Summary

The National Trust is bringing together a consortium of social science researchers from GW4 universities and land managers to help engage with the communities across the many sites that it owns and manages.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Changing Landscape Values project aims to explore and create new approaches to understanding landscape change both historically and anticipatory.

The research primarily focuses on three Large Lowland Estates, namely Killerton, Kingston Lacy, and Sherborne, where the National Trust is actively undertaking ambitious projects aimed at transforming the landscape. These projects are specifically designed to generate long-term advantages for both people and nature, enhance resilience for the future, and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change and biodiversity decline.

We are helping to develop research which will leverage the extensive archival and heritage resources available at each site. By combining insights from environmental and cultural perspectives on landscape management and adaptation, the goal is to develop fresh narratives that capture the evolving values and emotional connections people have with these locations and the natural world.

Through engaging with local communities, stakeholders, volunteers, and staff, the research will adopt a participatory and engaged methodology. By reframing landscape change, it ceases to be perceived as a mere loss but rather as a transformative process that can yield benefits for both people, nature, and carbon sequestration.