A European Landscape Research Policy

Tom Bloemers
Professor emeritus Archaeological heritage and landscape (Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

One of the ways of appreciating landscape is to consider it as a source of research, action and innovation for its sustainable management by overcoming the divide between disciplines and sectors and between professionals and the public.

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The Documentation Centre's new bibliographic catalogue can now be consulted on the Landscape Observatory website

The Landscape Observatory's Documentation Centre now offers a new service: a bibliographic catalogue which can be consulted through the Observatory's website. The catalogue lets users consult the documents contained and see the front covers of those documents included. The Documentation Centre is an open and free space for information and consultations, accessible to the public at large. The constantly growing number of documents includes more than 2,000 documents thus far and all in different formats (monographs, periodicals, unedited documents, audio-visual material, etc.). The focus of all these is landscape in a broad sense and, in particular, landscape management and planning in Catalonia, the rest of Spain and the world. The catalogue can be consulted here. The following services are available free via the Documentation Centre: help with consultations; online press; inter-library loans; recommendations regarding publications in the online newsletter, Landscap-e, and on the website; copying documents in accordance with current legal stipulations; and the exchange of information and documentation between diverse organisations, institutions and researchers.

Joan Nogué, the Landscape Observatory Director, wins the Joan Fuster Award for his essay relating landscape to identity

The Director of the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia and Professor at the University of Girona, Joan Nogué, was granted the Joan Fuster Essay Award during the 39th edition of the Premis Octubre awards. Nogué was distinguished for his work, Paisatge, territori i societat civil (Landscape, Territory and Civil Society) which relates landscape to identity. Within the context of globalisation, landscape enables people to feel rooted to a specific place and identify with it. Paisatge, territori i societat civil also emphasises landscape as a cultural construction, affected by both ethical and political concerns. In the jury's own words, Nogué has written an essay which is both "enjoyable and timely about the landscape and the cultural, ethical and political questions which contribute to its definition and particular evolution." The Premis Octubre awards are organised annually by the Fundació Ausiàs March and Edicions 3i4. This last edition was held on October 30th at the Octubre Centre de Cultura Contemporània in Valencia.

The current state and future of landscape research in Europe

The European Science Foundation, which has promoted quality science in Europe since 1974, has dedicated the 40th edition of its journal, Science Policy Briefings, to the question of research on landscape with an article entitled, "Landscape in a Changing World–Bridging Divides, Integrating Disciplines, Serving Society." This article can be consulted here. This edition reveals the fundamental points of landscape research in Europe and how its results can help politicians, professionals and society in general overcome the primary global challenges we face. The Landscape Observatory is also mentioned in a list of 15 European organisations which, according to the European Science Foundation, have the greatest potential in this area of research. Each edition of Science Policy Briefings is dedicated to fomenting the debate on key scientific and academic questions around Europe.

Definitive approval of the Comarques Gironines Landscape Catalogue

Last November 23rd, the Government of Catalonia definitively approved the Comarques Gironines Landscape Catalogue, the fourth of the seven catalogues the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia is preparing. This approval came by means of the Edict dated November 30th on the resolution for the definitive approval of the Catalogue, published in the official gazette, DOGC, number 5776, on December 16th, 2010. The content of this catalogue can be consulted on the Landscape Observatory's website. The Landscape Observatory delivered the Comarques Gironines Landscape Catalogue to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works (DPTOP) on February 26th, 2010. The DPTOP then made it available to the public for consultation from September 6th to October 6th that year.

Anniversary of the Vall de Camprodon Landscape Charter

More than one year has passed since the Vall de Camprodon Landscape Charter was signed, a strategic document designed to protect and develop the valley and the result of collective agreement between the different entities responsible for the valley's management. The Charter reflects their shared willingness to work towards the rational development of the economic activities carried out there, bearing in mind the sustainability of the initiatives and their impact on the landscape, establishing guidelines for how it should be planned, and proposing specific actions which, in and of themselves, should improve the environment. Since its signing, two lines of actions have essentially been implemented: the catalogue of landscape assets and a study to recuperate pastures and high-mountain fields. These are two of the 16 specific commitments the various public and private agents assumed when signing the Charter to be completed before 2014.

International conference Landscapes of Everyday Life

The French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning, CEMAGREF (the French Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Technologies) and the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia have organised the international conference entitled, Landscapes of Everyday Life. Crossed Perspectives on Research and Action to be held in Perpignan and Girona from March 16th to 18th. The colloquium begins with the premise that, though the majority of Europe's population currently lives in urban or peri-urban spaces, the landscapes in which they live have not received special attention. The goal of this colloquium is to re-evaluate these landscapes in which millions of people live, all in terms of the improvement projects which they may have been subject to and bearing in mind the values the various actors and populations attribute them as well as the efforts carried out by one and another to renew them. The colloquium is aimed at a wide range of professionals, from experts in social sciences to landscape professionals and politicians and diverse administration experts primarily from Europe but also from the rest of the world. You can consult the programme here.

Andorra develops its National Landscape Strategy

This past October 6th, the Government of Andorra enacted a Governmental Agreement to sign and later ratify the European Landscape Convention. A result of this commitment is the Government's decision to move forward on its National Landscape Strategy, coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment, a strategy which has to serve as the country's framework for landscape preservation, management and planning for the next 10 years. This strategy is based on the Mapa de les unitats de paisatge ("Map of landscape units") and the Catàleg dels paisatges d'Andorra ("Catalogue of landscapes in Andorra") prepared between 2007 and 2009 by the University of Barcelona's Landscape Service. One of the Government's first steps in this vein has been the organisation of its National Landscape Strategy Forum in November and December, 2010, which attracted more than 60 participants from both the Government as well as the Communes and other professionals, including engineers, consultants, independent technicians and others from numerous fields. This Forum served as the ideal space to debate and agree on the quality objectives to establish for Andorran landscapes and to define the necessary actions to achieve these goals. You can consult the document introducing the Strategy here and the results from the Forum's debate here. The next steps involve the Government of Andorra approving this National Landscape Strategy, the latter's publication and carrying out the actions foreseen.

Interview with Kongjian Yu, special guest at the 6th European Landscape Biennial

Interview by Televisió de Catalunya with the Chinese Architect and Professor, Kongjian Yu, within the setting of the 6th European Landscape Biennial (Barcelona, 30 Sept. - 2 Oct. 2010), to discuss the great challenges China is facing in its headlong race in town planning growth, and he mentioned some solutions to change toward a model that is less destructive with resources and more integrated with the landscape.

Cultural Landscapes and Biodiversity Heritage

Document by the European Agency for the Environment (EAE) that appraises the diversity of the cultural landscapes of Europe and their importance to maintain the natural heritage and biodiversity. This forms part of a series of evaluations by the EAE titled "10 messages for the year 2010".

Projecte Grípia. Territori Ramader

The aim of the Projecte Grípia website is to guarantee generational turnover in mountain agriculture and ranching, incorporating the young into related activities, encouraging the sustainable management of farms and ranches, and making the sector more dynamic and viable economically.

» Events of January and February