Landscape quality based upon diversity, coherence and continuity: Landscape planning at different planning-levels in the River area of The Netherlands

This article discusses three criteria for planning and evaluation landscape quality in the River area in The Netherlands. In the 1970s and 1980s, several landscape plans, at different planning levels, are made for the River area. Two of them are discussed in this paper. The regional plan got the second prize in a national planning competition. The design for the floodplain was considered ‘the bestʹ over a hundred designs from students. It took many years to describe why. An important purpose in these plans is to improve esthetic and ecological qualities. These plans are later used as a basis for a research project. In this project some general planning objectives and design principles are distilled from the plans. The general planning objectives are based upon the following three criteria: 1. Diversity: This refers to the diversity of landscape components as the expression of vertical relationships between land use and abiotic features 2. Coherence: This refers to the coherence among landscape components as the expression of horizontal relationships between sites (hydrology, ecology, infra stucture); 3. Continuity: This refers to the temporal relationships of land use and spatial arrangement from the past to the future. The three criteria together give information about the landscape structure, including the natural and cultural heritage. These three criteria were applied as the common basis for planning at different scale levels in the River area with regard to improving the esthetic and ecological quality. Some of the concepts of the plans are given in this text. Identified are interrelations between the criteria diversity and coherence and between planning objectives of one criterion at different planning levels. The three criteria are furthermore used to evaluate the contribution of organic farms to landscape quality in nine different rural landscapes in Europe. The results of this project will be published in a second special issue of Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.