**2. Landscape reclamation: a multiplicity of activities towards sustainable development**

The complexity inherent to the majority of current landscape reclamation projects, evident in the number of different ways in which they have been characterized, both in the literature and by designers and other specialists who worked and/or analyzed them, make derelict landscape redevelopment difficult to accomplish. Apart from eminent contamination and liability on many of these landscapes [35–37], redevelopment processes have to consider also planning, real estate transaction and land use issues [38–40], plus community and economic development issues [40–43], among others.

Considering this background and current need to reclaim derelict landscapes, this book will address both planning and design issues related to derelict land transformation. In fact, as mentioned by (Commoner [44], cited by [45]), thought the main problem lies in our means of production, in order to solve our derelict land problems, we need to change not only the location of certain activities but also the ways of making things. As it has been expressed, understanding this phenomenon is perhaps one of the most relevant consequences of assessing landscape reclamation issues, given that it becomes simpler not only to comprehend the current state of the art as it applies to us, but also to envision possible solutions for present and future problems [16, 21, 22, 29, 46–48].

As present trends of economic growth, resource consumption and environmental degradation become increasingly acknowledge as neither an acceptable nor sustainable option, discussion around why and how to redevelop derelict and or abandoned landscapes become progressively more relevant to growth management policies. As this remarkable phenomenon is gaining momentum, it becomes of utmost importance to address in one hand, the condition of these landscapes, and in the other the principles inherent to this process and the strategies and frameworks that best suit their redevelopment. For this reason, it is essential to study and understand both the differences between spaces generally typified as derelict landscapes, and the land transformation activities inherent to the redevelopment of these sites.

**7**

*Introductory Chapter: Landscape Reclamation as a Key Factor for Sustainable Development*

Even if throughout recent years several normative theories associated to landscape reclamation, considering both design and planning principles towards sustainable communities, were created, the answer to this question is far from being achieved. From an overall viewpoint, sustainable landscape reclamation represents a subject of real sustainable dimensions, considering it is a positive response to environmental, social and economic issues [57, 58], which are the main dimensions

VALORIZA—Research Center for Endogenous Resource Valorization—Polytechnic

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

It is a given, that derelict land redevelopment, provides constant new opportunities for those who have the desire and the ability to seize landscape, regardless of their nature [6, 20, 49–51], for this reason landscape redevelopment and reclamation activities are considered to be, a significant resource for achieving sustainable development [52–55], contributing as well to improve life's quality. In this regard, reclamation processes need to be thought in terms of *sustainability* and/or *sustainable development*, terms that get used a lot these days, and which since their appearance have been faced as new development paradigms introduced in land-use matters, merging social, economic and environmental "dimensions" [56], and putting nations to work together in the definition of new principles and frameworks

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90229*

towards sustainable development.

of sustainability.

**Author details**

Institute of Portalegre, Portugal

provided the original work is properly cited.

\*Address all correspondence to: lcloures@ipportalegre.pt

Luis Loures

#### *Introductory Chapter: Landscape Reclamation as a Key Factor for Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90229*

It is a given, that derelict land redevelopment, provides constant new opportunities for those who have the desire and the ability to seize landscape, regardless of their nature [6, 20, 49–51], for this reason landscape redevelopment and reclamation activities are considered to be, a significant resource for achieving sustainable development [52–55], contributing as well to improve life's quality. In this regard, reclamation processes need to be thought in terms of *sustainability* and/or *sustainable development*, terms that get used a lot these days, and which since their appearance have been faced as new development paradigms introduced in land-use matters, merging social, economic and environmental "dimensions" [56], and putting nations to work together in the definition of new principles and frameworks towards sustainable development.

Even if throughout recent years several normative theories associated to landscape reclamation, considering both design and planning principles towards sustainable communities, were created, the answer to this question is far from being achieved. From an overall viewpoint, sustainable landscape reclamation represents a subject of real sustainable dimensions, considering it is a positive response to environmental, social and economic issues [57, 58], which are the main dimensions of sustainability.
