Multifunctional and Stakeholder-Informed Agricultural Landscape Redesign in the North China Plain

Agricultural landscapes provide essential ecosystem services (ESs), but intensive farming systems like those in the North China Plain face strong trade-offs between provisioning and non-provisioning services. This thesis examines how multifunctional agricultural landscape can be redesigned by combining ESs assessments, stakeholder perceptions, and multi-objective modeling. In Quzhou County, provisioning services were perceived as relatively high, while regulating and supporting services were viewed as insufficient, and many farmers were unaware of agricultural disservices. Using Q methodology, distinct stakeholder perspectives emerged, revealing differences among farmers, companies, academics, citizens, and government officials regarding the prioritization of twenty ecosystem services. To explore more balanced futures of agricultural landscapes, a multi-objective optimization model was adapted to generate alternative landscape configurations that align with different stakeholder priorities. These modeled landscapes illustrate clear trade-offs between profit and non-provisioning ESs, emphasizing that no single design satisfies all objectives. Overall, the thesis presents an integrated approach that supports locally-relevant and stakeholder-informed strategies for sustainable landscape diversification.