Landschaftsbilder und Landschaftsverständnisse in Politik und Praxis
Edited by Cormac Walsh, Gisela Kangler & Markus Schaffert, Springer VS, March 2021
In the following, I provide an English-language introduction to the book, drawing in particular on the text of the introduction chapter.
Landscape is highly relevant for the policy, practice and politics of spatial planning and environmental management. In the preamble of the European Landscape Convention, (Council of Europe 2000) landscape is attested a “an important public interest role in the cultural, ecological, environmental and social fields”. Landscape management is described as a cross-sectoral task, part of an integrative environmental policy, requiring stakeholder engagement and public participation. The European Landscape Convention has to date, been signed and ratified by over 85% of member states, but not by Germany or Austria. This is particularly surprising, given that German landscape planning is often seen as model of best practice, yet perhaps reflects the high degree of sectoral institutionalisation and professionalisation of landscape policy and planning within the German and Austrian systems.
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