape, as for instance when nature reserves are created. In a broader sense the approach is eco-historical which has had an international breakthrough, an approach which has not yet caught on within Danish history.
• The co-operation between the natural sciences and arts on the basis of the above mentioned will be beneficial to both parties. For example, the co-operation in specific examination areas between palaeo-ecological research and studies within the fields of archaeology and history will be decisive for a nuanced analysis of the development of the cultural landscape seen in a long perspective. Such studies will furthermore contribute to an explanation of present regional characteristics in areas such as flora and fauna. Sociological/social anthropological methods will illuminate the interests of the players regarding the existing landscape.
• Manipulative experiments with hunting in coastal areas are carried out in order to uncover the disturbing effect of recreational activities to natural interests. On the basis of specific studies of the development so far and the present situation in specific landscapes the scenarios will contribute to an enforcement of the scientific side of forecasting, particularly concerning the spatial analysis.
• The use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) work-tools will strengthen this new important instrument of analysis in different sciences.

The Importance of the Centre to Management - the Strategic Goals

The work of the centre is aimed at incorporating the results into landscape management. The management of the landscape will be affected in various ways:

• The holistic cultural landscape. The chronological layers will be evaluated in relation to a holistic view of the cultural landscape. The level of preservation of the remains will be evaluated, as will a comparison of corresponding remains from other regions in order to determine if these remains in particular merit preservation. This encompassing view will encourage new methods of registering and a re-evaluation of the conservation effort.
• Nature values in the landscape. In order to ensure better conditions for selected area of flora and fauna it will be necessary to incorporate production methods encompassing natural conditions and adapt the production methods to a desirable and necessary goal.
• Landscape scenarios. Models will demonstrate the direction of the future development of the landscape and the premises for this evolution. Visualisation of such models based on computer programmes will demonstrate the tools for making such a method beneficial both in the physical planning and in dialogue with the public.
• Cultural and natural sustainability. The forms and tools of the optimal preservation of selected elements will be evaluated concerning nature and culture. Such an approach emphasises that the future utilisation of areas should be viewed according to cultural and natural sustainability. This point of view necessitates a weighing of economical, recreational and conservationist interests in the landscape. Incorporating sustainability principles in land use and production will become an option.

The Participating Parties

The participating institutions/researchers are characterised by having completed research within their own area, some are working within management institutions or have as research institutions co-operated strategically. Another characteristic of the research institutions is that they have co-operated interdisciplinary across institutions, particularly within cultural history and settlement history.

Natural science institutions have for a long time been involved in strategic research. This is true for GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland) and Nationalmuseet (The National Museum). Both have worked with the cultural landscape in a thousand years perspective based on palaeo-ecological examinations. The National Museum likewise has a research tradition within the field of archaeological map-making, a work which is continued by the Danish National Record of Sites and Monuments (DKC - Det kulturhistoriske Centralregister). National Environmental Research Institute (DMU - Danmarks Miljøundersøgelser) has since it was started been involved in strategic environmental research. The museums involved have through many years worked with the keeping of archaeological and ethnological objects, both as consultants and within research (Odense City Museums and The Museum of Fishing and Seafaring). The Centre for Maritime and Regional History (located at The Museum of Fishing and Seafaring) has developed interpretation methods within regional history for the interplay between the coast and the in-land. The School of Prehistoric Archaeology at Aarhus University has worked with long-term models for the development of the landscape, primarily as research. While The Cartographic Documentation Centre at Odense University has studied settlement history. This unit has also co-operated with both local and national authorities regarding the inclusion of elements in the cultural landscape within planning and management. At Aalborg University work has been done within landscape planning and the use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems) through a number of years. Landbohøjskolen (The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen) has worked strategically with subjects within the field of agricultural areas and planning. Since its start Forskningscentret for Skov & Landskab (Danish Forest & Landscape Research Institute) has worked with strategic research within the area of forest and landscape. Dansk JordbrugsForskning (Dept. of Land Use, Research Centre Foulum), likewise has a clear strategic goal within its work field, as is the case with Stanten Jordbrugs- og Fiskeriøkonomisk Institut (Danish Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Economics).

Similarly, as several institutions have previous work experience with GIS (Geographical Information Systems) the method is not original, but perhaps the intended widespread strategic use of it is new.

Work-plans and Time-schedules

The various sub-projects are co-ordinated towards a common goal and shared milestones defined by the greater objective of the centre. Within this framework more specific milestones will be defined for the individual sub-projects, determined by their research area and methods. This definition process will mainly be achieved through common seminars where results are discussed in an interdisciplinary forum. Mentioned below are stages expressed as main landmarks at the centre level. These milestones will form the basis from which the centre can be evaluated.

Common milestones:

 1997-98: compilation of a database through GIS, account of problems with the integration of cultural and natural history data in GIS-tools as well as development of models.

• A concept will be established regarding the map foundation deemed most suitable in a GIS (Geographical Information Systems) for landscape analysis. This data will include cultural history (CLIS), nature and scenarios for the future.
• Problems connected with the integration of data in GIS, particularly regarding cultural and natural history will be considered. This debate will be implemented through a seminar.
• Criteria for a landscape model for the Danish coastal zone will be worked out.
• A fysiotop-classification model will be developed based on the natural basis of regional areas and a validation of fysiotop-vegetation connection in the field.
• Methods and a scholarly basis for system-ecological models will be developed of selected areas of the landscape concerning the nature content.

1999: identification of particular landscape layers and the content thereof as well as a more strict definition of the concept cultural sustainability in land use.

• Criteria for prehistoric landscape models will be drawn up on the basis of archaeological and historical vegetation data.
• An overview of the vegetation development in a long-term perspective will be set up to focus on differences internally within the area and in relation to other examination areas.
• An evaluation will be established of how different types of historical cultural landscapes can be identified and made operational within a management and planning context.
• The historical coastal zone notion will be analysed in relation to the development of the settlement and utility deprivation in selected regions. The management of the Danish coastal zone will also be examined, for example in relation to the European Coastal Code of Conduct.
• Criteria for an evaluation of different scenarios of landscape development in the regional examination areas will be developed.
• One biotop model will be set up based on detailed studies of selected biotops and the validated fysiotop-classification model.
• Individual based models will be set up for the species roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), fox (Vulpes vulpes), badger (Meles meles), long-tailed field mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), field vole (Microtus agrestis) and squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris).
• An evaluation will be put forward of the attitudes of the local population towards the establishment of nature reserves.

2000: an evaluation of the particular layers of the landscape and their assessment in a series of landscape scenarios for the future development and their strategic significance.

• Regional models are drawn up for prehistoric landscapes and the application of the models is subsequently considered regarding the management of the prehistoric cultural inheritance.
• An assessment is drawn up of which historical vegetation development progresses are the basis for various present day landscape types and to which extent these observations are useful in a strategic context.
• The content of the cultural landscape will be assessed and an outline for the regional areas will be drawn up which encompasses a sustainable cultural development.
• An outline will be suggested for coastal management in regional districts incorporating a consideration of the cultural values.
• Different scenarios will assess the future development of the landscape and different demonstrations will visualise these.
• A landscape model will be developed which will describe the consequences of the changed utilisation of the area in selected parts of the nature content.
• Implementing of the biotop model in GIS (Geographical Information Systems).
• An evaluation is made of how the utilisation by different aquatic birds in certain localities is dependent on given restrictions.
• An assessment is made of the significance to the economic viability of agriculture to make nature reserves in certain areas.

Selection of Examination Areas:

The Centre for Changing Landscapes has combined two considerations in the selection of examination areas. One is to ensure a placement in the landscape which is optimal seen from the areas of interest as described in the different projects. The other consideration is to guarantee a large degree of correspondence in the examination areas in order to obtain advantages in regard to data exchange (maps, registers, etc.) and different scholarly approaches to the same landscape.

In the choice of examination areas attention has been given to the representation of different landscape types, for example in regard to soil, orography, nature and cultural history. The most important aspect for the Centre is to have the possibility of testing different hypotheses on different landscape types. This consideration is served by the choice of different areas within which the majority of the sub-projects works.

The sub-projects demonstrate different ways of using the landscape for purposes of study. Some are dependent on small examination localities - typically the biological sub-projects examining the extension of flora and fauna within defined areas. Others work with comparisons on a regional and national level. This diversity in approach will be combined within the Centre through the focus on the same examination areas.

The Centre therefore includes two main groups of landscape studies, a terrestrial and a coastal. The sub-projects concerned with Sustainable Land Use in Coastal Areas encompass studies of both natural and cultural landscapes in the coastal zone. The sub-projects are partly concerned with resorts for selected species of birds and the attitude of the local population to nature reserves, partly with studies of the management of historical coastal landscapes. The selected regions are common to both types of sub-project though the coastal management project within cultural history has a broader regional approach to the coastal area and include the coastal areas outside of the nature reserve. Furthermore, the coastal management project co-operates with the other cultural history sub-projects regarding two selected areas.

In the terrestrial group of landscape studies a concentration around three key areas is found: East Jutland, Northern Funen and Western Jutland.

East Jutland is conceived as a broad frame for greater regional studies utilised to compare development features at a more superior level though sub-national. Three regional localities of examination have been selected within this area; the municipalities of Bjerringbro and Hvorslev - already supplied with a large accumulation of data, an area around Tåstrup lake, west of Århus - where the lake will form the basis for a regional pollen diagram and the area will be included in archaeological and historical studies, and finally Vejle Ådal (Vejle Riverbed), which is particularly interesting from a botanical point of view, however the cultural history sub-projects also have interests in the area.

At Northern Funen the area of examination is centred in Søndersø municipality, which contains two lakes; Langesø and Dallund Sø (Lange lake and Dallund lake), situated in completely different landscape types. Regional pollen diagrams will be made on the basis of information from the two lakes and a number of cultural history studies will take place here.

Of particular interest, both from a cultural history and botanical point of view, is the possibility of analysing the development of the landscape within a restricted locality disclosing two completely different landscape types. The area will also be extended to encompass the coast by Båring Vig (Båring Creek) and thereby make a co-operation with the coastal management project possible.

In Western Jutland the area of examination will be concentrated around Ho Bugt (Ho Bay) and extent inland, where localities of interest to cultural history as well as zoology are found.