7. Conclusion: nothing is new under the sun, but the atmosphere changed
Landscapes are dynamic and change is one of their properties. Humans have always adapted their environment to better fit the changing societal needs and thus reshaped the landscape. All the important driving forces are related to the population growth and the life-style becoming increasingly more urban and more mobile. Since the 18th century, however, the pace and magnitude of the changes increased greatly, causing definite breaks with the past. Only in the beginning of the 20th century was there a first concern regarding the loss of natural and cultural values. A second period of concern emerged gradually at the end of the 20th century, stimulated by the growing awareness of environmental deterioration and loss of ancestral roots. Modern developments are found to be not very sustainable when compared to traditional land management practices that lasted for centuries. More attention is given to the scattered remnants of the past traditional landscapes. Their importance is manifold. They are the tangible witnesses of ancestral values everyone can perceive and experience directly in the landscape. Symbolic and cognitive values pass through esthetically felt scenery. They contain a lot of information concerning the still poorly known history of ordinary people and land management traditions. Much wisdom and inspiration for sustainable management can be found here, which is useful when decisions have to be taken for the future management of landscapes, their restoration and even for creating new ones. Landscapes of the past can not be brought back, but ways how valuable elements and areas can be preserved and become embedded functionally in the modern urbanized and globalized society must be studied.