ABSTRACT
Human alterations to the landscape are as old as humanity itself. In fact, landscape – as the word itself says – is land-shaped, reflecting social and economic needs of a particular society at a given moment (Antrop 2006). Over the last 10,000 years, human activities have brought about major changes to the world's landscapes. These changes occur as a result of the expansion of settlements, the creation of fields and pastures for agriculture, the clearing of forests and the draining of marshes and wetlands etc. Some theoreticians claim that any landscape formed and influenced by man is cultural. According to Taylor (2002: 94) ‘cultural landscapes can be thought of as any landscape bearing the impact of human activity, historic or prehistoric.’ 1 Cultural landscapes are in contrast to natural landscapes, which are spaces not (yet) changed by human hands. By Taylor's definition, most landscapes are cultural, shaped over time but with varying degrees of modification. In Europe, for instance, every landscape can be considered cultural. Rural as well as urban, central, marginal or remote landscapes, but also industrial, rural or urban wastelands are covered by this term – only a few of them do not reflect the immediate impact of human interventions.
