Evaluation methods

of landscape qualities

Susanna Curioni

INPUT 10-12 May 2012

Landscape is a complex category founded on a multitude of different elements which all contribute to its definition:

strictly scientific factors pertaining to a vast range of established disciplines, and so-called cultural factors

combining the historical, cultural and aesthetic aspects which contribute to knowledge of territory.

Unlike the case of environment – a sector for which a series of scientific studies and methodological contributions

have been developed over past decades – only recently has a need emerged for research which is not limited to

the study of landscape as a simple object of perception but contributes to construction of an analytic task aimed

at establishing a common platform for all the disciplines that contribute to the understanding of landscape.

Definition of a rigorous methodology for the study of landscape offering criteria which are as objective asDefinition of a rigorous methodology for the study of landscape offering criteria which are as objective as

possible and elements for assessment of project quality is therefore an innovative tool which, in response to the

current need for shared models to guide landscape policy, contributes to application of the European Convention

and thereby indicates a direction for action to be extended onto the international scene.

The Italian legislative tradition in the field of landscape

Constitution of the Italian Republic (1947, art. 9.2)

“the Republic protects the landscape and the historic and artistic heritage of the Nation”

Law n. 1497 / 1939 “Protection of natural beauties”

Law n. 431 / 1985 “Galasso law” Protection of areas with high environmental value

Law n. 349 / 1986 Institution of the Ministry of the Environment

and provisions in matter of environmental damage

European Landscape Convention

Florence 20 October 2000

Law n. 14 / 9 January 2006 ratification of Italy

Legislative Decree 22 January 2004 n. 42 and later reviews in 2006 and 2008)

“Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code”

European Landscape Convention

Florence, 20 October 2000

Article 1 - Definitions

a. "Landscape" means an area, as perceived by

people, whose character is the result of the action and

interaction of natural and/or human factors.

Article 2 - Scope

[:] this Convention applies to the entire territory of the

Parties and covers natural, rural, urban and peri-urban

areas. It includes land, inland water and marine areas. areas. It includes land, inland water and marine areas.

It concerns landscapes that might be considered

outstanding as well as everyday or degraded

landscapes.

Article 3 - Aims

The aims of this Convention are to promote landscape

protection, management and planning, and to organise

European co-operation on landscape issues.

Subscriptions of the European Landscape Convention

Total ratifications: 37

Total signatures not followed

by ratifications: 2

The European Landscape Convention: early applications

With numerous signatories, the Convention provides a sufficiently ample framework to permit application of its

directives in geographically and culturally diversified Europe. In the past decade numerous signatory nations

have implemented a series of measures promoting adoption of the guidelines and goals identified in it in their

own legislation.

Germany

Environmental and scientific approach deriving from the federal law on the protection of nature

Catalonia

Landscape Catalogues of the Landscape Observatory of CataloniaLandscape Catalogues of the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia

Great Britain (England, Scotland, Galles)

LCA Landscape Character Assessment

HLCA Historic Landscape Character Assessment

France

Studies by traditional schools of landscape

Studies by public administration like the Method of the Ministère de l’Environment for the Atlas de Paysages

Switzerland

Paysage 2020 by OFEFP pour la Nature et le Paysage

Italy

Studies aimed at creation of planning tools on different regional, provincial and local levels

Researches by MiBAC Cultural Heritage Ministry

Catalonia_Landscape Catalogues

Instituted by Law 8/2005 for the protection,

Management and planning of the landscape in

Catalonia.

The Landscape Observatory of Catalonia

is entrusted with producing 7 of these documents,

one for each administrative and political region.

Prototype of Landscape Catalogues

The procedure for the preparation of the landscape

catalogues comprises five phases:

1. Identification and characterisation of the landscape

2. Evaluation of the landscape

3. Definition of the landscape quality objectives

4. Establishment of directives, measures and

proposals for action

5. Establishment of follow-up indicators

Great Britain

LCA Landscape Character Assesment

HLCA Historic Landscape Character Assesment

Methods aimed at interpretation and analysis of the

formal and geographic character and historic

elements or time-depth of the territory with the

aim of providing information of use for planning and

enhancement of landscape

Structure:

1. Characterisation

Step 1 Defining the scopeStep 1 Defining the scope

Step 2 Desk study

Step 3 Field Survey

Step 4 Classification and description

2. Making judgements

Step 5 Deciding the approach to judgements

Step 6 Making judgements

Characteristics:

Application to the entire territory examined

Indispensable role of stakeholders

Switzerland_Paysage 2020

Vision of the evolution of landscape oriented

towards the goals of sustainable development

Aim of protecting vital space for future generations

and permitting balanced development of human

society and of the 45,000 or so plant and animal

species with whom we share the land

Through definition of thirty-two quality goals and a

grid of criteria and indicators, the study presents

the essential trends in evolution of Swiss landscapes

between 2000 and 2020 with the goal of enunciating

concrete results regarding the current state of the

landscape and coming up with hypotheses for its

evolution in Switzerland

Italy_MiBAC Cultural Heritage Ministry

Council of Europe’s Landscape Award

(Art. 11 European Landscape Convention)

Assessment procedures based on the Award

Regulations (CM/Res Resolution (2008)3)

with the purpose of rewarding exemplary practical

initiatives for the achievement of landscape quality

objectives on the territories of parties

to the Conventionto the Convention

Characteristics:

Announcement

Spreading of the initiative in the specific target

Sharing with government bodies, associations and

institutions

Participation

Clarity of the selection procedure

Introduction of an objective evaluation method

Promotion of the results

Assessment methodology_preparation

Parameters articulating an assessment procedure in the field of landscape:

- capable of analysing scientific data and different factors not always easily quantifiable and measurable.

- breadth of their scope of application, resulting in significant heterogeneity in the possible cases to be analysed.

Founding principles of the proposed methodology:

Guidelines of the European Landscape Convention as valid support for the creation of common rules which may be shared within the international scientific community

The basic criteria stated by the Convention, along with identification of the key quantitative and qualitative elements identifying an intervention, offer valid tools for assessing the quality of landscape projects.The basic criteria stated by the Convention, along with identification of the key quantitative and qualitative elements identifying an intervention, offer valid tools for assessing the quality of landscape projects.

Assessment methodology_criteria

Sustainability: actions aimed at safeguarding and enhancing natural and cultural resources.

Exemplary value: identification of cultural organisational and relational models that may be reproduced in the

cognitive process of the identities of places.

Public participation: procedures aimed at getting the local population involved in the process of recognisability of

a place.

Awareness-raising: communications and educational strategies for the promotion and increased awareness of

landscape.landscape.

The parameters identified on the basis of these criteria determine the path of the assessment methodology and,

through analysis of the constituent elements, structural processes and relational aspects of the projects studied,

reveal the cultural and scientific values of quality of landscape and of intervention aimed at transforming it, on the

basis of which we may identify an exemplary, replicable organisational model.

Assessment form_structure

The assessment form permits analysis of a vast range of different kinds of projects

Direct projects

projects overseeing a specific physical and structural transformation of the landscape in a given territory

Indirect projects

tangible and intangible actions (plans, programmes, regulations, etc.) aimed at safeguarding,

enhancing and redefining the character of the landscape

Part I

Data collection:

- information identifying the project (project head, type of project head, planning);

- information identifying and describing the project (title, type, administrative territory where the project will be - information identifying and describing the project (title, type, administrative territory where the project will be implemented, location in a landscape area or unit, location in an area subject to specific conditions of protection, project area, cultural heritage, iconography, visual and social perception, degradation/pressure, use, description).

Part II

Parameters which develop and explicitly state the four criteria set forth above

Assessment form_criteria

Sustainability (environmental and socio-economic)

Environmental sustainability

- use of sustainable resources, materials and technologies

- use of environmental accounting analyses

- implementation of sustainable development processes

- actions for protecting and enhancing the quality of the landscape

- actions opposing or remedying any previously existing conditions of degradation

- use of landscape sustainability indicators

- presence of regulations regarding landscape planning in the guidelines for sustainable development

Socio-economic sustainability

- cost of implementing and managing the project

- type of funding to be used

- economic impact on the area

- presence and type of participants

- implementation of models of cooperation between different organisations

- participation in a convention or a network of international conventions regarding safeguarding of cultural and

natural heritage

Assessment form_criteria

Exemplarity

- identification of organisational management models and organisational practices

- feasibility of replicating the project and transferring the experience

- documentation used and preliminary studies conducted

Public participation

- implementation of participatory processes based on the Local Agenda 21 model

- opening of public relations points

- presence of standards and rules governing the transparency of the decision-making process

Awareness-raising

- creation of information points, both tangible and intangible

- presence of communicative, educational and promotional actions

- generation of printed and web publications.

Filling in the assessment form described therefore permits collection of information which, appropriately

organised and possibly computer processed, will provide useful indicators permitting identification of the qualities

of a given design context and help make the reading of the character of the landscape as objective as possible in

a shared model which may constitute a highly exemplary scientific tool on the international scene.

Computer processing

Data processing procedure

- computer entry of the form document

- creation of a database organising the information collected

- statistical processing of the data

- definition of parameters and scores providing a synthetic indication of the principal characteristics of the

projects analysed and contributing to their assessment

- conducting statistical and graphic analyses in order to produce a summary and a rational representation of the

information obtained

Potential for applicationPotential for application

Creation of a database which will provide a base for experimentation with statistical analyses

aggregation the data by project type, area project size, or other significant variables

Definition of a possible series of cross-references and statistical processing of the data

- behaviour of the parties in comparison with a partnership with the national administration

- if and what kind of projects the people in charge are normally associated with

- relationship between the project date, the European Convention and correspondence with the four criteria

pertaining to the second part of the form

- relationship between the presence of valuable elements and the territorial scale of the project

- relationship between accessibility and the type of project

- presences defining its identity, tourist flows

- relationship between investment costs and operating and maintenance costs

Potential for application_experiments in Sardinia

Sardinia, the first region in Italy to have come up with a regional landscape plan in conformity with theCultural Heritage and Landscape Code and the European Convention, is an interesting field forexperimentation with the assessment methods and planning models thus prepared.

The region is characterised by a series of territorial areas with different architectural and landscape features:- industrial landscapes places with a long tradition of extraction and mining industry- rural agrarian landscapes an essential component of the structure and morphology of the land- natural landscapes offering a rich heritage of elements of environmental, geological and ecological value- coastal landscapes popular tourist destinations for decades and, while constituting an important engine drivingthe regional economy, place significant anthropic and urban pressure on the land.

Experimental application of the study pursues two ultimate aims:- measurement of the principal features of the landscape of different areas in Sardinia and analysis of thequality of specific projects included in it- exploration of possible ways of implementing models of sustainability in different types of landscape

Case study_Carbonia

Carbonia, the project which won the second Council of Europe Landscape Award is an example of broad, complete interpretation of the principles underlying the Convention, expressed in different aspects of cultural, social and environmental policy.

Carbonia is a new city established in the first half of the twentieth century, representing the biggest initiative of its type taken by the fascist regime anywhere in Italy.

Located in the Sulcis Iglesiente geo-mineral park, the city was established as an industrial, residential the city was established as an industrial, residential and administrative centre linked with the island’s biggest mine Serbariu.

Accelerated growth in industrial production in the post-war period and the changes in Italy’s strategic policies led to closure of the mine, followed by economic and social decline which have compromised the town’s identity.

The result is landscapes that have strong connotations but include vast abandoned industrial areas, often associated with ecological problems which make it difficult to convert these sites for new uses

Case study_Carbonia

Case study_Carbonia

Carbonia Landscape Machine

Key aims

Preserving the area’s historic industrial vocation

Implementing a model for sustainable development

GoalsReclamation and redevelopment of the abandoned mining landscape for cultural, research and industrial uses

Creation of a new model of sustainable territorial development based on the preservation and development of the mining landscape and the development of the mining landscape and the foundation city

Promotion of research and higher education

Reconversion and transformation of the industrial sector with initiatives in the field of alternative energy and clean energy and energy efficiency of buildings, in order to generate new employment and business opportunities

Promotion of new cultural identity based on the identity-memory-innovation relationship

Carbonia Landscape Machine

Carbonia Landscape Machine

Carbonia Landscape Machine

The project was an important milestone in undertaking a new policy for the island’s new towns, setting up a network which has also been extended abroad through protocols for joint activities

In the context of the strategic policies undertaken in Sardinia, Carbonia therefore represents a concrete, exemplary model which, through actions aimed at achieving sustainable development with public participation and encouraging public awareness, has triggered processes and implemented projects which will result in the redevelopment and re-launching of the features identifying a significant cultural of the features identifying a significant cultural landscape.