Open spaces in the Alps are becoming noticeably scarcer, and the long-term consequences for humans and the environment are often overlooked. Open spaces preserve ecosystem services but are under pressure in many Alpine valleys due to demographic and economic development as well as corresponding technical and tourism infrastructure. This article conceptualizes and measures open spaces in Alpine environments. In addition to analyzing existing spatial planning instruments and the open spaces resulting from 2 of them—the Bavarian Alpenplan in Germany and the Tyrolean Ruhegebiete in Austria—we identify open spaces in Switzerland using a geographic information system. More generally, we discuss how spatial planning deals with open spaces. Results show that both the Alpenplan and the Ruhegebiete have contributed significantly to the protection of open spaces in the Bavarian and Tyrolean Alps since the 1970s. Indeed, both approaches prevented several development projects. In the Swiss Alps, open spaces cover 41.9% of the Alpine Convention area. A share of 40.3% vegetation-free open spaces shows that they are concentrated in high alpine areas. Of the open spaces identified, 64.6% are covered by protected areas. Hence, about one third of the open spaces still existing in the Swiss Alps need preservation, not only for ecological connectivity reasons but also to preserve them for generations to come. We conclude that different sectoral approaches for the conservation of open spaces for people and natural heritage in the Alps and other high mountain ranges should be better coordinated. In addition, much more intensive cross-border cooperation in spatial development and planning is needed to preserve open spaces throughout the Alpine arc.

中文翻译：

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高山国家的开放空间：空间规划中的分析概念和保存策略

阿尔卑斯山的开放空间变得越来越稀缺，对人类和环境的长期后果往往被忽视。开放的空间保留了生态系统服务，但由于人口和经济发展以及相应的技术和旅游基础设施，许多高山山谷受到压力。本文对高山环境中的开放空间进行了概念化和度量。除了分析现有的空间规划工具以及其中两种工具（德国的巴伐利亚Alpenplan和奥地利的蒂罗尔·鲁格比特）产生的开放空间之外，我们还使用地理信息系统识别瑞士的开放空间。更笼统地说，我们讨论空间规划如何处理开放空间。结果表明，自1970年代以来，Alpenplan和Ruhegebiete都对保护巴伐利亚和蒂罗尔阿尔卑斯山的开放空间做出了重要贡献。实际上，两种方法都阻止了几个开发项目。在瑞士阿尔卑斯山，开放空间占高山公约面积的41.9％。40.3％的无植被开放空间所占比例表明它们集中在高寒地区。在确定的开放空间中，有64.6％被保护区覆盖。因此，不仅出于生态连通性的原因，而且为了子孙后代的保护，瑞士阿尔卑斯山仍然存在的开放空间中约有三分之一需要保护。我们得出结论，应该更好地协调在阿尔卑斯山和其他高山地区保护人类和自然遗产开放空间的不同部门方法。