Clarification of action theories, a necessary preliminary stage to evaluate landscape public policies: application to a rural area of Auvergne

Abstract

This paper is centered on landscape public policies contributing to emphasizing rural amenities. First of all, the authors propose a framework of analysis to classify and clarify action theories of these public policies, because this preliminary stage is essential before evaluating a public policy. After having identified five principal action theories, they point out the one, which is based on the concept of "environmental service". Then, this methodology is applied to a rural peri-urban area, located in Auvergne. The authors thus highlight the various forms of public interventions in the field of the landscape on the scale of this zone and they propose a classification of these.