The Centre for Global Heritage and Development is coordinating Work Package 2 of the HERCULES F7P7, together with SPINlab and the University of Uppsala. This work package is studying long-term changes in European landscapes and is creating tools to understand, manage and protect landscape functions and values.
European cultural landscapes are vital everyday living environments that perform heritage, aesthetic, recreation and biodiversity functions, as well as providing society with essential ecosystem services. However these cultural landscapes are experiencing fundamental transformations as a result of processes of land-use polarization, with rural abandonment on the one hand and urbanization on the other.
The vision of HERCULES is to identify local needs for landscape management, and to provide a forum for exchange on the findings developed across the project consortium. HERCULES is hosting a series of workshops to link research with policy and practice.
For more information, go to www.hercules-landscapes.eu