The formulation of a robust analytical framework is critical to the systematic interpretation and understanding of the landscape and its constitutive elements. Such a framework undergirds theoretical inquiry while offering methodological orientation for scholars and practitioners seeking to delineate the fundamental components and relational dynamics that inform landscape epistemologies. This article revisits and advances a set of landscape axioms, reconceptualising them through the lenses of phenomenology and more-than-representational theory. Departing from Cartesian dualisms and predominantly visual paradigms, the proposed axioms articulate landscape as a dynamic, relational, and multi-sensorial construct, constituted through spatial perception, memory, embodied practice, and socio-cultural meaning-making. They establish a coherent conceptual foundation and an operative interpretive schema for the analysis of landscape, with significant implications for research, spatial planning, education, landscape governance, and territorial policy formulation.

Playgrounds are essential for providing for children’s right to play, yet often contain barriers that affect all children, including those with disabilities. To address these challenges, human rights and standards documents advocate for inclusive playgrounds using a Universal Design (UD) approach. However, expertise on applying UD to playgrounds remains scarce. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify experts’ experiences and strategies for applying UD in playgrounds. Six UD experts were interviewed using a go-along method at four playgrounds located in Dublin, Ireland. Experts demonstrated a shared understanding of UD, emphasising strategies like adapting environments to children’s diverse needs, fostering teamwork, and creating a positive social atmosphere. Natural elements played a central role, benefiting both children and the community. Importantly, participants did not aim to apply UD to each playground component but to the whole playground environment. In this way, play challenges and social inclusion for diverse users could be maximised.

Idjwi Island, in Lake Kivu, DRC, faces increased vulnerability to human activities due to its isolation. A 33-year study (1990–2023) analysed land cover changes using remote sensing, landscape metrics, and the Random Forest algorithm. Landsat images were georeferenced, corrected, and classified to assess these changes. Results showed dramatic deforestation, with forest cover dropping from 57.16 km2 (20.61%) in 1990 to 3.25 km2 (1.17%) in 2023, with rates of change between −27.59% and −63.98%. As forests shrank, patch distances increased from 91.73 m to 172.54 m, indicating fragmentation. Savanna and agricultural areas expanded, peaking at 153.75 km2 in 2015 before decreasing to 131.78 km2 in 2023. The landscape disturbance index rose 21-fold, from 84.02 to 3.85. These shifts, driven by agriculture and urbanisation, underline the need for sustainable management, such as reforestation and balanced land use policies, to prevent further environmental degradation.

This photo essay visualises migrant architectures of work environments in industrial areas of post-war Australia.

This article presents an assessment of how a large-scale landscape restoration project situated in Svalbard has navigated the dual concepts of nature and culture when addressing the specific qualities of the landscape and the restoration effort. The article discusses the implications of these dual concepts in relation to the complex entanglements and hybrid assemblages that constitute the nature-culture heritage in a post-mining landscape. The assessment and discussion draw on critical heritage studies and the concept of boundary-work. The findings point to conceptual inconsistencies and ambiguities in the understanding of landscape, nature and wilderness as well as shortcomings in terms of embracing the unique nature-culture heritage found in the post-mining landscape.

In Morecambe Bay, the landscape is created in mutuality with non-human life, most notably experienced through temporal and seasonal changes in its avian residents. However, Morecambe Bay’s relationship with seabirds is increasingly under threat from the climate crisis. In this paper, I argue that the Bay’s avian inhabitants are critical to understanding how this ever-changing landscape is shaped by – and in turn shapes – more-than-human life. Drawing on ethnography and interviews, the paper seeks to disrupt or help to open up landscape research beyond the human. The paper is structured through three visions of landscape: (1) ecological landscapes, as the Bay goes through a period of transformation; (2) more-than-human landscapes; and (3) landscapes in crisis in a climate-changed world. I end by asking what it might mean to include non-humans not just as co-producers of landscape, but of landscape research.

Svätý Jur represents a traditional vineyard landscape located in south-west Slovakia. We mapped and analysed changes and persistence in Svätý Jur to bring additional insight into the development of cultural landscapes in Europe. We digitised a unique map from the end of the 17th century, and a set of historical maps and aerial images from 1783, 1858, 1950, 1985, and 2017. The area of vineyards has decreased since the 18th century as a result of periods of cold weather, high taxes for vinegrowers and the spread of human plagues and vineyard diseases. Today, urbanisation is changing the area and character of the vineyards. This confirms the dynamic character of landscapes. We compared the persistence and found that it decreased over time until the last period, when persistence increased. The results are also presented in an upgraded Sankey diagram depicting the temporal aspect of changes and persistence in the area.

Two research trips took us to the Kola Peninsula in northern European Russia, where we visited the Terskii Coast of the White Sea. There, we observed the development of nature tourism in this previously undervalued Subarctic destination. A network of local roads and trails has shaped the tourist development process. They not only serve as a key part of its mobility infrastructure, but also as a core element of local heritage that links otherwise scattered and isolated tourist sites. These sites vary from prehistoric petroglyphs and ancient cemeteries to salmon fishing camps and long stretches of natural shoreline. By exploring the long-term development and conceptualisation of the coastal road, we demonstrate the cultural and historical background and significance of these landscapes. Thus, we highlight the central position of roads and trails in the interactions of various groups of actors involved in tourism.