INDOC. Documentation Centre about Art and Nature

Conference on ‘Landscapes, Identities and Development’

The 23rd session of the Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape (PECSRL) will be held in Lisbon and the nearby town of Óbidos from 1-5 September 2008.

The conference is organised by the Territory, Culture and Development Research Centre and the Municipality of Óbidos (Portugal). As the title of the conference indicates, its aim is to promote interaction and an exchange of ideas around the role of landscape as an element in the identity of a territory and in its development.

This year's edition will be a new opportunity for exchange and interaction among students and practitioners interested in landscape and development research.

The specific objectives are:

• to provide insights on historical, current and prospective linkages between changing landscapes and natural, economic, cultural and other identity features of places and regions;
• to bring forward new ideas about landscape as it relates to identity in the era of economic and cultural globalisation;
• to assess the role of historical geography and landscape history as platforms of landscape research and management in European contexts, and their transcontinental perspectives;
• to strengthen the landscape perspective as a constitutive element of sustainable development, and to promote international cooperation in landscape and development research.

The conference will focus on four themes:

1. Landscapes as a constitutive dimension of territorial identities

2. Landscapes as development assets and resources

3. Landscape history and landscape heritage  

4. Landscape research and development planning and management

The programme also includes a number of fieldtrips to gain a greater in situ familiarity with the issues addressed in conference sessions. As a complementary activity (requiring separate registration) the organisers have scheduled a trip to Porto that includes an excursion on the Douro River to get to know one of the Portuguese landscapes protected by UNESCO.

More information

E-mail: zoran.roca@ulusofona.pt

- Conference website

Source: texts, CDAN, based on information available at the conference website; photographies, Documentation Dpt. CDAN.

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