Author(s)

B. Badiani

Abstract

The starting-point is the new conception of landscape proposed by the European Convention on Landscape (Florence, 2000): the landscape is a combination of elements, natural and not, that encircle us. In light of this new concept, the work proposes a reflection on the actual modalities of the description and interpretation of the landscape used as the first step in environmental planning. In 2002, the Lombardia region approved a law concerning the guide lines for the examination of the projects in relation with the landscape value. So it is very important to make clear what a landscape means. But the elements suggested in this law to describe the landscape do not seem to be useful in estimating its value. Taking into account the proposed methodologies of this regional law, an attempt has been made to devise one practical and flexible procedure for the evaluation of the characters of the landscape. The aim is to reach a fundamental knowledge of what a landscape is, taking into account its concrete and sensitive aspects and their possible descriptions. The methodology is based on a check-list of natural and human elements, implemented on a GIS. A database has been associated with each element. The information put into the database is organized in a way to facilitate the evaluation of the landscape, the communication of the result of the analysis and the participation of the citizens in the decisional phase. The methodology has been applied to a territory of a municipality in Northern Italy to test the good flexibility, the simplicity and the clarity of the description of the landscape image and the improvement of the quality and completeness of the check-lists. Keywords: landscape analysis, environmental planning, landscape planning, GIS.

Keywords

landscape analysis, environmental planning, landscape planning, GIS.