Exploring land use conflict: representations of rural landscapes from influential land use stakeholders in the Upper Hunter Valley

Changes in rural landscapes can lead to conflict between stakeholders as shared landscapes are expected to carry an increasing number of functions. Instances of land use conflict could reflect negatively on a tourist destination and deter potential visitors from opting to visit destinations experiencing such conflicts through public debate that may convey a negative or inconsistent public image. Land use conflict also has negative implications for the stakeholder groups invested in a region. This thesis sought to explore land use conflict in greater depth, from the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups. This thesis followed the framework of Social Representations theory for the purpose of understanding stakeholder group behaviour within land use conflict. The supporting research for this thesis employed a qualitative research design and gathered data through semi-structured interviews with 13 participants from five selected stakeholder groups. Findings suggest that land use conflict could potentially be attributed to incompatible representations of the Upper Hunter Valley landscape, which for participating stakeholder groups constitutes a shared social object significant to them. Within the representations of the Valley landscape held by stakeholder groups selected for this study, particular points of similarity and incompatibility were identified such as production or protection values attributed to the landscape that suggest areas that may require management towards conflict resolution, and opportunities for collaborative land management of the Upper Hunter Valley). This thesis also found that the experience of land use conflict in the Upper Hunter Valley could be linked to broader changes in rural areas across Australia: relating to landscape changes and new functions rural landscapes are increasingly expected to perform. This thesis concluded by, considering suggestions of specific areas that may be addressed to assist the resolution of land use conflict, discussing the implications of land use conflict and resolution for tourism, and providing recommendations for future research.