Multifunctional Land Consolidations in Denmark: Rethinking the Pattern of Landownership to Create Resilient Future Landscapes

This chapter presents learnings from a multifunctional land consolidation initiative in Denmark that pursued both present and future societal goals through collaborative processes in local landscapes. The evaluation reveals that multifunctional land consolidations in four pilot projects have not yet succeeded in reaching the many local goals of the initial plans nor fulfilled overarching societal demand. However, the intense local dialogue initiated has resulted in catalogues including many multifunctional project ideas that eventually may be realized by other means or due to a later round of land consolidation. Yet, a stronger integration between local collaborative voluntary processes and national compulsory goals accompanied with more flexible funding instruments is needed if multifunctional land consolidations should provide significant solutions to future greening challenges (e.g. climate, biodiversity and environment). Multifunctional land consolidation is certainly not a quick fix to obtain resilient landscapes but it may be a component in finding new pathways – not only in a Danish context.