Interdisciplinary Research in Critical Zone Studies: The Analysis of Land Use Change in the Italian Alps

The contribution arises from the interdisciplinary research experience developed within the ABRESO (Belmont Forum) project by the Italian social and natural scientists research team. It aims to testify how to develop genuine cross-fertilization between economists, sociologists, geographers and geologists, plant biologists, and remote sensing experts by sharing a common theoretical framework of land use change in the Alps. The integrated research method described in this paper is the first step to shift from an inter-disciplinary to a trans-disciplinary approach to land use change, including stakeholders in the definition and application of new approaches to increase the sustainability of Critical Zone processes.