Abstract/Summary

Since the beginning of the process aimed at achieving a shared European energy policy, different kinds and levels of land use conflicts have emerged around large-scale green energy power plants in agricultural regions. They represent a major topic of national and local public debate within European countries. Examination and comparison of the relationships between current energy policies and the transformational processes of two rural landscapes in Europe — the Beauce Plateau, France and the Alta Murgia region, Italy — suggest that a more integrative conception of both green energy and landscape policy is needed. The study aims to pave the way toward an integrated approach to green energy and landscape policies in the two case studies, by introducing and discussing a set of landscape acceptability criteria for managing energy projects in rural regions.