Contribution short abstract:

The paper explores the (un)changing perspectives on the meanings of landscape in rural Germany. It investigates two cases of opposition to energy infrastructure projects (dam building and wind power extension) interfering with emic perceptions of landscape aesthetics at different points in time.

Contribution long abstract:

The paper investigates the (un)changing perspectives on the meanings of landscape (and energy landscapes in more particular) in rural Germany from a diachronic perspective. More specifically, it compares and analyses two cases of opposition to technological innovations and energy infrastructure projects interfering with emic perceptions of landscape aesthetics at different points in time. The first is the opposition to dam building: the building of dams in the lower-mountain regions of Germany started in the late 19th century and progressed on a relatively large scale in the first decades of the 20th century. The second case is the current controversy on wind power extension in rural areas. In both cases, landscape and nature conservationists substantiate/d their opposition to these technological developments by referring to an infringement of landscapes and landscape aesthetics. The paper asks what has been and is perceived as ‘the landscape’ and ‘nature’ and in how far these perceptions have changed – and might further change – in the course of time. My argument is that the past and current concerns for landscape aesthetics were/are based on perceptions of loss and drastic change (Marris 1986) which are triggered by a traditional impulse (Krämer 2024) and produce/d what Angé/Berliner (2020) refer to as ecological nostalgias. However, perceptions of landscape and nature are not static but commonly change and the case of dam building in particular illustrates an interesting conversion from opposition to acceptance – and partly even admiration – within a few decades.