Landscape complexity

In advanced economies, landscapes have evolved into complex mosaics shaped by the dynamic interplay between forests, shrublands, agricultural fields, pastures, and urban or industrial areas. This intricate structure creates multiple layers of ecological and socioeconomic interactions that influence how land is used, valued, and managed.

Despite increasing awareness of environmental sustainability, the absence of comprehensive continental and national accounting systems for landscape evaluation has hindered the full recognition of landscapes as vital components of economic systems. Bridging this gap requires new methods to quantify and interpret landscape functions, services, and transformations.

This book proposes an integrative approach to landscape assessment―combining official statistics, field surveys, remote sensing, forest inventories, and spatial analysis. It demonstrates how these diverse tools can be harnessed to evaluate both quantitative and qualitative aspects of natural ecosystems, offering a clearer understanding of how landscapes contribute to environmental resilience and economic well-being.

Through practical examples and detailed case studies, this book provides an essential framework for scholars, environmental planners, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to connect ecological insights with sustainable regional development and policy design.

Alessia D’Agata is visiting scholar at the Department of Geography, Autonomous University of Barcelona, and doctoral candidate at the Department of Methods and Models for Territory, Economy and Finance, Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, supported by a prestigious fellowship. She holds a master’s in building engineering and architecture and a master’s in GIScience for the integrated management of land and natural resources. Her main research interests include urban planning and policy, agricultural and environmental sustainability, official statistics, and normative approaches to sustainable development. She published articles in top-field scientific journals dealing with land-use change and forest dynamics.

Ioannis Konaxis, PhD, is assistant professor of sustainable eco-tourism and nature conservation at the Business School of the public University of Piraeus, Greece. He teaches several classes of tourism business and economics, ecological conservation of protected areas, landscape and sustainable development. He published theoretical and applied research in sustainable tourism management in prestigious international journals and book series.

Luca Salvati, PhD, is a senior researcher and professor of economic statistics at the Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. His main research interests include regional and urban economics, housing policy, spatial planning, sustainable development, and indication theory. He has published more than 700 scientific articles in international journals and technical books on economic and statistical issues.