ABSTRACT
Most research into landscape change projects forward from the recent past, through the present into the future, either using some form of statistical model or some form or scenario. In other words, landscape change is a passive outcome of other driving forces and processes. An alternative approach is to consider the kind of future landscape that we would like and work out how to get there. Such imagined landscapes can generate a much more proactive discourse about what we really need from our environment, and these needs are variously social, cultural, aesthetic, economic and ecological. They touch upon the major concerns of our time, about sustainability in the face of global environmental change, about the relationships between our human and other species, about the natural, the built and the social environments we wish to live in and that we need for survival. Arts and science (both natural and social) are needed to develop future landscapes that are rich enough to engage people’s attention and commitment.
