Multifunctional landscape practice and accessibility in manorial landscapes

Structural development of modern productivistic agriculture characterized by marked specialization and increasing size of holdings are in general considered one of the main reasons behind a declining accessibility of landscape values within agricultural landscapes in most developed countries. However classical manorial estates seems to represent an opposite trend. Although working at the same market conditions as other large specialized holdings developed through the process of structural rationalization, they have often maintained and elaborated a land use strategy based on a multifunctional use of the potential
ecosystem services present within their domain. The targeted combination of agriculture, forestry, hunting rents, rental housing, and a variety of recreational activities influences makes a certain public accessibility to an integrated part of this strategy, diverging from the trends at the other big modern specialized holdings. A historical tradition for access to the manorial landscape as an integrated part of the pre-capitalist way of landscape management at the manorial estates might play a certain role, but it is anticipated that this is being of less importance than the multifunctional landscape strategy supporting a certain public access. A study of this thesis will be presented based on an analysis of multifunctionality, landscape development and accessibility in Danish Manorial landscapes and eventual linkages between their multifunctional landscape strategy, their history and their potential for landscape sustainability strategies will be discussed.