Participation is not ornamental

Joaquim Brugué
General Director of Participació Ciutadana Generalitat de Catalunya

Public participation is fashionable, but it is not just fashion. It is a requirement imposed on us by a more and more complex and sophisticated society. Today, matters such as the integration of immigrants, climate change and economic development, to name just three examples, have ceased to be strictly sectorial themes and have become multifaceted realities. There are no professionals on integration, climate change or development capable of telling us, as technocrats, what has to be done. It must be recognised, on the other hand, that these are matters which call for the participation of professionals and very diverse social agents.

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Seminar on Processes of public participation in landscape planning

In Catalonia in recent years new instruments of landscape planning and social agreement in the landscape environment have come into use, such as the landscape catalogues and landscape charters. The time has come, therefore, to open up a public debate of a methodological nature in the context of the processes of participation inherent to these new instruments and others which are not so new but are also relevant to the planning ambit, whether at local or at regional level. These processes of public consultation and participation are taken very much into account by the European Landscape Convention and, by knock-on effect, also by Act for the Protection, Management and Planning of the Landscape of Catalonia. In this sense, the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia and the Direcció General de Participació Ciutadana del Departament d'Interior, Relacions Institucionals i Participació de la Generalitat de Catalunya (General Directorate of Public Participation of the Ministry of the Interior, Institutional Relations and Participation of the Government of Catalonia) are organising the seminar Processes of public participation in landscape planning, which will be held on 1 June in the La Mercè Cultural Centre and will seek to put on the table for discussion various specific experiences and innovative methodological proposals for guidelines on this subject in Catalonia.
Registration for the day is now available from here.

The Government of Catalonia obtains the vice-presidency of the Network of Regional and Local Bodies for the Application of the European Landscape Convention (RECEP)

The Government of Catalonia was chosen to occupy one of the three vice-presidencies of the European Network of Local and Regional Authorities for the Implementation of the European Landscape Convention (RECEP) in the 1st General Assembly of the RECEP held in the headquarters of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, on 20 March last, after receiving the support of all the representatives attending. The RECEP is a non-governmental international organisation composed of European local and regional authorities with the objective of promoting the knowledge and implementation of the European Landscape Convention at local and regional level. The RECEP encourages an exchange of experiences and knowledge among its members on landscape matters and, at the same time, the members can have the advice of the association in implementing the commitments made by State authorities, European institutions and international organisations competent in landscape matters.

The Landscape Charter of the Berguedà region is approved

On 26 March last the Landscape Charter of the Berguedà (Catalonia, Spain) was approved, a voluntary instrument for agreement on strategies between public and private agents in the Berguedà region, directed to promoting improvements in the region's landscapes and the quality of life of its residents, by establishing objectives, agreements and strategies for the dynamic management of the landscape. The Landscape Charter of the Berguedà is not intended to be a testimonial or declaration of principles, but a public document of commitment in favour of the landscape through which the signatories undertake to promote the harmonious evolution of the landscape in accordance with strategic objectives for the rational use of the territory, sustainable urban development, the functioning of the ecosystems and ecological connectors, and to strengthen landscape as an element of individual and group welfare. You can obtain the whole document here.

More than 120 participants attended the course The Culture of Landscape

A total of 83 people registered in Barcelona and 40 in Valencia attended the course on The culture of landscape, which took place in March and April in the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona and the new area, the Octubre Centre de Cultura Contemporània, in Valencia. Directed by Eliseu T. Climent and organised by the Barcelona Institute of Humanities, the seminar proposed, throughout its seven sessions, a multidisciplinary approach to this theme, reflecting on relationships of identity, landscape values, conceptions and philosophies of the territory, artistic experiences, town and country planning and models of economic growth. The course was given with the participation of geographers (Joan Nogué,Francesc Muñoz, Joan Romero and Oriol Nel·lo), architects and town planners (Ricard Pié, Marc Claramunt and Joan Olmos), artists and cultural managers (Perejaume, Joan Vila-Puig, Lluís Llobet, Daniel Garcia Andújar and Lluís Vives), and also the art critic Javier Maderuelo and philosopher Jordi Pigem.

Contemporary landscape course: a multidisciplinary experience

This year, in the context of Els Juliols (summer courses at Barcelona University), a course will be offered entitled Contemporary landscape: a multidisciplinary experience, in which the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia will be collaborating. The course will take place in Alella (Catalonia, Spain) from 16 to 20 July, and will bring together professionals and experts in various disciplines who will contribute their reflections around this theme, with the objective of detecting threats and opportunities which make possible an overall and strategic reflection on the territory, with the idea of having an impact on experiment, projects and intervention in the landscape. The course is of 20 hours and will combine theoretical sessions, round tables and presentations of action on the landscape. In addition, there will also be an opportunity to do some fieldwork. The registration period will open on 3 May. For more information, please consult here.

'Infrastructure and landscape: roads'

Document prepared by Ignacio Español to a commission from the Council of Europe and presented in Strasbourg on the occasion of the Meeting on "The European Landscape Convention", held on 22 and 23 March 2007.

Centre for Architectural Conservation (RIWAQ)

Non-profit-making association which has been working since June 1991 for the protection of the cultural, architectural and natural heritage of Palestine.

The Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape

International network of landscape researchers who centre their interest in the past, present and future of European landscapes. It organises conferences and issues publications on the rural European landscape.

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