Briefing: Between paradigms – a place for landscape

This briefing explores the relevance of Kuhn's analysis of paradigm change in the physical sciences to paradigm change in the wider world. It looks at progress from a world view dominated by a commitment to short-term economic growth, to one that favours longer-term, environmentally and socially sustainable public decision-making. The specific focus is the author's interest in a landscape-led approach to planning for resource use and land management. Here, landscape is defined in the inclusive way taken by the European Landscape Convention. The briefing concludes that society is currently between paradigms, and that this situation will take some time to resolve; however, there are already places where a landscape-led approach is helping to build bridges between the old and the emerging paradigms.