This book includes multi-national research studies (social and natural science research, as well as more directly practical university-based knowledge) about cultural heritage, land, and societal development in varied countries. The book is particularly about land use (as a fundamental aspect of the environment) and its role in development (especially sustainable development). Many of the studies are about topics concerning the transition from more rural to more urbanized land areas. However, some studies concern other types of changes. This includes general attention to globalization and nation-state dimensions of change. Nonetheless, there are interpretations communicated of unique histories at differing scales in the researches here. There is often a focus on more uniquely local and regional territories (including attention to smaller-scale land use) and an interest in future possibilities that conserve positive features of past terrain.

<p>Introduction

1. The need to preserve cultural heritage; <i>Karol Król et al
</i>2. The Italian National Register of historical rural landscape; <i>Mauro Agnoletti, Antonio Santoro
</i>3.<i> </i><strong>Cultural heritage in the region of Eastern Slovakia;</strong><strong> </strong><i>Slavomír Marcincák et al
</i>4.<i> </i>Agricultural and food heritage of the Moravian region; <i>Martin Král et al
</i>5.<i> </i>Wine quality as a part of cultural heritage affected by different geographical origins; <i>Martina Fikselová et al
</i>6.<i> </i>Food and meals from a cultural-historical perspective; <i>Josef Kameník
</i>7.<i> </i>Regional gastronomy as transmitter of cultural heritage; <i>Agnieszka Filipiak-Florkiewicz et al
</i>8.<i> </i>Culinary traditions of the Lemkovyna; <i>Marcin Lukasiewicz et al
</i>9.<i> </i>Genetic uniqueness of local cattle populations as part of homeland heritage; <i>Radovan Kasarda, Nina Moravcíková
</i>10.<i> </i>Objectification of reliability of selected methods of identification and quantification of meat and its substitutes;<b> </b><i>Jozef Golian et al
</i>11.<i> </i>Traditional cheeses from the Malopolska region; <i>Dorota Najgebauer-Lejko, Jacek Domagala
</i>12.<i> </i>Traditional unfermented and fermented liquid milk products from the Malopolska region; <i>Domagala Jacek, Najgebauer-Lejko Dorota
</i>13.<i> </i>Farm animals and traditional products of the Carpathian Mountains; <i>Wladyslaw Migdal et al
</i>14.<i> </i>Traditional crops cultivated in southern Malopolska; <i>W. Berski et al
</i>15.<i> </i>Fruits of traditional varieties; <i>Jacek Slupski et al
</i>16.<i> </i>Edible mushrooms of the Polish Carpathians; <i>Emilia Bernas et al
</i>17.<i> </i>Usage of wild growing plants as foodstuffs; <i>Piotr Gebczynski et al
</i>18.<i> </i>Ecological structure of cultural landscapes in suburban areas; <i>Renata Rózycka-Czas, Barbara Czesak
</i>19.<i> </i>South African agriculture/viniculture, landownership, and sustainable development; <i>Betty J. Harris, Edward Sankowski
</i>20.<i> </i>Metamorphosis of the Polish villages as a result of semi-urbanization; <i>Magdalena Wilkosz- Mamcarczyk, Barbara Olczak
</i>21.<i> </i>Assessment of land-use and land-cover changes in a rural cultural landscape: the case of a Polish municipality;<b> </b><i>Tomasz Noszczyk et al
</i>22.<i> </i>Land use and landscape in rural China after 40 years of reform and opening up; <i>Chen Gaiying et al
</i>23.<i> </i>Rural areas in historical cities; <i>Bohdan Cherkes.</i>24. Sustainable economic development and cultural landscapes: some US-Poland comparisons and connections; <i>Edward Sankowski.</i></p>