Water and cinema

Montse Guiu
Director of PICURT, the Pyrenean cinema festival

For the fourth year in a row, a conference day was held in June as part of the PICURT festival, the Cinema Fair of the Pyrenean Mountains. Renowned academics and specialists took part in the conference devoted to reflection on the mountains, which was organised by the cinema festival and IDAPA, the Institute for the Development of the High Pyrenees and Aran, these included Eduardo Martinez de Pisón, Joan Nogué, Jordi Sagatal, Jaime Izquierdo, Pedro Arrojo, Joan Ganyet, Jorge Hernandez and Victor Viñuales, whose knowledge and scientific arguments have nourished debate during several conferences. They have contributed to help grow and support the values of the mountain and its inhabitants. This year's topic for debate centred on water as an essential resource for future strategies in the Pyrenees.

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Landscape, Heritage and Water, a new Observatory seminar

The relationship between the landscape, heritage and water will be the focal point of a new Observatory seminar, which will be held on 16 and 17 October at the Industrial Museum of Ter River in the town of Manlleu (Osona). The conference will be bringing together experts in several disciplines from the United Kingdom, Holland, Italy, Spain and Catalonia. The debate centres on the premise that it is difficult to deal with landscape issues without also including water and heritage factors that have arisen around it, while rivers are now taking on new roles and meanings. This provokes tackling the issue from an interdisciplinary and international perspective.

The Observatory has published a Study on Landscape and the Local World in Europe

The Landscape Observatory with the Ministry of Tourism and the Environment has published research that analyses tools used in local area landscape planning in Europe. The document compares the strategies of Germany, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the Belgian region of Wallonia, with those of Catalonia and Andorra. The research is part of other initiatives in this same field, which is one of the Observatory's priority lines of work, with a seminar and a theme-specific website. You can consult the document here.

The Book Reptes en la cartografia del paisatge. Dinàmiques territorials i valors intangibles is now available in Digital Format

The book Reptes en la cartografia del paisatge. Dinàmiques territorials i valors intangibles (Challenges in Landscape Mapping. Territorial Dynamics and Intangible Values) is now available in a digital version. This is the third volume of the series 'Eines' from the "Plecs de Paisatge" collection and is a compilation of the results of the seminary of the same name, which took place on 29 and 30 September 2011 in Tortosa, in order to provide ideas, rather than solutions in the challenge of transmitting the idea of landscape on maps. The book in its standard format was published in November 2013 and was presented at the Institute of Catalan Studies.

The Transborder Landscape Plan of the Cerdanya involves the Public, Organisations and Actors

The Transborder Landscape Plan of the Cerdanya, which includes municipalities from both sides of the border, continues its progress. After an initial stage of technical work, a period of public consultation was opened last July in order to create a map of the landscape for the entire valley and to prioritise landscape objectives. The process was based on a website survey open to the public as a whole, and consultations with town councils and the main organisations and actors related to landscape in both the Alta and the Baixa Cerdanya areas.

The Consortium ‘Els Aspres d'Empordà' has begun the Development of its Strategic Plan

In 2012 four councils in the Alt Empordà area, –Capmany, Cantallops, Espolla and Sant Climent Sescebes– created a consortium from the territorial area of a landscape unit; Els Aspres. The development of its strategic plan has now begun, with a document that will be applicable until 2016. Its main aim is to‘promote the economic sustainable dynamism' of the area through the promotion, improvement and protection of its landscape, which is considered to be one of its main assets, and which stems from farm produce and tourism.

Ferran Adrià, Ricard Planas and Joan Nogué on Art, Food and Landscape

On 2 July,publisher and art critic Ricard Planas, cook Ferran Adrià and geographer Joan Nogué,took part in a debate with three topics; art, food and landscape. This was a three-part debate organised by Bonart magazine and the main subject of its most recent publication.Santi Vila, the Catalan Minister for Territory and Sustainability presided over the closing ceremony for the debate and the presentation, which also saw the participation of photographer Francesc Guillamet.

Ireland presents the Draft for the National Landscape Strategy for Ireland

On 1 July the Ministry of Culture and Heritage of Ireland presented the draft for the National Landscape Strategy for the 2014-2024 period. The Irish government seeks to use this project to guarantee the fulfilment of the European Landscape Convention, which was ratified in 2012 and established the principles for the protection and improvement of the landscape. After the presentation, the project will begin a procedure that will lead to screening by Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and is currently open to public comment and observations.

Defining Landscape Democracy International Conference

The Centre for Landscape Democracy (ClaD) and the Department of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences have opened the period for accepting papers for an international conference entitled ‘Defining Landscape Democracy'. The event, which is supported by Uniscape, will be held at the Oscarsborg Fortress, in the South of Oslo, from 3 to 6 June 2015 and its organisers seek to debate the landscape dimension with respect to questions such as democracy, human rights, equality and liberty. This is an approach that they believe is closely tied to the principles of the European Landscape Convention.

CHeriScape, a Series of Conferences on Landscape as Heritage

The initiative Cultural Heritage. A Challenge for Europe, has organised the CheriScape conferences (the name is an acronym of Cultural Heritage in Landscape). Five conferences on the landscape as heritage have been organised to take place between July 2014 and the summer of 2016. Each event will explore the importance of this issue in areas of politics, science and investigation, the community and global change.The first conference was held from 1 to 2 July in Gant (Belgium), while the second will be held this coming November in Amersfoort (Holland).

A Smartphone Application to trace the Mapping of Catalan Literature

‘Mapa Literari Català' is the name of a smartphone application that allows users to trace the mapping of Catalan literature. This initiative, from the Espais Escrits project consists of some thirty literary routes from twenty authors throughout the various regions of Catalonia. Smartphone users can follow the lifetime and literary journeys of writers ‘in situ', as well as read passages from their works, view images and listen to texts read by renowned authors and actors. The application is available for both Android and iOs.

Planning the Ideal City with Secondary School Pupils

What would the urban landscape of the ideal city look like? Fourth grade ESO Secondary school pupils from the Institut Eugeni d'Ors in the town of Vilafranca del Penedès have sought to respond to this question in a practical manner. Since 2009 they have been making a large-scale model that includes replicas of famous buildings – this year with works by Sullivan, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson and Tom Wright –as part of an ‘ideal' urban landscape with large areas, green zones, roads and facilities.

Linee guida per l'analisi, la tutela e la valorizzazione degli aspetti scenico-percettivi del paesaggio

Guide to the analysis, protection and enhancement of scenic and perceptual aspects of the landscape. Ministry of Goods and Cultural Activities and Tourism. Government of Italy. 2014.

Green Infrastructure: an integrated approach to land use

This document was published by the Landscape Institute and addresses green infrastructures, their planning, management and benefits.

Conoce tus Fuentes

A catalogue of springs in Andalusia which is open to contributions from the public. This website also includes an activities agenda, a photograph archive, a glossary and subjects of interest, all related to water.

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