Landscape Governance in the Age of Social Media

At the end of the 20th century, documents such as the World Heritage Guidelines or the European Landscape Convention proposed new and challenging ways of conceptualizing landscape assessment and governance. At the same time, social media has become a rich source of data that has had an impact on how we view spaces. Currently, many researchers are advocating the value of social media data to better understand ecosystem service provision, use, and intensity. This Special Issue explores the relationship between contemporary forms of landscape valuation and governance and present-day social media. The collected papers provide a wide range of answers to questions relevant to today's world: Is social media useful for governments to identify and adapt to changes in land use, mobility patterns, or landscape meaning? Does it lead to a more democratic understanding of landscape and its conservation? Does it help local communities express their feelings about government policies? Are any of these factors in line with the concepts of international organizations, such as IUCN, UNESCO, or the Council of Europe?