Mapping the urban-rural conflict landscape: complementary insights from experts and print media in Cottbus, Germany

Land use conflicts present a significant challenge for land management, yet research has largely focused on isolated cases or individual sectors, leaving broader regional conflict landscapes underexplored. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of land use conflicts in the urban-rural region surrounding Cottbus, Germany, using a qualitative multi-methods approach that combines 33 expert interviews with analysis of 91 local print media articles. We identify 162 individual conflicts spanning twelve types of contested land uses and seventeen distinct conflict issues. Results reveal that conflict landscapes are highly diverse and complex internally, but share broad similarities across urban-rural regions. Importantly, expert interviews and media analysis offer complementary perspectives: Experts emphasize governance challenges and major goal conflicts, while the media predominantly reflect everyday experiences. These findings highlight the risk that key issues for residents may be overlooked by decision-makers, and they underscore the sensitivity of conflict analyses to source selection.