When risk takes the form of landscape

Following the success of the exhibition ‘Dues pedres. Paisatges persistents’ (‘Two stones: persistent landscapes’), put on by Palau Robert and curated by the Landscape Observatory in 2023, this January the Landscape Observatory has published a catalogue under the same title. Both the publication and the exhibition showcase the richness and diversity of landscapes structured by dry stone techniques. As such, they highlight the value of the ancient and universal dry stone tradition and champion its continued relevance and persistence. [+]

It will take place on April 15 and 16 in Barcelona, with the collaboration of BIMSA, Barcelona d'Infraestructures Municipals, and the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition of the Government of Catalonia. The Seminar is an invitation to rethink places, the horizon, the gaze, and the role of viewpoints today, from an ethical and civic perspective that restores the value of landscape contemplation as a transformative, conscious, and territory-respectful practice, capable of strengthening the bond between people and their environment. The program will be available soon.

The Catalan Ministry of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition has commissioned the Landscape Observatory to draft a report on the state of the landscape of Catalonia, in accordance with Article 13 of the Landscape Law of Catalonia and the recommendations of the European Landscape Convention. This report should allow assessment of the development and transformation of Catalan landscapes and serve as a basis for guiding future landscape policy. Throughout Europe, this type of report has been demonstrated to be a key tool for the effective implementation of landscape policy.

The Council of Europe has invited the Landscape Observatory to participate in the expert group drafting the report Landscape, a living environment, which will contain recommendations on the key roles played by everyday landscape in addressing major global crises, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as in improving people’s quality of life. It is expected to be completed and approved by the Council of Europe’s Council of Ministers before summer 2026.[+]

On 27 June, the Parliament of La Rioja approved Law 4/2025 on Landscape. The law provides a legal framework of reference for sectoral plans and programmes that have an impact on the landscape, ensuring its protection and preserving its unique attributes. With this legislation, La Rioja moves towards greater landscape protection as an essential element of heritage, culture and identity, promoting a balance between preserving landscape heritage and socioeconomic development.

The Centre of Art and Nature (CDAN) opened its doors to the public on 27 January 2006, meaning that it will turn 20 years old this January 2026. The objective of the CDAN is to create a unique space that features and fuses art and nature, thereby stimulating fresh reflection on the union between creation and landscape. As part of its 20th anniversary, a special exhibition traces the CDAN’s history and journey through a fundamental element of nature: water.

The Juana de Vega Foundation’s Galician Landscape School created the Juana de Vega Awards to recognise interventions in natural and built heritage that improve the quality of the elements of the current Galician landscape and as a point of reference for the future. The jury of the 2025 edition, of which the Director of the Landscape Observatory was a member, gave the award to the project ‘Landscape Integration of the Camino de Santiago in Concheiros’.

On 24 October 2025, the Ministry of Culture’s Historical Heritage Council approved the update of the National Cultural Landscape Plan, which the Observatory has helped to draft since 2024. The new plan represents a significant leap in quality compared to the previous one, released in 2012, since it considers that all landscapes have been transformed in some way. Therefore, it views them all as cultural and focuses on everyday landscapes. The new plan recognises that Catalonia’s landscape policies play an active role to this end and serve as a benchmark.[+]

On 16 and 17 November 2025, a workshop organised by Futuro Viñador and entitled ‘Return to the mosaic: keys to regenerating rural landscapes through vineyards’ took place in Sant Pere de Rodes, in Alt Empordà. The Observatory’s director, Pere Sala, was involved in the sessions, where the participants shared their thoughts on the contributions of the mosaic landscape to a territorial model prepared for the future, adapted to climate change, fire prevention and the preservation of biodiversity. You can find all the lectures here.

On 14, 15 and 16 November, Andorra was the international venue for the preservation and dissemination of dry stone and traditional architecture. The Observatory gave a presentation in the first section, entitled ‘Research in heritage’, to explain the new features of the collaborative Wikipedra project and update the results of the inventory. The project also appeared in other presentations, confirming Wikipedra as one of the benchmark initiatives for the dry stone tradition.

Curated by Clara Nubiola and Laura Plana, this exhibition is the result of ongoing PhD research that seeks to understand how children and adolescents play in rural landscapes to rethink how they can be taken into consideration in urban planning and local policies. Fifty local children and adolescents participated in the exhibition through guided walks and group workshops. It opened on 21 November 2025 as part of an event of the same name held at Can Trona in Vall d’en Bas.

Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the approval of the European Landscape Convention (ELC), in autumn 2025 the European Landscape Consortium ratified a manifesto calling for the cross-cutting integration of landscape into European Union policy as a strategic element in the development of EU institutional action, reaching all areas that affect well-being, cohesion, identity preservation and the fight against climate change.

TOPIA is the digital platform of the Research Laboratory of the National School of Landscape Architecture of Versailles-Marseille (LAREP). It includes a research space on landscapes and gardens, a curated selection of works, information on teaching activities related to LAREP and various documentary resources useful for landscape research.

In autumn 2025, students of Landscape Sciences at the University of Padua explored and traced the navigable waterways of Padua, photographing the landscape using ‘kalagraphic’ keys to interpret its dynamic qualities and the systemic relationship occurring there. Created by photographer Christopher Thomson, the project’s coordinator, the website captures this process through photography as a tool to identify, interpret, communicate and reflect.

Lucas Períes (ed.). Córdoba: EDUCC - Editorial de la Universidad Católica de Córdoba, 2025. ISBN: 978-987-626-646-8.

The ‘Manifesto for the landscapes of the future’ presents the update and realisation of the commitments that founded the Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) in 2012. As an active member of the initiative, the Landscape Observatory helped to draft the manifesto over the course of the past year. The document strengthens the principles and commitments regarding landscape diversity, its contribution to social well-being and biodiversity, its evolution and its current and future challenges.

Chiara Gallanti, Elena Canadelli, Giovanni Donadelli, Mauro Varotto. Verona: Cierre Ed., 2020. ISBN 978-88-5520-080-6.

This book traces the genesis and evolution of the University of Padua’s Geography Museum of Geography. As it explores this unique museum through the key historical figures involved in its creation and management, it also reflects on the present and future of geographical science, understood as an indispensable and highly relevant cross-disciplinary tool.

Journal of European Landscapes. Amsterdam University Press, 2025. Vol. 6, núm. 1.

The Journal of European Landscapes has published a special issue marking the 25th anniversary of the European Landscape Convention. The issue’s scientific articles coming from all over Europe provide an opportunity to reflect on the convention’s impact, the implementation of policies and the role of landscape in society, whilst assessing its present and future.

Secretaria tecnico-scientifica dell'Osservatorio del paesaggio del Trentino; TSM-STEP Scuola per il Governo del Territorio e del Paesaggio, 2025.

Published in 2022, this volume is a collection of projects, works and initiatives carried out in the Alps region that won the Giulio Andreolli Award, promoted by the Landscape Observatory of Trentino. It showcases advances in improving landscape quality from different points of view.

Rosana Sommaruga (coord.) Montevideo: Universidad de la República, 2024. ISBN: 978-9974-0-2248-5.

This book is structured into three chapters that present the main territorial transformations and historical events of Santa Teresa National Park in Uruguay, featuring a selection of historical and contemporary photographs illustrating the key criteria behind its creation. It also provides theoretical reflections on the landscape perspective and its application in the park’s projects.

n'UNDO. [Madrid]: n'UNDO, 2025. ISBN: 978-84-1090-086-8.

In this book, n'UNDO proposes an alternative approach to solving today's urgent problems: not building, rebuilding, and undoing. Faced with the unsustainability of current development, characterized by rampant construction, he demonstrates with compelling arguments how architecture and urban planning can improve people's lives and ensure the environment's survival through subtraction. A book that does not provide closed solutions, but rather opens an essential debate: how we want (and can) build a city without destroying the future.