Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, France
Here, we examine landscape as an actor of ecological restoration projects rather than as a resource. Based on relational thinking and the notion of agency, we aim to identify affordances recognized by local actors and to mobilize relational thinking to understand human-river relations. Although rest...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Resilience Alliance
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol29/iss1/art23 |
| _version_ | 1797234665866657792 |
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| author | Marie-Anne Germaine Alexis Gonin |
| author_facet | Marie-Anne Germaine Alexis Gonin |
| author_sort | Marie-Anne Germaine |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Here, we examine landscape as an actor of ecological restoration projects rather than as a resource. Based on relational thinking and the notion of agency, we aim to identify affordances recognized by local actors and to mobilize relational thinking to understand human-river relations. Although restoration projects have mainly been tackled from the point of view of contestation and landscape attachment, we question the capacity of these operations to produce multifunctional landscapes. We analyze the way in which the radical transformation of a landscape, resulting from the removal of two hydroelectric dams, led stakeholders to act. Our results not only reveal the limits of engineering approaches that struggle to overcome the nature–culture dualism, but also the value of integrating non-humans when we consider relationships rather than only objects. We analyze how the potential uses of a valley are revealed by the radical landscape transformations brought about by an ecological restoration project. We observe how the stakeholders project themselves into this new configuration, the resulting landscape visions it inspires in them, and how new functions emerge from the relationships woven between a new landscape and its stakeholders. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T16:35:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1a9ccbb75de84f998638f679bdde9a9a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T16:35:41Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-1a9ccbb75de84f998638f679bdde9a9a2024-03-29T16:20:32ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872024-03-012912310.5751/ES-14868-29012314868Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, FranceMarie-Anne Germaine0Alexis Gonin1Paris Nanterre University, Department of Geography, Mosaïques - UMR LAVUE 7218 CNRSParis Nanterre University, Department of Geography, Mosaïques - UMR LAVUE 7218 CNRSHere, we examine landscape as an actor of ecological restoration projects rather than as a resource. Based on relational thinking and the notion of agency, we aim to identify affordances recognized by local actors and to mobilize relational thinking to understand human-river relations. Although restoration projects have mainly been tackled from the point of view of contestation and landscape attachment, we question the capacity of these operations to produce multifunctional landscapes. We analyze the way in which the radical transformation of a landscape, resulting from the removal of two hydroelectric dams, led stakeholders to act. Our results not only reveal the limits of engineering approaches that struggle to overcome the nature–culture dualism, but also the value of integrating non-humans when we consider relationships rather than only objects. We analyze how the potential uses of a valley are revealed by the radical landscape transformations brought about by an ecological restoration project. We observe how the stakeholders project themselves into this new configuration, the resulting landscape visions it inspires in them, and how new functions emerge from the relationships woven between a new landscape and its stakeholders.https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol29/iss1/art23agencyaffordancedam removalecological restorationlandscapeplace attachmentrelational thinkingterritory project |
| spellingShingle | Marie-Anne Germaine Alexis Gonin Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, France Ecology and Society agency affordance dam removal ecological restoration landscape place attachment relational thinking territory project |
| title | Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, France |
| title_full | Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, France |
| title_fullStr | Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, France |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, France |
| title_short | Experiencing the landscape: landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the Sélune River, France |
| title_sort | experiencing the landscape landscape agency in a multifunctional valley after dam removal on the selune river france |
| topic | agency affordance dam removal ecological restoration landscape place attachment relational thinking territory project |
| url | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol29/iss1/art23 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marieannegermaine experiencingthelandscapelandscapeagencyinamultifunctionalvalleyafterdamremovalontheseluneriverfrance AT alexisgonin experiencingthelandscapelandscapeagencyinamultifunctionalvalleyafterdamremovalontheseluneriverfrance |