About
philosophy
Aim of JustLandscape is to foster a sound development of the European landscape. The large diversity in landscapes is well-known, from the Dutch lowlands to the Portuguese lagoons of the Algarve, from the tundra in Lapland to the fields in the Romanian Danube plain and from the vineyards of Burgundy to the forests in the Urals. Each of those landscapes has its own character. They are places where people have a strong connection to, where they lend character to and from which they derive part of their identity. They can be everyday landscapes just as well as landscapes with specifically valued characteristics.
There is almost always a part of history in a landscape, of the struggle for the existence of the local community. At the intersection of the sensory perceptions, the visual image, the atmosphere and the biography of the landscape, one can meet its essence, sometimes fleeting, sometimes more distinct. In this way, every landscape one connects with becomes unique and special.
The richness of European landscapes has been constantly influenced by the spirit of the times: periods of development, reclamation and prosperity alternate with wars, plague epidemics and the abandonment of less useful land. An encounter with a certain landscape is often poignant, and beyond the richness of the biography of the old landscape, the tragedy of a dead-end development can also be experienced. What has changed radically in the last 50 years is that the future of the landscape is now mainly determined by the anonymous world economy, rather than by concerned residents. This raises new questions and appeals to our consciousness: what future will our landscape face?
A substantial acquaintance with the landscape always evokes enthusiasm. Where people genuinely commit themselves to their environment, even if the old landscape has lost its traditional functions, awareness can develop for a new living landscape. Based on the specific qualities of the cultural land as it has grown over centuries, initiatives are created that enable new functions in the landscape, seeds for a future landscape. You can find such initiatives in many places: care farms, open-air schools, environmental cooperatives, eco-villages and numerous landscape management projects. They are worth cherishing.
For this purpose JustLandscape supports landscape initiatives with research, consultation, coaching, education and publications.
biography
JustLandscape is the platform for professional activities of Bas Pedroli.
Bas Pedroli is a motivating project leader of inter- and transdisciplinary teams in land use, landscape planning, cultural heritage and biodiversity research. He has a project record of more than 35 years in the Netherlands, across Europe and in Russia.
As an acknowledged expert in the area of land use planning and landscape assessment at international level, he is asked regularly for presiding scientific and land use planning workshops, and for keynote addresses in conferences. He is engaged enthusiastically in supporting policies for landscape management and nature conservation planning from a sustainable development perspective, including the required participative and collaborative research approaches. He actively promotes the philosophy of the European Landscape Convention, among others through his involvement in UNISCAPE (www.uniscape.eu). He is initiator of several other scientific networks and conferences. He has coordinated many projects for various DGs of the European Commission among which the FP7 Large Collaborative Project VOLANTE (www.volante-project.eu). Dr Pedroli is the author of more than 35 peer-reviewed international publications, of several books and of many book chapters and papers at international conferences (https://research.wur.nl/en/persons/bas-pedroli) He is affiliated as an Associate Professor with the Chair Group Land Use Planning of Wageningen University in the Netherlands.