Analyzing Rural Landscapes: Key Elements & Land Use

Posted on Mar 24, 2025 in Geography

Analyzing Rural Landscapes: Key Elements

Rural landscapes are a combination of the natural environment and human agricultural activity. Therefore, when analyzing them, both aspects must be considered.

4.1. Location in Space

Indicate whether it is an interior, coastal, or mountain landscape, and specify its geographical location.

4.2. Analysis of the Environment

  • Relief: Altitude, slope, landforms (hills, valleys, etc.).
  • Natural Vegetation: Extent, location in the landscape, vegetation type (forest, scrub), and species (e.g., oaks).
  • Waters: Types of water bodies (rivers, lakes) and their location in the landscape.
  • Climate: Rainfall, temperature, aridity. In a photograph or map of an agricultural landscape, the weather can be inferred from the vegetation type, crops, and water availability, as these are greatly influenced by climate.
  • Soil: Type and quality, closely related to climate and rock formations.

4.3. Analysis of Human Elements

a. General Features of the Agrarian Structure

  • Ownership and Use of Land: Parcel size, shape, and boundaries (open or separated by hedges, fences, etc.).
  • Production Techniques: Traditional or modern tools and machinery, compost or chemical fertilizers, greenhouses.

b. Rural Settlement and Habitat

  • Rural Settlement: Type of settlement (dispersed, concentrated, mixed), location of the rural population center, size, type of clustering (linear, crowded), and any recent changes (tendency to neglect or creation of new settlements, housing developments, second homes, etc.).
  • Rural Habitat: Rural house features (materials, layout) and possible introduction of modern house models that harmonize with the environment.

c. Policy Actions

  • Hydraulic projects, land consolidation, rural roads.

4.4. Analysis of Land Use in Rural Areas

a. Location

  • Location and extent of each land use: agricultural, livestock, forestry.

b. Analysis of Each Land Use

  • Agricultural Uses:
    • Type of crop, livestock, and forest species.
    • Agricultural production systems:
      1. Fallow rotation, part-fallow, or continuous cropping.
      2. Rainfed or irrigated (observation of hydraulic areas such as dams, ditches).
      3. Livestock production (cattle grazing or feedlot).
    • Performance (output per hectare) and productivity (output relative to the labor employed):
      1. Extensive agricultural system, which does not produce the maximum possible yield (high or low productivity).
      2. Intensive agricultural system, which obtains the highest yield (high or low productivity).
    • Destination of agricultural production (subsistence, market, industrial processing). This can indicate:
      1. The degree of development seen in the landscape.
      2. Specialization in certain products.
      3. The importance of transport networks and the presence of agribusiness.
  • Other land uses: residential, industrial, tourism, etc.

c. Policy Actions

  • Hydraulic projects, land consolidation, rural roads.

4.5. Problems

a. Related to Agricultural Activity

  • Type of activities, plot sizes, infrastructure, and equipment, etc.

b. Related to the Environment

  • Problems caused by human activity or caused by the abandonment of human activity (rural exodus).

4.6. Prospects for the Future

  • Provisions relating to the degree of current development and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
  • Possibilities of rural planning.