World heritage and landscape change – heritage buildings and their changed visibility in the coastal landscape of Vega, Norway

A significant decrease in open land surrounding heritage buildings has been observed in the buffer zone of Vegaøyan, Norway's UNESCO World Heritage site. This change, regardless of building category, suggests that agricultural practices play a crucial role in maintaining the traditional open coastal landscape. The study used aerial photographs and land cover maps from 1965, 1986, and 2009 to analyze landscape openness and viewsheds, revealing that many visitors do not reach the outer archipelago, which is the core of the listed site.

Krøgli, S. O., Dramstad, W. E., & Skar, B. (2015). World heritage and landscape change – heritage buildings and their changed visibility in the coastal landscape of Vega, Norway. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 69(3), 121–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2015.1042910