Landscape Economy Glossary

15-Minute City

The 15-minute city means people can get around without having to travel far for housing, offices, hospitals, parks, restaurants or cultural venues. Each neighbourhood typically has six main social functions: living, working, supplying, caring, learning and enjoying.

Circular Economy

A circular economy is an economic system aimed at minimising waste and making the most of resources. This model contrasts with the traditional linear economy, which follows a "take, make, dispose" approach. In a circular economy, products, materials, and resources are kept in use for as long as possible through strategies like recycling, repairing, reusing, refurbishing, and remanufacturing. The goal is to create a closed-loop system that reduces environmental impact, conserves natural resources, and supports sustainable development

Commons

A set of natural and societal resources collectively managed by communities and preserved for future generations.

Community

Group of people who take joint activities. They distinguish themselves from those who do not belong to it, they have a sense of belonging, a shared set of values and some kind of (virtual) space that is accessible to members for their interaction with each other (Forms of appearance: Communities of purpose, identity, interest or passion, practice, inquiry, support, circumstance.)

Creative Commons

An American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright licenses, known as Creative Commons licenses, free of charge to the public. These licenses allow authors of creative works to communicate which rights they reserve and which rights they waive for the benefit of recipients or other creators.

Daily Mobility

A form of spatial mobility characterised by movements within a settlement area over short periods of time. It is therefore different from residential mobility (movement within a residential area over a long period of time), migration (movement outside a residential area over a long period of time) and travel (movement outside a residential area over a short period of time).

Degrowth

An academic and social movement critical of the concept of growth in gross domestic product as a measure of human and economic development. The idea of Degrowth is based on ideas and research from a multitude of disciplines such as economic anthropology, ecological economics, environmental sciences, and development studies. It argues that modern capitalism's unitary focus on growth causes widespread ecological damage and is unnecessary for the further increase of human living standards.

Design Thinking

A process to understand customers and/or beneficiaries wishes, needs and visions. It relies on observing, with empathy, how people interact with their environments, and employs an iterative, hands-on approach to create innovative solutions. It is a human-centred interdisciplinary approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people (desirability), the feasibility of technology, and the requirements (viability) for business success.

Ecosystem

A biological community of interactive organisms and their physical environment. Or in general use: a complex network or interconnected system.

Ecosystem Services

Services that nature provides for humans through habitats and living beings such as animals and plants. Social and physical processes are placed in the context of places and regions to show the connections between humans and nature and make them tangible. It should be noted that in addition to measurable relationships and outcomes, there is also a subjective component: Valuation depends in part on how beneficiaries see the world. Ecosystem services are divided into four categories: (1) Providing services generate products such as food or water (2) Regulating services regulate a natural process for our benefit, for example by reducing flooding or air quality. (3) Supporting services contribute to the functioning of other ecosystem services, such as photosynthesis and soil formation. (4) Cultural services provide non-material benefits that are important to our health and well-being, such as a sense of place, recreation, and aesthetic quality.

Food Security

A situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Based on this definition, four food security dimensions can be identified: food availability, economic and physical access to food, food utilization, and stability over time.

Integrated Landscape Approach

An approach based on multifunctionality and driven by participatory transdisciplinary/cross-sectorial processes to determine change logic and/or clarify objectives. The approach can lead to an integrated landscape vision that forms an umbrella covering all other themes such as foodscapes, cultural heritage, sustainable tourism, landscape democracy and landscape economy.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

A measurable value that reflects how effectively an individual, team, or organisation is achieving specific objectives.In the landscape economy we can apply the concept to wider dimensions of the landscape system such as environment, society, resilience and governance.

Typical landscape economy KPIs are: soil health, biodiversity indexes, cost saving from ecosystem services or diversity and intensity of stakeholder participation. Landscape economy thinking typically moves between this systemic dimension of the wider landscape (which we interpret as an economic system) and the concrete behavior of the actors within this system (business model).

KPIs can be applied to both: the business model and the landscape system.Both are highly dependent on each other. KPIs in (social) enterprises are those economic indicators that provide information about the stability of the business model. The focus is on profit, equity ratio and liquidity. Based on this, further KPIs can be identified at three levels in line with the impact logic of the business model: (1) resources & partners, (2) processes and (3) value proposition.

Landscape

According to the Council of Europe Landscape Convention (2000), landscape is “an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors”. Landscape represents the concrete spatial context in which communities exist. It is an integration of natural, social, economic and cultural systems. This integrated system knowledge is relevant for identifying and solving sustainability challenges.

Landscape Economy

An approach to economy in which the landscape acts as a platform for multiple functions and values which enables a cross-sectorial and multi-stakeholder analysis and visioning for the sustainable development of landscapes.

Local Climate Zones

A typology of the housing landscape based on different types of urban and peri-urban land use on the basis of variations in the type of development, i.e. the anthropogenic elements of the landscape, and land cover, i.e. the natural elements of the landscape.

Multi-level governance

A way of governance in which the power is spread vertically between levels of government and horizontally across multiple quasi-government and non-governmental organizations and actors. This situation develops because countries have multiple levels of government including local, regional, state, national or federal, and many other organisations with interests in policy decisions and outcomes.

Natural Capital

Also sometimes referred to as environmental or ecological capital, the natural resources (energy and matter) and processes needed by organisations to produce their products and deliver their services.

This includes sinks that absorb, neutralise or recycle wastes (e.g. forests, oceans); resources, some of which are renewable (timber, grain, fish and water), whilst others are not (fossil fuels); and processes, such as climate regulation and the carbon cycle, that enable life to continue in a balanced way.

Planetary Boundaries

The concept of planetary boundaries refers to a framework defining the safe operating limits for humanity within Earth's biophysical systems.

These boundaries outline thresholds in critical environmental processes—such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and freshwater use—that, if crossed, could lead to catastrophic and irreversible environmental changes. The framework emphasizes staying within these limits to ensure the planet remains stable and hospitable for human development.

Right to Landscape

As defined by Egoz, Makhzoumi and Pungetti, Right to Landscape refers to the recognition and protection of the cultural, social, and ecological values of landscapes and the rights of communities to access, shape, and sustain them. It emphasizes landscapes as dynamic entities tied to identity, heritage, and well-being, advocating for the equitable participation of all stakeholders in their stewardship and decision-making. This challenges traditional land management paradigms by integrating ecological sustainability with cultural and social justice, highlighting the intrinsic link between landscapes and human rights.

Right to the City

The entitlement of all urban inhabitants to shape and influence the development, spaces, and governance of their cities, ensuring equitable access and democratic participation in the urban environment.

Social Business Model Canvas

A business model maps the central elements of a successful organization (value position, target groups, channels, processes, resources, partners, costs, and revenues). It provides an analytical framework for identifying the requirements of the business model as well as its strengths and weaknesses and deriving appropriate further developments and innovations. A social business model canvas supplements the classic purely market-oriented view with the society-oriented dimension.

Social Capital

Any value added to the activities and economic outputs of an organisation (or process) by human relationships, partnerships and cooperation: networks, communication channels, families, communities, businesses, trade unions, schools and voluntary organisations, also social norms, values, trust.

Systems Thinking

Systems thinking is a set of synergistic analytic skills used to improve the capability of identifying and understanding systems, predicting their behaviors, and devising modifications to them in order to produce desired effects. These skills work together as a system. (Arnold and Wade, 2025, p 675).

Tradeoff

In the context of the landscape economy, a trade-off refers to a situation where achieving certain objectives or benefits—such as agricultural productivity, urban development, or resource extraction—comes at the expense of other goals, such as biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, or cultural values. These trade-offs often arise when land cannot simultaneously support competing demands, requiring stakeholders to prioritize certain uses over others, balancing economic, environmental, and social considerations.

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

A concept that encompasses integrated urban areas designed to facilitate the convergence of people, activities, buildings and public spaces, with convenient pedestrian and bicycle connections between them and reliable transit service to the wider city. It is based on 8 principles, making inclusive cities and completing neighbourhoods around walking, cycling, and public transit: Walk, Cycle, Connect, Transit, Mix, Densify, Compact, and Shift.

Value Chain

All activities in the life cycle of a product or service. This includes the conception, the extraction of raw materials, the various phases of pre-production, intermediate and final production, wholesale, and retail as well as final consumption and disposal. Between these individual stages, connecting logistical activities (storage, sorting, repackaging, order picking, transportation) are required. For sustainable value chains, key elements include: Environmental responsibility: Minimising resource use, emissions, and waste through sustainable practices. Social equity: Ensuring fair labour conditions, community benefits, and respect for human rights. Economic viability: Maintaining profitability while fostering long-term resilience and innovation. Transparency: Tracing and disclosing environmental and social impacts across the chain. Circularity: Promoting recycling, reuse, and efficient resource utilisation.

Value Proposition

A value proposition is a clear statement of the unique benefits or value a product, service, or solution offers to customers, addressing their needs or problems effectively. In the landscape economy, a value proposition can also be formulated in relation to environmental needs, creating benefits for both humans and nature.