What is landscape?
​
In accordance with the Council of Europe’s Landscape Convention, the European Academy for Landscape Culture regards landscape as a whole in which natural and cultural elements are perceived and experienced as a distinctive atmosphere. It is here that the beauty and distinctive character of European landscapes are experienced; their identity becomes apparent as soon as their history is viewed as a biography intertwined with that of humankind. Landscape is nature as perceived by human beings through their senses. The way people think about a landscape helps to determine how they perceive it and, consequently, how they shape it. The development of a landscape reflects the evolution of its inhabitants’ consciousness. Landscape is a process between humankind and nature. The resulting diversity of European landscapes represents the rich variety of natural conditions and demonstrates how differently the relationship between humankind and nature has developed. Landscape encompasses a broad spectrum, ranging from near-natural landscapes, rivers and lakes, forests and gardens, to highly productive areas used for agriculture, forestry and horticulture, through to village and park landscapes, and on to densely populated towns and cities with their industrial and commercial areas, as well as transport infrastructure and routes.
 

What is ‘landscape culture’?

​

Landscape culture is, first and foremost, the result of how the landscape is treated and valued. Furthermore, landscape culture can be understood as the active development of one’s own relationship with nature in terms of thought, feeling and will. This can be seen both in concrete cultural practices in agriculture or landscape conservation, and in people’s intellectual culture, which shapes their relationship with nature. Since the types of landscapes that emerge depend on the way in which people perceive or think about the landscape, the landscape culture promoted by PETRARCA places greater emphasis on training the capacity for perception, on the one hand, and on fostering ways of thinking that are in harmony with nature and life, on the other.

​

The perception and sharing of individual experiences and encounters foster a sense of community that is prepared to take responsibility for the development of its own environment.

​

Creating spaces for encountering nature and one another, which foster an appreciation of and a personal connection with the landscape, is therefore a vital task. This work can provide impetus for a community or region, ensuring that nature and the landscape have a voice as key elements for a sustainable future.The public interest that arises in this way can make a significant contribution to the joint care and shaping of the landscape in a manner befitting it.

​

The European landscape today

 

With the industrialisation of land use and the globalisation of society, landscapes have lost their essential significance and function. Reduced to mere units of production, their regenerative and healing potential, as well as their cultural and natural diversity and distinctive character, have diminished significantly. The fragmentation of the landscape by numerous competing interests has replaced the sense of beauty and wholeness.

 

In response to this development, people from all walks of life in many countries are calling for sustainable development that aims to carefully cultivate and preserve Europe’s regionally distinctive landscapes. PETRARCA is rising to this challenge of promoting and supporting the vibrant development of diverse and distinctive landscapes.

 

The European landscape of tomorrow – a task of cultural education?

 

If we, as human beings, are willing to recognise the interdependence between our landscapes and ourselves, then we can consciously renew our relationship with the environment in which we live, in the spirit of a cooperative partnership. In such a renewed relationship between humankind and nature, purely utilitarian thinking can no longer prevail. Instead, a more caring, mutually supportive attitude will emerge.

​

Action focused purely on exploitation gives way to the cultivation of the landscape with respect for natural ecological interdependencies. In this way, we nourish nature and nature nourishes us, both physically and spiritually. In this way, we find the guiding principle for a modern, multifunctional landscape. The development and cultivation of the landscape becomes a shared responsibility for all people; a new, consciously conceived cultural impetus based on the recognition and respect for Europe’s landscapes can emerge.

It becomes clear that a future awareness of the landscape is, not least, a matter of education and upbringing.

 

PETRARCA therefore aims to intensify its research into and support for the development of perceptual skills at various levels, thereby fostering independent judgement as the basis for responsible action.

 

Above all, the aim is to develop an appreciation of the processes of life within the landscape and to recognise how these interact with aesthetic and physical effects. It is also essential to observe the processes of individualisation within the landscape that shape the distinctive character and unique nature of a place. The appreciation of the whole is significantly enhanced by the methodical incorporation of artistic means of expression.

​