Landscapes in change—opposing attitudes in Saaremaa, Estonia

The paper explores how different stakeholders understand landscapes and which could be their role in planning and landscape change. The focal emphasis of the study lies on the values of Saaremaa Island. Local farmers and schoolchildren were interviewed and questioned to find out their perceptions and expectations about the landscapes. A media analysis was used to study how these understandings were represented in newspapers. The results reveal an alarming situation where the most valued landscapes experience signs of degradation and disappearance. The divergent goals, and concurrently, the varying valuations among different actors should be taken into account in landscape planning projects.