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The observer

Compilation of the different 'observers' who have been invited to collaborate in the Landscap-e newsletter.

: Happy Anniversary?; Núm. 33, April-June 12; Mónica Luengo
President of the International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes (ICOMOS)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of UNESCO's Recommendation concerning the Safeguarding of Beauty and Character of Landscapes and Sites published in 1962 (how different our situation would be today if we had followed those recommendations!). This year is also the 40th anniversary of UNESCO's Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, novel at its time for associating the concepts of nature conservation and the protection of cultural sites in a single document.
: Agrarian landscapes without farmers; Núm. 32, January-March 12; Marco Tamaro
Director, Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche

In territorial planning, agricultural areas are often seen as blank spaces, empty and free, susceptible to new construction projects and infrastructures. This trend is framed within a continuous, entropic growth process which has only accelerated exponentially since the end of the Second World War, with no end in sight.
: What is Landscape Theory For?; Núm. 31, October-December 11; Federico L. Silvestre
Lecturer in Aesthetics and Art History, University of Santiago de Compostela

Some years ago Yves Lacoste tried to explain what landscape was for. If it is necessary to explain landscape, should we not also be asking about landscape theory? My own view is that, if it is badly oriented, landscape theory can become the most useless pastime ever proposed by academics (one of many, some might say). However, if it is well conceived, it can be of great value.
: Land stewardship: reflections in a time of crisis; Núm. 30, July-August 11; Jordi Pietx
Land Stewardship Network

Land stewardship can be defined as a philosophy, strategy or set of techniques associated with the people who take care of the land. In all its forms, stewardship is a potent concept for encouraging civil society and local organizations to play an active role in the conservation and direct management of the landscape and its natural and cultural values via different forms of agreement and entente with the owners and managers (farmers, shepherds, foresters, etc.) of these landscapes and values.
: Dry-Stone Walls: Living Walls; Núm. 29, May-June 11; Martí Boada
Geographer, Naturalist and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences

Appreciation for dry-stone walls is currently on the rise, and even though there is still much progress to be made, there has recently been a widespread movement to revive this important and popular architectural tradition.
: International Conference: Landscape of Everyday Life; Núm. 28, March-April 11; Yves Luginbühl
Agronomist and geographer, research director emeritus of the French National Centre for Scientific Research

Where do most people live? In general, they do not live in those landscapes that appear on lists of the most beautiful places in the world, as in the case of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Most people live in landscapes that have been transformed by social activities, industry, housing, services and modern, intensive farming.
: A European Landscape Research Policy; Núm. 27, January-February 11; 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.
: Peripheral Landscape; Núm. 26, November-December 10; Toni Sala
Writer, National Literature Award of Catalonia

The first landscapes were reportedly painted in the Middle Ages, generally portraying walled-in gardens. The outside world, however, was hidden behind those walls, horrible and unknown. The periphery was limited, as such, to those impenetrable walls.
: Ten years of the European Landscape Convention. Balancing knowledge, management and awareness is possible; Núm. 25, September-October 10; Mireille Deconinck
General Directorate of Territorial Planning, Housing, Heritage and Energy
Wallonia Government

This autumn marks the tenth anniversary of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), representing the ideal occasion to not only describe that done but to retrace the actual progress made thus far.
: Soundscapes; Núm. 24, July- August 10; Josep Cerdà i Ferrer
Professor of Sculpture at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and coordinator of the PaisatgesonorUB Group (Laboratori d'Art Sonor at the UB School of Fine Arts

The landscape speaks. Our ears receive constant information, and sound influences our perception of reality. Everything around us emits constant messages which accumulate and make up our acoustic memory.
: Landscape for participation; Núm. 23, May-June 10; Sitesize
Elvira Pujol and Joan Vila Puig

The publication of the book Paisatge i participació ciutadana ("Landscape and Citizen Participation) by the Landscape Observatory represents a great opportunity and it is a new contribution to a topic which sorely needs new reflections to update the concept and, especially, new practices to move forward on related issues. It's clear that participation is doubly-complex to manage: on the one hand, this is due to the explosion of variables implied in even simple analyses of landscape as the scenario for social life, and, on the other, due to the intricate network of the different administrative agents which make up the State of Law and Representative Democracy.
: Five years!; Núm. 22, March-April 10; Joan Nogué
Director, Landscape Observatory of Catalonia

In effect, five years have gone by since the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia was created. The consortium's legal and formal foundation occurred a few months prior, but its real, operational launch did not take place until March 1st, 2005. On that day, the Observatory's technical headquarters opened in Olot, a town in north-east Catalonia, approximately 150 km from Barcelona. Upon occupying the historic Hospici building, one of the city's most emblematic, the Observatory turned from a project into a reality.
: Ten years of the European Landscape Convention: Ordenació i gestió del paisatge a Europa; Núm. 21, January-February 10; Rafael Mata Olmo
Department of Geography, Autonomous University of Madrid

The year that has just begun is the tenth anniversary of the ratification of the European Landscape Convention (ELC). For most of Europe and especially for Spain, the first decade of the 21st century was a period of great territorial change with negative consequences for the quality and values of many landscapes. Directed by the implacable logic of the market, the magnitude and speed of these changes, linked in good measure with urban development but also with processes of agricultural intensification and abandonment, have led to the belief among the public that such transformations are inevitable and shaped by uncontrollable dynamics.
: The Cultural landscapes and gardens; Núm. 20, November-December 09; Luciano Sánchez Pérez-Moneo
Secretary-General of the Alliance of World Heritage Cultural Landscapes

A peaceful walk through the Gardens of Aranjuez is, apart from a healthy exercise, an opportunity to muse over the land in itself, about the different questions that represent a very important issue in the discourse of scientists, experts, professionals and politicians on the garden-landscape binomial.
: Landscape and education; Núm. 19, September-October 09; Benedetta Castiglioni
Expert of the Council of Europe
Department of Geography, University of Padova (Italy)

If the idea that landscape belongs to everybody, and is not owned only by politicians and technicians, nowadays is more and more universally shared, yet we are still at the beginning of the process of increasing people's awareness and responsibility towards it. Many times we talk about it, very few times we concretely act with this concept in mind.
: Reflections on Landscape and Nature Conservation; Núm. 18, July- August 09; Miquel Rafa
Director, Territory and Landscape Division,
Caixa Catalunya's Social Work

The volume I now have in my hands is the latest addition to the "Plecs de Paisatge" ("Landscape Specifications") collection, Indicadors de paisatge. Reptes i perspectives (Landscape Indicators: Challenges and Perspectives), published by the Landscape Observatory with the backing of the Territory and Landscape Division of the Caixa Catalunya's Social Work.
: Published Landscapes; Núm. 17, May-June 09; Jose Manuel Vidal
Architect, coordinator of Paisea

What is published in Spain and Europe on the subject of landscapes? What are specialised landscape journals and collections of books on the landscape like? What is their philosophy? Who are they intended for? Is there some relationship between theory and practice in the media published on the topics of the landscape and landscaping? Do these journals and collections of books have any influence on the community's perception of its landscapes?
: Landscape and communication; Núm. 16, March-April 09; Ramon Folch
Doctor in biology, socio-ecologist
Director general of ERF

In the early 1980s, the Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls de l'Empordà (Empordà Marshlands Nature Park), splendid wetlands in the north-east of Catalonia, incorporated a former neighbouring agricultural area. Jordi Sargatal, the park manager, asked me to help to resolve the problem of the landscape impact caused by an old raised irrigation canal that crossed the area. In order to add two opinions, I turned to the fine judgement of Gaspar Jaén, a sensitive urban architect from Valencia, who was by chance in Barcelona.
: Stolen Landscape!; Núm. 15, January-February 09; Terry O'Regan
Founder and Coordinator, Landscape Alliance Ireland

One night, five years ago, my old Opel Ascona was stolen from the street right in front of my house. The following morning, when I stepped out to go to work, I was left bewildered by the empty space where my car had been, not understanding what could have happened to it since the previous afternoon. The image of the car in my mind could almost fill the space, but the car was no longer there. It had disappeared!
: Landscape and health; Núm. 14, November-December 08; Marina Geli
Minister of Health, Government of Catalonia

The state of our health is the result of a series of financial, cultural, social and environmental factors, some of whose effects have already been identified. These factors, however, do not only act individually. Rather, they interact and generate very complex phenomena which have an impact on the population's health. This impact explains the variability of indicators such as life expectancy found among the different European Union member countries.
: Implementing the European Landscape Convention. How are we doing?; Núm. 13, September-October 08; Gareth Roberts
Director of the Landscape Research Group in the UK

Many readers of this newsletter will know that most European countries have now ratified the Landscape Convention (CEP) but, how well is it being implemented? Looking for answers to this question has kept me busy over the past year , prompting me to organize a seminar in Sheffield for the Landscape Research Group, last November and since then researching good practice across the continent.
: Greenness is landscape; Núm. 12, July-August 08; Biel Mesquida
Writer and journalist, awarded with the Cross of Sant Jordi 2005 of the Government of Catalonia

My whole body had been assailed by curiosity for some days, but I had been smothered by the pressure of work, without a second for myself. What's more, domestic life, which I have always enjoyed, was stifling me. I had for days been wanting to touch the books, all those things that Aunt Diana had left me, which sat there silently, expectantly, in her library, that quadrangular room with Pompeian paintings of faded tree leaves on the walls, which opened up onto a terrace in the garden of my grandparents' family house.
: Landscape quality objectives and landscape directives; Núm. 11, May-June 08; Joan Ganyet
Director General of Architecture and Landscape Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works Government of Catalonia

In June 2005 the Catalan Parliament passed the Act for protection, planning and management of the landscape and in September 2006 its implementing regulation. Since then decisive steps have been taken in the implementation of landscape policies in our country and the regulating instruments envisaged in the Act have begun to be applied
: Imagine...; Núm. 10, March-April 08; Bas Pedroli
Secretary of Civilscape, NGOs for the European Landscape Convention.

A veil of mist seems to dissolve the white frosted meadows, wide and flat. An unexpectedly powerful sun brightly illumines everything that is white. A half distant group of seagulls flies in a glittering performance towards something interesting, and then simply vanishes. On the horizon I discern some white house-fronts between trees. Besides these, isolated groups of alders, their feet in the mist, irregular branches silhouetted black against the pale grey sky.
: Imaginary landscape; Núm. 9, January-February 08; Mikael Jakob
Professor of landscape architecture at Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Lullier and in charge of the course in the history and theory of landscape architecture at Geneva University and at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Imaginary describes what does not exist at all or only in the imagination, with no reality. Applied to landscape, the concept of imaginary landscape can however have two very different meanings: 1, the one radical, internal and dreamy, in the sense of a phenomenon existing only by courtesy of the imagination (an instance well defined by the German Einbildungskraft, the strength or power to carry or concentrate an internal image), without any intervention by the outside world; 2, the other, of equally strong interest, is concerned in the end simply with the landscape, knowing that – as a phenomenon – it only exists in someone's awareness
: The landscape and its indicators; Núm. 8, November-December 07; Jean-François Seguin
Head of Landscape Department, Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development (France)

A report by the European Environmental Agency (2005) on the integration of environment into the EU agricultural policy considers that "the European Landscape Convention does not define objectives nor does it contain well defined instruments to impose respect for them". I do not share this assertion, far from it, but it has the merit of reminding us that today, every public policy must define its objectives and the indicators of its effectiveness.
: Mediterranean landscapes: a view from the south of Italy; Núm. 7, September-October 07; Daniela Colafranceschi
Architect, doctor of architectural projects and professor of Landscape Architecture in the Faculty of Architecture of the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy

I have been teaching in the University of Calabria for almost twenty years that and, of course, I often move between the two strips of land bordering the strait which links –but also separates– this region from Sicily. With an approach inclined to the observation of phenomena, I have learned to read this landscape through its most basic morphology and the cultural references which have been imposed on it throughout the centuries.
: Ratification of the European Landscape Convention: an opportunity; Núm. 6, July-August 07; Margarita Ortega
Head of Division, Technical Office of the Secretariat General for Territory and Biodiversity of the Ministry of the Environment of Spain

The Council of Ministers has approved sending to Parliament the Council of Europe's European Landscape Convention, to proceed with its ratification. This step begins the procedures for the definitive adhesion of Spain to a convention with the category of an international treaty and referring exclusively to the landscape. The commitments it entails are a real opportunity for the application of active landscape policies, of singular importance in our country due to the wealth and diversity of its landscape, but also due to the innovative concept and the role of landscape when facing development in accordance to the potential and the identity of our territory.
: Participation is not ornamental; Núm. 5, May-June 07; 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.
: An archaeologist's landscape; Núm. 4, March-April 07; Graham Fairclough
Head of the agency's Historic Landscape Characterisation programme, English Heritage

Landscape draws on many ways of appreciation. For some, landscape is a question of beauty or of biodiversity. There are other ways of looking at it, however. With my archaeologist's perspective, I would say that a ‘good' landscape is an interesting one, one in which history remains ‘legible' so that the marks left by the work and lives of hundreds of generations of our predecessors can still be recognised.
: Landscape Architecture Challenges; Núm. 3, January-February 07; Martha Cecilia Fajardo
President of the IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects) from 2002 down to a few days before writing these lines for our newsletter

I would like to thank the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia (an extraordinary cyberspace tool which aims to raise awareness of landscape issues in society in general) for giving me the opportunity as the IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects) Immediate Past President to reflect on the profession. Looking in perspective my last four years as IFLA president, I want to take the opportunity to reflect on IFLA and the significance of landscape architecture on a global level.
: 5th WORKSHOPS MEETING FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE EUROPEAN LANDSCAPE CONVENTION. Landscape quality objectives: from theory to practice.; Núm. 2, November-December 06; Maguelonne DÉJEANT-PONS
Head of Spatial Planning and Landscape Division. Council of Europe - DG IV

The Council of Europe (Territorial and landscape planning division) organised the 5th Workshops Meeting for the application of the European Landscape Convention in Girona on 28 and 29 September 2006, in collaboration with the General Secretariat for Territory and Biodiversity of the Ministry of the Environment of Spain, the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works of the Government of Catalonia, the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia and Girona City Hall.
: Towards a network of European regions for the implementation of landscape policies; Núm. 1, September-October 06; Riccardo Priore. Council of Europe's official. Responsible for the drafting activities of the European Landscape Convention within the Congress' Directorate, Secretariat General (1994-2000)

In its provisions concerning the division of public responsibilities, the European Landscape Convention makes an explicit reference to the principle of subsidiarity and local self-government. On this basis, Contracting States undertake to involve local and regional authorities in the establishment and the implementation of landscape policies, the landscapes identification and assessment procedures and in the definition of landscape quality objectives.