Paisatg-e is born

In the few months of life of the body which I have had the honour to direct, the Landscape Observatory has already become a meeting place par excellence between the Government of Catalonia, local Authorities, universities, professional groups and, in general, Catalan society, in everything referring to landscape. We wished to become a great umbrella under which anyone interested in landscape may shelter and I believe, modestly, that a large part of this objective has been achieved. Now we need to go further, especially in the field of communication. This is why the digital newsletter Paisatg-e has come into being, a new tool of opinion, information and awareness, to be issued by the Catalan Landscape Observatory every two months. Closely connected to the web, the newsletter will have its own life and its own structure, which will generally consist of the following sections: The Observer, an article on a matter of interest contributed by an invited firm; Mosaic, brief news items; Digital landscape, the selected web of some institution, entity or initiative from around the world and related with landscape; the Documentation centre will be recommending interesting works to bear in mind and there will also be a section on the Agenda and Landscape in the press.

With this new feature, supplementary to the web and the Dietari de Paisatge which probably you already know and receive, the digital information and communication aspect of the Catalan Landscape Observatory is now very complete and coherent. Nothing would please us more than that it should be of use to you and that you should help us, through your comments and suggestions, to improve its content, and we thank you in advance for your efforts.
Joan Nogué Director of the Landscape Observatory

Towards a network of European regions for the implementation of landscape policies

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.

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Everything is ready for the 5th Meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention

The Landscape Observatory is co-organiser, together with the Council of Europe, the 5th Meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, which will be held in the Auditorium – Congress Palace in Girona on 28 and 29 September 2006, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works and Girona City Hall. The meeting, entitled "Landscape quality objectives: from theory to practice", will deal with various international experiences in the identification and evaluation of landscapes and will debate on the definition of the targets in landscape quality and the application of landscape policies in the local, regional and state ambits. The "Meetings of the Workshops", promoted by the Council of Europe, deal in depth with the application of certain aspects of the European Landscape Convention, approved in Florence in October 2000, and are a veritable forum for the exchange of practices and ideas in the context of the landscape policies developed around Europe.
More information here.

Six Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) schools will pilot the use of the new teaching materials on 'City, territory and landscape'

One of the main tasks of the Landscape Observatory is to make everyone sensitive to landscape. To this end, it has been working in coordination with and on an initiative of the General Directorate of Architecture and Landscape of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works and the Ministry of Education, on designing innovative teaching materials on landscape for use in Compulsory Secondary Education. The material will be used experimentally in six schools, starting in the academic year 2006-2007, beginning this September. It consists of twelve wall charts which will enable pupils working as a team to interpret twelve humanised Catalan landscapes. Besides the material printed for the classrooms, the Landscape Observatory web will be, from this winter, a fundamental method of disseminating these and other teaching materials which are soon to be presented.

The Landscape Observatory opens a debate on the relationship between landscape and health

On 16 June 2006 the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia and the Ministry of Health of the Government of Catalonia organised the seminar "Landscape and Health". The seminar took place in Olot with 60 professional and students from different disciplines in the fields of social health, architecture, town and country planning, etc., as well as entities working with people with difficulties in social integration. The purpose of the seminar was to open a debate on the relationship between landscape and health, with the conviction that landscapes of quality, well ordered and managed, have a positive impact on the physical and mental health of the people and very particularly those most disadvantaged. It is, in fact, what the European Landscape Convention, signed in Florence on 20 October 2000, states when it recognises that landscape "is a key element of individual and social well-being, in areas recognised as being of outstanding beauty as well as everyday areas".

The Landscape Observatory starts work on the landscape catalogues of Alt Pirineu and Aran, Girona districts and Terres de l'Ebre

The Landscape Observatory has started this summer to work on the landscape catalogues of Alt Pirineu and Aran, Girona Districts and Terres de l'Ebre, which will be finished in summer 2007. Also during September 2006 the Observatory will deliver to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning and Public Works of the Government of Catalonia the first two landscape catalogues, corresponding to Camp de Tarragona and Plana de Lleida. The two remaining (Central Districts and Metropolitan Region of Barcelona) will be started in 2007.

Conseil du paysage québécois

A non-profit-making association in the region of Quebec, promoted by various regional bodies, which since 1994 has been dedicated to training and understanding of the values of landscape in Quebec. It prepared the Quebec landscape charter and The landscape guide (a document giving guidance in the implementation of a landscape charter), both available from the web. One of the sections (‘Tour') invites the user to enjoy a short tour through the landscapes of Quebec.

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