ABSTRACT

This chapter presents Germanic approaches to landscape assessment which often appear to be radically different from LCA. The distinctions made in German practice between Landschaft and Landschaftsbild must be considered against the background of the development of landscape ideas in twentieth century German history. Assessment results, which mostly rely on expert judgement, inform and guide statutory and informal landscape planning, design and management, but in statutory landscape planning, where Landschaftsbild assessment is most often used, factors such as soils, climate, flora, fauna and cultural heritage are commonly treated separately from Landschaftsbild. The chapter offers examples of current practice at several scales, identifies the principal future challenges as integrating intangible values and increasing participation, and concludes with a discussion of the use of German landscape discourses in a wider central European context.