working plan for 2008 05

The main actions envisaged by the Observatori del Paisatge (Landscape Observatory of Catalonia) for 2008, approved by the Governing Board, are:

Preparation of five Catalonian landscape catalogues. Those corresponding to the regions of Alt Pirineu i Aran, Comarques Gironines and Terres de l'Ebre will be delivered to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works during spring 2008. The landscape catalogue of the Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona, begun in mid-2007, will be completed and delivered at the end of 2008. Also at the end of 2008 the landscape catalogue of the Comarques Centrals will be delivered, having been started at the beginning of this year .

Support for the development of the landscape charters of the Vall de Camprodon (Ripollès) and the municipalities of the Argentona valley (Maresme), promoted by the local authorities with the support of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works. In both cases, the Landscape Observatory has the functions of following up and advising on the experience, and will be ensuring the coherence of the maps with the landscape catalogues of the corresponding areas (Comarques Gironines and Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona, respectively).

Implementation of the educational website “Ciutat, territori i paisatge” (City, territory and landscape) in the Landscape Observatory web, as a supplement to the teaching materials for innovative education in ESO which bear the same name, in collaboration with the Ministries of Town and Country Planning and Public Works and of Education of the Government of Catalonia.

Definition and application of Catalan landscape Indicators for purposes of following up the state of evolution of Catalan landscapes and landscape policies in Catalonia . The indicators, submitted for consultation to various persons of recognised experience in the landscape ambit, are designed for the landscape catalogues and for the preparation, every four years, of the report on the state of landscape in Catalonia required by the Law 8/2005 on the Landscape.

A stimulus to landscape research with the engagement of research personnel with training grants.

Consolidation of the documentation centre with the object of becoming the documentation and information centre par excellence in Catalonia in landscape matters. The main tasks for 2008 will be the extension of the existing documentary funds (analog and digital), with special emphasis on the systematic collection of landscape instruments and policies at regional level in Europe, and on dissemination of the documentation centre.

Organisation of a cycle of lectures, various activities in the context of art, landscape and territory and a series on cinema and landscape.

Participation in courses and seminars organised by public and private bodies in Catalonia, the Spanish State and Europe.

Extension of the Landscape Observatory's website in order to consolidate it as a space for consultation and projection of the Observatory's activity and, at the same time, an essential space to visit for anyone interested in landscape themes. The principal extension will be in the documents and cartography of the landscape catalogues approved by the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works, mechanisms of participation in the landscape catalogues which are in progress, thematic dossiers and in teaching materials for innovative education, City, territory and landscape , among other resources.

Bimonthly publication of the electronic newsletter “Landscap-e”, as a tool for information, training and sensitisation with reference to landscape in Catalan society. It disseminates the activity developed by the Observatory and all the information of interest on landscape in our country and on the international scale.

Monthly publication of the electronic newsletter Landscape Events which, since October 2007, has been offering the user a selection spanning three months of congresses, seminars, courses, presentations, lectures and exhibitions, among other activities around the world, with special emphasis on those taking place in Catalonia.

Weekly publication of the “Dietari de Paisatge” (Landscape Bulletin) which, since June 2005, collects weekly news items on landscape published in the principal communication media of the world, with special emphasis on news items referring to Catalonia.

Collaboration in the transport to various cities in Catalonia of the travelling exhibition “Land of Landscapes”, set up in 2006 by the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works and the Presidential Department of the Government of Catalonia and the Landscape Observatory. In 2008 the Observatory takes on the tasks of co-organisation of activities supplementary to the exhibition which will take place in Olot from 29 February to 13 April, with the co-organisation of a cycle of films on landscape, photographic panels on the transformation of the Olot landscape located at different points in the city of Olot and guided visits to the exhibition.

Development of the Observatory editorial plan through the issue of four publications of the institution's own collection “Plecs de paisatge”, two directed to reflection and two more on tools for the protection, management and ordering of landscape, and the design of a new collection for the publication of small format documents on landscape.

The organisation of two seminars, and participation in other courses, symposiums and seminars arranged by public and private bodies.

Institutional participation of the Landscape Observatory in various bodies and initiatives, such as the Thought and Health network created by the Ministry of Health of the Government of Catalonia, the Advisory Council of the journal “Barcelona Verda” published by the Parks & Gardens Department of Barcelona City Hall, the scientific committee on the creation of the Catalan Landscape Museum (based in Olot), the scientific committee on the 1st International Days on Landscape, Water and Sustainability, organised on the occasion of Expo Zaragoza 2008, the Scientific Committee of the Nature and Landscape Information System (SINP) connected to the French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development and the European RECEP network.

Active participation in the European Network of Local and Regional Authorities for the Implementation of the European Landscape Convention (RECEP) through the exchange of methodologies and experiences of landscape planning in the regional ambit and other tasks which will be defined during 2008. Catalonia , through the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia, has a co-leadership role in the RECEP network. In this sense, the Landscape Observatory forms part of the Directing Council of RECEP. It is worthy of mention that political and institutional representation on the network corresponds to the Government of Catalonia.