|
|
| |
| THE OBSERVER
|
| |
|
| |
|
Jean-Pierre Thibault
Inspector General. General Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development (France) and member of Collectif Paysages de l'après-pétrole
|
During the centuries of the pre-oil era, energy production could be seen everywhere : windmills on every hill, watermills across all the rivers…
Then came the oil era when energy production became centralized in a tiny number of carbon, fuel and nuclear power-plants. Energy production had become globally invisible! [+]
|
| |
|
| |
| MOSAIC
|
| |
|
|
|
| Success of the course 'El paisatge des de l'escala local' |
|
Almost 200 representatives of local government, the Government of Catalonia, professional and university communities, civil society organisations and 21 teachers took part in the course's six sessions. With the support of Girona Provincial Council, the Landscape Observatory organised this online course in November 2020 with the goal of training local government policymakers and technical staff in landscape planning, management and valorisation, exploring new forms of intervention and management in open spaces in which areas related to urban planning, promotion of local activities, tourism, or the management of natural areas and heritage, among others, were addressed. The course's videos and presentations are available to view on the Observatory's website.
|
|
|
|
|
| Approval of Galicia's Landscape Guidelines |
|
The Galician Ministry of Environment, Territory and Housing has drafted Galicia's first Landscape Guidelines. The instrument, which will shortly become effective, contains rules and recommendations intended to ensure that economic development does not take place at the cost of preserving and improving Galicia's landscape. The rules must be taken into account obligatorily in industrial and urban planning instruments and in regional and local strategies. The recommendations, on the other hand, are for guidance and suggest limitations or conditions of a general nature.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 'Quinze anys: reflections on the Observatory's journey |
|
The publication, released in 2020 to commemorate the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia's 15th anniversary, contains fifteen concepts and reflections that resonate with the Observatory's objectives, tasks and rationale, and with the landscapes of Catalonia. Since this January, it is also available in digital format on the website. They are the followings: journey, place, knowledge, emotion, gazes, values, community, laboratory, action, mirror, colours, atmospheres, dialogue, bridges, edge.
|
|
|
|
|
| Switzerland rolls out new landscape strategy |
|
In 2020, the Swiss government approved a new landscape strategy, known as Conception “Paysage suisse” (CPS) (The Swiss landscape conception), which updates the previous strategy and consolidates the federal landscape policy. Presenting an integrated, dynamic vision of the landscape, aligned with the principles of the European Landscape Convention, the CPS is now the planning tool used by the Confederation to preserve quality landscapes. Both the strategic and landscape quality goals defined in the CPS are binding for Swiss government administrations at all levels – federal, cantons and local –, and will be implemented by the federal services in coordination with the country's sector-specific policies and relevant stakeholders.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Minorca reaffirms landscape commitments in new Territorial Island Plan |
|
Recently, the Minorcan Island Council provisionally approved a new Island Territorial Plan (PTI) which declares landscape preservation and restoration as one of the basic principles of its regulations. The Plan defines landscape quality goals and guidelines which will become mandatory once the new text is approved. It also stipulates compulsory performance of a landscape impact and integration study for certain activities with a potential impact on the landscape (the development of territorial restructuring areas, energy production installations, activities permitted in Areas of Landscape Interest, or construction projects involving the road network, among many others). The Plan also includes special regulations concerning the Minorcan Talaiotic Sites as candidates for declaration as UNESCO World Heritage.
|
|
|
|
|
| Josep Pascual Collection donated to the Documentation Centre |
|
When Josep Pascual Camps, founder member of the Drac Verd group in Sitges, dedicated to locating and cataloguing dry-stone huts and a regular contributor to Wikipedra, passed away last July, he left a legacy of more than 70 sketchbooks and 53 albums with more than 8,000 photographs of dry-stone huts . The family has donated this material to the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia's Documentation Centre, so that it can be consulted and safeguarded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Book La carretera en el paisaje now available in digital format |
|
The full text of the book La carretera en el paisatge (The road in the landscape) is now available from the Landscape Observatory website, containing the transcription of the presentations given during the seminar organised in 2018 in Barcelona. It was published thanks to the support received from the Catalan Ministry of Business and Knowledge's Directorate General for Tourism. The book covers themes beyond the integration of the road in the landscape, including a number of generally underrated aspects, such as its heritage value or educational potential or the promotion of landscape diversity through tourist and leisure experiences.
|
|
|
|
|
| Presentations given at the Veneto region Seminar '20 years of the European Landscape Convention' |
|
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signature in October 2000 of the European Landscape Convention, the Veneto Regional Landscape Observatory and this Italian region's four universities organised a seminar from 29 to 31 October 2020 to reflect on the Convention's impact in Italy, and in Europe in general, and to debate on its future application on a national, regional and local scale. The presentations can be found here. The Landscape Observatory of Catalonia's director took part in one of the Seminar's themes, which revolved around the role of the landscape observatories in the application of the European Convention.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
| |
|
|
| Meeting of the Territories for Landscape Network |
|
On 17 December 2020, the Territories for Landscape Network gathered for another meeting. On this occasion, it was decided to hold the meeting online the Collectif Paysages de l’après-pétrole as a guest. It is a French association that believes that landscape should play a key role in territorial development within a context of energy transition. Two representatives from this association, Armelle Lagadec and Mathilde Kempt, presented an interesting study (Paysages et transitions réponses à travers l’Europe), in which they have analysed different territories and communities in Europe that link landscape, energy transition, urban planning, agriculture, heritage and local development. Their presentation was followed by a very enriching debate.
|
|
|
|
| Conca de Barberà approves the Landscape Charter |
|
On 25 November 2020, the Conca de Barberà Landscape Charter was approved by the county's Council of Mayors. The goal of this Charter, promoted by the County Council, is to protect, regulate, manage and valorise the county's landscapes as important features of local identity and as a resource for the county's local development. The document lists seven general objectives and 142 actions to be developed and advocates cooperation between local councils and other public administrations with jurisdiction over the territory.
|
|
|
|
| |
| DIGITAL LANDSCAPE |
| |
|
|
| ENERSCAPES Project |
|
ENERSCAPES intends to represent an important step towards the investigation and evaluation of a very large set of impacts on distinct but recurring patterns of landscape all over the Mediterranean regions. This project considers the impacts that a non-regulated diffusion of renewable energy sources could have already caused on Mediterranean territories, mainly in terms of alteration and simplification of landscape, and of negative effects on cultural heritage. Seemingly the crux of the matter is a feeble connection between energy programming and territorial planning policies.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
| PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST
|
| |
|
|
| Villes et territoires de l'après-pétrole. Le paysage au coeur de la transition |
|
Paysages de l’Après-Pétrole Collectif. Editions Le Moniteur, 2020. ISBN: 978-2-281-14425-3.
The book presents the main fruits of a multidisciplinary reflection begun four years ago by the members of the French association Paysages de l’après-pétrole, showing that landscape considerations provide a common thread for connecting energy transition with the sustainable development of territories. It analyses and describes the solutions implemented by different territories in both urban and rural settings.
|
|
|
|
|
| Tensions, impactes i fissures |
|
Llorenç Ugas Dubreuil. Museu d’Art Modern de Tarragona. ISBN: 978-84-15264-87-3.
The catalogue of the exhibition in which the artist seeks to reflect – and induce reflection by the beholder – on human beings' impact on the landscape. The author portrays the vulnerability of a landscape degraded by concrete constructions and other elements.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Exploring identities. Perspectives from a cross-disciplinary dialogue |
|
Sara Caramaschi, Sebastiano Marconcine, Ludovica Marinaro (ed.). Quodlibet, 2019. Monographic issue of the journal iQuaderni di UB3, num. 21. ISBN: 978-88-22905-72-7.
Monographic issue of the journal IQuaderni, in which academics from various disciplines discuss the role of the urban space and dynamics in people's perceptions, relationships and identities. A selection of photographs by the director of the Landscape Observatory is included to reinforce this dialogue.
|
|
|
|
|
| Roma correu |
|
Arsenio Luca Pistone. Textos: Daniela Colafranceschi, Fabio Manfredi i Antonio Dattilo. Salt: Les Bernardes, 2020.
Postman Arsenio Luca Pistone photographed the centre of Rome during the spring lockdown, portraying an iconic historic city that was completely deserted, without tourists or residents, in a series of images that is destined to become part of Italy's visual history of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. More information here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Énergie |
|
Monograohic issue from Les carnets du paysage, num. 36 (automne 2019). Arles: Actes Sud; École nationale supérieure de paysage. ISBN: 978-2-330-12363-5.
This issue explores the subject of energy in two directions. On the one hand, the landscapes linked to energy production and, on the other, the energy of landscape, that is, the energy that people derive from visiting landscapes.
|
|
|
|
|
| El paisaje a través de mi ventana. Crónica ilustrada del paisaje en los tiempos del coronavirus |
|
Martha Fajardo; Lucas Períes (eds.). Córdoba: Universidad Católica de Córdoba, 2020. Available here.
This is a compilation of works selected for the art exhibition of the same name, prepared by the LALI and the Catholic University of Cordoba Landscape Institute. The book also includes reflections by landscape specialists, among them Laura Puigbert technician of the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia, on the impact of the pandemic from the landscape viewpoint.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
| |
| Note: This newsletter is an initiative of the Landscape Observatory. If you wish to subscribe and receive it by e-mail please click here. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
