Landscape defragmentation policy and planning: an assesment of strengths and weaknesses

Landscape fragmentation (LF) is one of the main negative effects due to transport and mobility infrastructures and urbanized areas and consists of a dynamic process, where large habitat patches tend to become smaller and more isolated than in their original condition. As for biodiversity conservation, LF affects landscape quality, triggering isolation of population and reducing movement and dispersal of species. So, landscape defragmentation, i.e. the inverse process, where certain actions lead to a re-connection of landscape patches, is of paramount importance in the perspective to achieve healthy landscapes. Typical defragmentation actions include measures for protecting fragile habitats and inserting them in interconnected systems, such as ecological networks and green infrastructures. Landscape policies and planning in Europe are characterized by the implementation of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), which stresses the importance of landscape quality objectives and gives the same importance to all types of -i.e. also rural and degraded- landscapes. In this study, we aim at building a method for scrutinizing the attitude of policy and planning tools to consider LF and to envision landscape defragmentation actions. The method will be discussed in the light of recent advances of landscape planning theory and practice and tested in selected regional case study.