Emeritus Professor Paul Selman BSc, MSc, PhD, MIEEM (retd), MRTPI (retd)
Biography
As a graduate of Environmental Sciences, with postgraduate qualifications in Town Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment, my interests have always centred on the wise and sustainable use of natural resources. An early career in town planning practice and education led me towards research specialisms in sustainable communities and environmental management. During the 1980s and 1990s, I became particularly interested in large scale landscape changes affecting the countryside, such as those associated with forestry, environmentally sensitive farming, water catchment, and land regeneration in areas of industrial transformation. This led me into the emerging discipline of `landscape ecology´ as a framework for understanding, designing and guiding large-scale land use change. As editor of the journal Landscape Research between 1993-2003, I developed a wide ranging interest in landscape issues of all kinds, from culture and art to ecology and informatics.
After lengthy spells at the Universities of Stirling and Gloucestershire, I moved to Sheffield in 2004, and retired in 2011.
Research Interests
My recent research has focused on rural cultural landscapes – where past, present and future values derive from close associations between people and land. This has resulted in two main strands of research. First, I have been concerned with `scale´ factors in landscape. Whereas much research into landscape focuses on relatively local and site level concerns, I tend to focus on a scale which landscape ecologists have defined as being `several kilometres wide´. At this level, two things appear to happen: there seem to be connected networks of vegetation and water which underpin natural functions of the countryside; and people often identify with particular characteristics of the wider locality, such as its distinctive scenery, leisure opportunities or historical heritage. There is scope for landscape planners to reinforce form and function at this scale, but we need to know more about the nature of `scale´, the ways in which environmental and economic change will impact on cultural landscapes, and the factors that make landscapes distinctive and vital, both now and in the future.
Second, I have been especially interested in `virtuous´ couplings between people and place. Here, I have examined the possibility that distinctive and biodiverse landscapes provide economic and social opportunities for people which, in turn, make people more likely to invest in the landscape in ways that make it more sustainable. This sets up a mutually reinforcing cycle between people and place which can lead to the long term sustainability and resilience of cultural landscapes, instead of the widespread loss of character and wildlife that often occurs at present. In the past, this link has arisen from `traditional´ farming practices, and this will continue to be important in the future; however, there are emerging potentials related to land uses such as biofuels, leisure and carbon sequestration.