12/06/2013
Having regard to Recommendation CM/Rec (2008)3 on the Guidelines for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention, “landscape observatories, centers and institutes” are one of the main instruments for the implementation of landscape policies (II.3.3). They allow collection, exchange of information and study protocols between states and local communities.
In some cases national and regional bodies have established institutional centers for landscape observation, which show a varied panorama of missions and relationships within the activities of spatial and landscape planning. In Italy, for example, Regional Observatories, created by a national law, collect geographical data, accompany the landscape planning process, and rarely, carry out participation experiments. In Spain too, the Regional Observatories are actively involved in the elaboration of landscape planning instruments. At the same time, a substantial number of “spontaneous” initiatives from
civil society to local organizations, which carry out awareness raising, participation, and sometimes, elaborate projects and concrete actions on the territory. This seminar promotes an international overview of the activities of landscape observatories, as well as reflecting on their mission and effectiveness with regard to the ELC objectives, and the relationships between the different subjects.
With the participation of institutional bodies, public officials, researchers and representatives of civil society, the seminar will discuss the following themes:
Awareness, education and participation
Documentation, assessment and monitoring
Relationships with landscape and spatial policies, planning, and design
Landscape Observatories Networks
Research in progress
Problems and actions to be taken: a “Landscape Observatories Agenda”
The seminar includes a workshop focused on the Italian case (Italian Regional Landscape Observatories Workshop, in the Italian language); where Landscape Observatories are established in each region and at the national level by law.
Recent publications will be presented in occasion of the seminar.
Scientific Committee
Roberto Gambino (Politecnico di Torino and UNISCAPE Executive Board Representative),
Claudia Cassatella (Politecnico di Torino),
Marco Devecchi (Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari, UNISCAPE Representative)
Federica Larcher (Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali e Alimentari)
Massimo Morisi (Authority in charge of communication for the landscape plan of the Tuscany Region)
Daniela Poli (CIST Centro Interuniversitario di Scienze del Territorio / Inter-university Center of Territorial Sciences)
Mariella Zoppi (Università di Firenze, UNISCAPE Executive Board Representative)