Within the research field of landscape perception new approaches have been developed and applied on different scales in Switzerland. Agriculture still has a huge impact on the appearance of cultural landscape. The project Kulturlandschaft gemeinsam verstehen investigates the perception among farmers and is focusing on regional differences. Therefore problem-centred interviews have been conducted in two case study areas during an on-site walk with farmers. Regarding the theory of landscape socialisation participative and mediation processes in the realm of landscape values have been considered. The results point out a differentiated perception of cultural landscape within the two case study areas and show that an active inclusion of farmers has a positive impact on the landscape perception.

The European Alps are known as the 'water towers of Europe'. However, climatic and socioeconomic changes influence both water supply and demand, increasing the need to manage this limited and valuable resource properly to avoid user conflicts and water scarcity. Two major challenges emerge when assessing water scarcity in the Alps: Firstly, mountainous regions are very heterogeneous regarding water availability and demand over space and time, and therefore water scarcity assessments need to be done at low temporal and spatial scales. Secondly, the tight coupling of the natural and the social sphere necessitate an integrative approach considering dynamics and interactions of the social-ecological system. Hence, we applied the agent-based water supply and demand model Aqua.MORE, which is designed for catchment scale and sub-daily temporal resolution, to a case study site in the Italian Alps. In the model, the water supply, the local water managers and water users are represented by interacting model agents. We estimated the water supply by refining the annual runoff data provided by the InVEST water yield model for within-year variations. Local stakeholders contributed to the development of quantitative and spatially-explicit scenarios for land use and tourism evolution. To evaluate water supply and demand dynamics, we assessed six scenarios for the period of 2015 to 2050: three different socio-economic policy pathways, both alone and in combination with a climate change scenario. In all six scenarios, the water demand:supply (D:S) ratio continuously rises from 2015 to 2050.The highest D:S ratio values are prognosed at the beginning of the irrigation period in May. In all scenarios considering climatic changes, the D:S ratio exceeds 20% for several days, indicating potential water scarcity. The simulation results reinforce the importance of analysing water balances at a high temporal resolution and can support management processes and stakeholder dialogues for sustainable watershed management.

Current globalized agricultural and food systems operate with an unsustainable capitalist model of production and consumption. The middle and upper classes of the global North and, increasingly, of emerging economies live at the expense of the global South. This has been referred to as the “imperial mode of living”. An alternative model of production and consumption that fosters localized food systems in the corporate food regime is community supported agriculture (CSA), which aims to redefine consumer-producer relations along not just economic values. Against this background, the paper introduces an interdisciplinary conceptual framework for values-based modes of production and consumption where three categories—institutions, values and materiality—inform the empirical analysis. It examines the extent to which CSA can realize their values-based approach and how they transform the third food regime. The paper links CSA to the currently dominant third food regime and shows that, so far, CSA is just a niche in Austria. In the Austrian context, different forms of solidarity and attachment to the community are central shared ideals of CSA members and their supporters. Those values also respect nature and its materiality. However, at the same time, CSA initiatives, when implemented in daily practices, are confronted with institutional, social and material challenges. These need to be addressed if CSA is to continue long-term.

Land use and land cover patterns are shaped by the interplay of human and ecological processes. Thus, heterogeneous cultural landscapes have developed, delivering multiple ecosystem services. To guarantee human well-being, the development of land use types has to be evaluated. Scenario development and land use and land cover change models are well-known tools for assessing future landscape changes. However, as social and ecological systems are inextricably linked, land use-related management decisions are difficult to identify. The concept of social-ecological resilience can thereby provide a framework for understanding complex interlinkages on multiple scales and from different disciplines. In our study site (Stubai Valley, Tyrol/Austria), we applied a sequence of steps including the characterization of the social-ecological system and identification of key drivers that influence farmers’ management decisions. We then developed three scenarios, i.e., “trend”, “positive” and “negative” future development of farming conditions and assessed respective future land use changes. Results indicate that within the “trend” and “positive” scenarios pluri-activity (various sources of income) prevents considerable changes in land use and land cover and promotes the resilience of farming systems. Contrarily, reductions in subsidies and changes in consumer behavior are the most important key drivers in the negative scenario and lead to distinct abandonment of grassland, predominantly in the sub-alpine zone of our study site. Our conceptual approach, i.e., the combination of social and ecological methods and the integration of local stakeholders’ knowledge into spatial scenario analysis, resulted in highly detailed and spatially explicit results that can provide a basis for further community development recommendations.