A study on historic hedgerow: from cultural landscape to multifunctional landscape

The role played by hedgerows in the Japanese and Italian rural landscape has drastically changed: while in the past they used to define each field and to provide wood for various purposes, from the second half of twentieth century hedgerows have been considered, in most of the cases, just an obstacle. The loss of hedgerows has impoverished the landscape not only from the aesthetical point of view but also from the ecological one. The paper analyses first a historic site in order to understand hedgerows\u2019 transformations and to identify their permanencies. Consequently, it explores the multifunctionality hedgerows can provide through an Italian project which experimented alternative uses. The first case represents one of the most unique Japanese landscapes characterized by hedgerows: the Isawa plain in Iwate prefecture where singular geological and climatic characteristics have originated a scatted dwelling system where each residential unit is surrounded by hedgerow protecting the settlement from the wind. The study method is based on a GIS land-use analysis referring to aerial photographs and topographic maps. Such method is applied in order to understand the landscape transformations and to quantify hedgerows permanencies or loss. Secondly the paper refers to the Italian context of Veneto region where the mixed crop system strongly characterized its historical landscape. As most of such historical landscape has already disappeared, the paper focuses on an environmental project, which is based on the EU Life- Environment Programme, in order to demonstrate that hedgerows can have positive effects on the environment (CO2 absorption, biodiversity conservation or water run-off reduction) and can be also economically advantageous. Considering the growing importance of environmental issues it is possible to look at many historic hedgerows from a more eco-friendly perspective which can contribute to a protection policy for hedgerow