Urbanisation and globalised environmental discourse do not help to protect the bio-cultural legacy of rural landscapes

•East-Europe’s urbanisation dynamics shape the conservation awareness framework.•People’s declared conservation concerns was compared with their landscape preferences.•Environmental stereotypes dominate over local serious conservation problems.•Confusing feral farmlands with wilderness is a threat to bio-cultural legacy.•Re-culturing abandoned farmland is a vital alternative to the re-wilding “panaceum”.