It is all too easy to think of land use in terms of a single function: crops, housing, woodland and so on. The concept of ecosystem services reminds us that almost all areas of land have many uses, not just one, and this is important in thinking synoptically.
Floodplains provide an excellent example of a multifunctional area. Before you read on, you might pause to draw up a list of land uses which can be found on a floodplain. Which land uses are complementary? Which land uses compete with one another? Of course, different land uses are of interest to different people, and they will ‘value’ land use on floodplains in different ways. Who decides how land on the floodplain is used?
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