Land Use and Sustainability in Europe: From Policy to Practice
About this course
"Land Use and Sustainability in Europe: From Policy to Practice" is a comprehensive online course that explores how land is used, managed, and transformed across Europe in the context of climate change, biodiversity loss, and evolving socio-economic pressures.
Drawing on the interdisciplinary expertise of the Europe-LAND consortium, the MOOC offers an integrated learning journey from understanding historical land-use drivers and stakeholder dynamics, to exploring future scenario modelling and policy approaches for sustainable land governance.
Through video lectures, case studies from across Europe, interactive exercises, and hands-on engagement with the Europe-LAND Toolbox, participants will gain both theoretical foundations and practical skills for analysing land-use challenges.
By the end of the course, learners will understand key environmental, social, and policy dimensions of land management and will be able to apply tools and methods for evaluating land-use decisions in real-world contexts.
The MOOC is organised into six structured weeks, each focusing on a key dimension of land use and sustainability in Europe:
- Week 1 – Introduction to the Course and to European Land-Use Challenges You will get an overview of the course structure, platform navigation, and main themes. The week introduces European land-use dynamics and sets the foundation for the modules that follow.
- Week 2 – Land-Use Behaviour and Drivers in Europe This week explores how historical and contemporary drivers—economic, social, environmental, and political—have shaped land use across Europe. Hands-on activities use IACS agricultural data and simple GIS-based exercises to analyse real-world land-use patterns
- Week 3 – Awareness Behind Land-Use Decisions You will learn participatory methods such as Living Labs, stakeholder mapping, STEEP(VL) analysis, scenario development, and participatory modelling. Case studies from different European contexts illustrate how diverse actors influence land-use outcomes.
- Week 4 – Future Land-Use Mapping and Climate Change Mitigation This module introduces predictive modelling and scenario tools to anticipate future land-use changes. Through modelling cards and scenario exercises, you will explore how land-use pathways relate to climate mitigation strategies.
- Week 5 – Supporting Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation This week examines how land-use policies can integrate biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation objectives. Through case studies and policy exercises, you will analyse multi-actor governance approaches and international frameworks.
- Week 6 – The Europe-LAND Toolbox In the final module, you will learn to use the Europe-LAND Toolbox, a web-GIS platform for exploring land cover, land-use changes, and environmental indicators. Short tutorials and a hands-on map exercise guide you through its functionalities.
Each Week has three modules and each module three units.
In addition to video and textual lessons, all units include self-assessment quizzes and supplementary materials for you to better understand the course content.
Target
This MOOC is open and free for all stakeholders involved in land use and land management in Europe. It is designed for government agencies, cities, research organisations, NGOs, companies, and practitioners working on sustainability, climate adaptation, biodiversity, or spatial planning.
The course is also suitable for students and professionals seeking to better understand European land-use dynamics and emerging policy and management challenges.
Outcomes
This course equips learners with a clear understanding of how land-use decisions shape climate resilience, biodiversity, and sustainable development across Europe.
By combining expert lectures, real-world case studies, and hands-on tools such as the Europe-LAND Toolbox, participants will learn to analyse land-use challenges, assess trade-offs, and apply practical methods for planning and policy.
The MOOC offers concrete skills and insights that support informed decision-making for anyone working with land, sustainability, or territorial governance.
Requirements
No
Activities
Assessment takes place through short quizzes included at the end of selected modules to test understanding of core concepts.
A final quiz at the end of the course consolidates the main learning outcomes. Interactive exercises, case studies, and forum discussions support reflection and engagement but do not contribute to the final assessment.
Subtitles
English subtitles available.
For better understanding, subtitles are available for each video and can be activated or not. If you want to revise some crucial passages you can move through the video content and click on the attached text.
FAQ
For further information, see FAQ page.