A central factor in all of the issues just mentioned, particularly in relation to policy-making, is that of landscape. Previously concerned mainly with the protection of designated sites, thinking is now moving towards a more inclusive approach of recognising the value in all rural landscapes and seeing people and their activities as integral parts of those landscapes (e.g. the European Landscape Convention, Council of Europe, 2000).

Within the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) Programme context, Selman & Matthews (2005) have suggested that the emphasis needs to shift from planning for landscapes to planning through landscapes, and have proposed the concept of a ‘virtuous circle’ between humans and their biophysical environment, in which feedbacks in both directions between the two result in sustainability and growth of social, economic, natural and cultural capital. It is recognised that ‘vicious circles’ also exist, in which feedbacks result in trajectories towards undesirable states with subsequent loss, rather than accumulation, of capital.

The challenge, therefore, is to identify or develop structures and linkages in rural Socio-Ecological Systems (SESs) that result in appropriate positive or negative feedbacks and hence growth of their capital. One example might be the development of a recreational feature that attracts the public, resulting in a positive feedback on other components of the local economy such as accommodation, craft shops, restaurants, etc., which in turn help increase the attractiveness of the recreational feature, leading to self-sustaining growth.