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The Convention vs Sweden"reconsider (...) cross boarder cooperation within the landscape, (...) a space lacking formal protection" National Heritage Board in Sweden
2006-02-16 |
Board of Housing, Building & Pl Linköping anning Commission of Culture Council
of Europe & Sweden Committee of Public Responsabilities Council of Environmental Objectives Constitutional Committee Ministry of
Agriculture Ministry of Environment National Committee of the Rural zones National Heritage Board NUTEK SALAR Universities
Commission of Culture
"The European continent is
characterised by a multiplicity of cultures with regional, national and
transnational importance, of which the roughly sixty languages spoken
are simply one indication. The diversity of cultures has influenced the
forms of expression (languages, music, painting, architecture, etc.) as
well as the specificity of economic activities, housing, leisure and
mobility. These cultures have shaped to a considerable extent the
diversity of landscapes, towns and settlement patterns, as well as the
architectural heritage of Europe (we underline). This cultural diversity, which has
been in the past a source of tension and conflict, nowadays represents
an inestimable potential for sustainable spatial development (ibid). Modern
forms of socio-economic and technological development should not level
down cultural identities."No more, no less! This inter-cultural perspective on culture of the Council of Europe is also adopted by Landscape&Citizens.
For instance, we may think of this when reading that a new member of the Commission of culture now in work in Sweden and renderening its report by end of 2008, the famous entrepreneur, Johan
Staël von Holstein, and the great " bouillon de culture "
he has provoked in "cultural Sweden"? Why? Simply, because the man -
who was among those who brought the "information
technology bubble" to Sweden in the beginning of 2000 and
then had "the guts" to insist that "culture is the foot-prints of civilisation"... But this simple and undeniable statement must also be seen in the context of the Swedish Council of culture,
one of the Swedish cultural institutions that the Commission is now
looking over. Holstein, a succesful manager recently got a place
in the Board, stating that cultural support should primarily go not
merely to supporting ideologies - a sensitive topic - but
where "it makes sense"... In a time of pre-ratificatication of the Landscape Convention (as we hope) we are very interested in what could possibly come out of these discussions. We know for certain that there is an enormous amount of new actors and cultural producers in the field of the material and immaterial cultural heritage in the Swedish socity. And we can only confirm with the big national newspaper that "the
balance between heritage and development has never in Sweden been so
visibly fragile and the same must be said about the balance between
adminsistration and entrepreurship" ( The Dagens Nyheter
Swedish newspaper in an editorial on the 21 January concerning the
commissionary work, here mentionned as the culture 2.2 version...).In
fact, we were able to do some primarely "digging" in this field in an
essay at Master level. It develops the perspective of the necessary
intercultural dialogue, using the example of what has been called the
two big models of journalism in Europe, the anglo-saxon one and the continental one. Its title is Jean Daniel, Europe and our-selves. In favour of a public European arena in Sweden". Note: It reclaims a good knowledge of French.
Read two texts by the Council of Europe concerning culture, democracy - and landscape:
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Council of Europe & Sweden
Introduction
Ever
since 1949 when the Council of Europe was founded in Strasbourg
after the Second World War, Sweden and the Council of Europe have in
fact been walking in the same direction.
Being one of its old members, Sweden has participated from the
start in the common strivings of securing "democracy, human rights and
the principles of a state of Law - using either of the two working languages of
the organisation: French or English.
© Lars Tunbjörk; the Swedish Parliament.
Visible, the Swedish Citizen? What does he see - and how does he feel?
| In the Council of Europe the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has political representation from the 46 member states. It
has had a decisive impact on the legislative reform and the shaping of
local self-government in Europe. Recently, in 2003, it decided to
survey how The European Charter of Local Self-Government, that Sweden ratified in 1989 is actually working in Sweden.
The Congress also intiated the creation of European Landscape Convention in 199...
Among
the Recommendations of the Congress to the Swedish Government, we may
note here: to "refer to the Charter when drawing up
all legislation", to discuss the need of a constitutional Court in
Sweden, to create a parliamentary Commission for local-selfgovernment
and - with special interest to us concerning Landscape - to "also include considering the general
recommendation from the Congress that central government allow local
authorities greater scope to carry out their duties for the benefit of
the local population".
In other words, there is an interest in keeping up local democracy. We are thus entering the hot issue of what CEMAT discusses in terms of "the territorial dimension of human rights", see : www.coe/int/CEMAT. This
debate, indeed, concerns also the health of the citizens, since it has
been said in an important book in 2006 describing a Swedish population
of "drug addicts to security" by psychiatrist Dr David Eberhard
(see www.manpocket.se) that
centralist actions at without participation of the public, will
undoubtedly lead to lacking mental health for both authorities and
citizens. The Swedish
journalist M Zaremba has also written concerning the now working
Constitutional Committee ( see below) that if we don't discuss in a
broad debate the meaning of such important ideas as "liberty",
"integrity" or even "'human dignity" then these things will, to the
annoyance of most of us, has to be dealt with in Strasbourg, since no
society can escape them!
Landscape&Citizens
thus proposes more general public information concerning these issues
from the Government, the Parliament, and various Authorities
and Commissions (some of them braught together on this page). This
is the only way to bring about a general debate and understanding among
citizens at all levels. Informe Swedish citizens about The European Charter of Local Self-Government.
Ratify the Landscape Convention.
Read more:
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Commission of Public ResponsibilitesOthers, too, are now influencing the way in which landscape
will be conceived in Sweden in coming years. The Parliamentary
Commission of Public Authorities published their final Report in
February 2007, A Sustainable and Prosperous Society.Among its Missives we read:- comprehensiveness and clarity : decisions et priorities must be possible to conceive by concerned citizens, - possibilities for citizens to influence on services that are of concern to them, and -
equivalence and respect for différences: citizens are different
and do not have the same needs, which calls for considerations
both on how to meet them and how to respond to their needs.
| 
© Fig from our Report to the
Swedish National Heritage Board in 2007 after Norwegian Senior
Officer A Moflag . It shows the importance of spatial
sustainability
with special regard to the regional level, since, as he said on a Seminar of the Council of
Europe in Strasbourg on 15 March 2005, below, objections are heard, from time to time:
Objections
heard from time to time... |
Planning gives me creep…
Planning is a reminiscent from Soviet Times
Planning is the way bureaucrats take the power from politicians
- The idea is rather the opposite…
- What form of training do we need to conquer such misconceptions?
- And - where do politicians get their training from?
- Key issues on the way to sustainable development making this Seminar rather essential
|
| We thus seem fairly close to the words of the European Landscape Convention with its Explanatory Report. The Commission
follows roughly the same analysis as did the former
architect Audun Moflag, now planner of the Norwegian Environment
Ministry at a Seminar in Strasbourg, Council of Europe in 2005. It
treated the role of training in spatial planning and sustainable
development. Also the Commission states that:"The
regional level is the focal point of efforts to achieve a more
intersectoral working method. Compared with the national and local
level, the regional level today is confusing and fragmented (...). At
the same time, the need has grown for a functioning regional level as a
means of achieving an intersectoral and territorially based working
method." However,
the Commission, just like so many others, also notes that their is
now in Sweden a lack of confidence and especially of dialogue between
different levels:"a
large number of instruments are used side by side without their effects
being known. At times, governance signals are also felt to be
contradictory".Landscape&Citizens
believe this Report ought to be much more debated among Swedish
sitizens than has yet been the case. Média should help in this. Also
the Council of Euorope itself could take a role in order to show how we
are sometimes in the nordic countrieis a bit to stuck up with ancient
traditions, the famous old "jante lag", then we think and that is actually good for the development of our societies...Very interestingly the word "european landscape convention" when tested on the final Report by the Commsision gives 0
results in the Google search engine! That is why it is certainly
most relevant to cite also the private remit, among all, by Ronny Svensson, (see also www.bygde.net ) concerning this final Report. It is called in translation: Two different perspectives on the future of Sweden - A
critical analysis of the centralist-bureaucratic model of the
Commission on Public Responsibilities, based on a local perspective on
how Sweden may be governed / En kritisk granskning av
Ansvarskommitténs centralbyråkratiska framtidsmodell grundad på ett
lokalt perspektiv på hur Sverige kan styras.Svensson
writes to warn: there is a City oriented tendency in the
Report that should be noted in a country where the vast mass of the
territory is definitely rural, especially in a European perspective.
Besides, the final Report, suffers, according to him, from a
great "lack clarity concerning how the Commission looks
upon public participation. This cannot be restricted to merely a
choice between various service alternatives, can it?"
Lars Emmelin from the Blekinge Technical High School and lawyer Peggy
Lerman, both of them cited by us,
are other exemples of critical analysis transmitted to the Commission.
They have pointed out a paradigm of "expert culture" linked to nature
protection in the Swedish management of "soil and environment".
Compared to this, the paradigm of a "participative planning ideology"
at local level, is very much underestimated in Sweden, they claim.
More :
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Board of Housing, Building and Planning
In summer of 2007 this Authority published a first report
concerning the state and formal knowledge concerning the built heritage
in Sweden - a minor bomb. The big majority of the Swedish 290
Municipalities seem rather to despise their own built heritage. As
many as La vaste majorité des 290
communes en Suède dévaloriesent depuis longtemps leur héritage
culturel. "Today as many as 2/3 of the Municipalities lack the competences of professional antiquarians".
The reasons for this was said in the report to be the fact that this kind of heritage is "sufficiently identified and protected".Simultaneously,
this report showed some interesting conditions at local and
reginal levels in Sweden, that we take as tokens of the need for an
immediate ratification of the European Landscape Convention. For
instance it is clearly stated at this Authority level that the local
competences need to become "more adapted to regional levels and that existing knowledge at regional level should be more practised at local level."
©Pictures from the Study from seven Sweden
Authorities concerning the state of the old built
heritage in Sweden, "Experienced values of
landscape which are they, where to find them?",
report by the Board of Housing, Building and
Planning, May 2007
© Fig by Dutch researchers Jan van der Mansvelt, at the
Council of Europe, on the 15th March, 2005. " PEOPLE "
actually are bringing lots of personal values to the
landscape arena, which - well used - should contribute
to the " LANDSCAPE" we all make up together: "landscape means an area as perceived by people"... | It
is thus very tenting to connect findings of this kind, by Swedish
Authorities themselves with such conclusions as presented by
the Committee for public responsabilities above - as of course
with the Landscape Convention itself! Landscape&Citizens.,
too,is trying to put some more light to the unsufficient state of
protection and planning of particularly old built heritage of the
Swedish countryside, for instance on Landscape Identification.
Compare with the Preamble of the Convention: "Noting
that the landscape has an important public interest role in the
cultural, ecological, environmental and social fields, and constitutes
a resource favourable to economic activity and whose protection,
management and planning can contribute to job creation;Aware
that the landscape contributes to the formation of local cultures and
that it is a basic component of the European natural and cultural
heritage, contributing to human well-being and consolidation of the
European identity;"
However,
we much all watch out: not so few Swedish Authorities are still most
convinced that this important identificatin and protection business is
solely their own responsibility - not that of inhabitants and
citizens... For instance, a big study that was financed by the
influential Council of Environments Objectives and published in
May 2007, show the Board of Housing
Building and Planning in joint work with six other Authorities and in
the interest of future house planning in all Swedish Municipalities to
question the citizens concerning, as the title goes their "Experiences of Landscape. Which are they, where do we find them ?" However, far from all types of groups were presented in the questionnary, nor was the perception of "landscape" really the issue, since this was rathermore hidden among general environmental goals. Landscape&Citizens has, for such reasons, tried to put forward several keywords in view of the Swedish ratification. We mean that the "perception of landscape" by the citizens is what renders the democratic profile to the Convention . CHECK More: Landscape&Citizens
has proposed, on demand, to the National Heritage Board,
in the same line of thought, we believe, as the report by lawyer Peggy
Lerman (below) that the concept of landscape must widen in order to
comply with the Landscape Convention's thorougly democratic approach.
We thus suggested "four key words",
convinced that this is particularly in line with
the implementation of the Convention in civil society.
(Agrandir l'image).
In our report we also cited the two researchers in the Netherlands, Bas Pedroli and Jan van der Mansvelt
from the Alterra Wageningen UR University, having done much
preparatory work in regard of the Convention and its
implementation in Europe. Somewhat, in the same line of thought as a
Swedish doctor David Eberhard in a recent book on what he would describe as a "national panic syndrome", the two researchers cite the Amercian sociologist Abraham Maslow concerning human needs ( see figure to the left): ”Then
Maslow noted that neither salary, position, political appreciation,
housing nor whatever else makes humans completely happy. Only the
feeling that they realize their true inner being, that they manage to
develop their inner potential makes people feel good. It is this
potential inner being that wakes people up in the night, on a long walk
or on an unforeseen moment, asking: was this the life you were born
for? "Obviously, the implementation of the Convention has only started... One
pretty recent example of how landscape can be looked as a triumf card -
if seen in the context of bothe of culture and of people and
entrepreneurs at a basic level is given below from the town of Vimmerby
and its Astrid Lindgren Landscape - the same where a naughty and hugely popular child was living once upon a time : Pippi Longstocking ! Read more on Landscape Identification. And: |
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Constitutional Committee
"The
Constitutional Committee should perhaps ask us, the citizens (...)
Are you satisfied with the present representive system, steering
through a nomenclature of state administration, or would you like
to take on more responsibilities and attain majority?" These words by Torbjörn
Björnstedts are among the few that have been allowed to show in the
debate on the Committee's work, visible on the site www.grundlagskommitten.se. The parliamentary Committee has the task of the Government to suggest by 31th Decembre, 2008 " constitutional revisions and other legislative changes they may find motivated".
|  © Constitutional
Commitee. The lack of discussion of constitutional issues in Sweden is seen as alarming by many insiders... | Many
insiders to the Committe, like for instance the political Science
Researcher, Henrik Oscarsson, has reported to the Committee
certain quite alarming facts, stating that today "the
vast majority of Swedish policy, most of the elected representatives
and the citizens, find themselves at a very large distance to the
discussions held on the future Constitution
of Sweden".
This is why, in the context of the Landscape Convention, Landscape&Citizens firmly believe that the thoroughe Study of Swedish lawyer Peggy Lerman, Landscape in Swedish Law ( only in Swedish) should by of very high interest for this Committee.
It certainly is in the interest of a country that wants to see itself as a partner among others in the European dialogue...
Now the Recommendations of the National Heritage Board concerning the European Landscape Convention have also been published, January 2008.
They should also be studied with care.
More information by clicking on the Swedish startingpage.
| |
Ministry of Agriculture
In
2004 a private consultant, EuroFutures, was commissioned by the Swedish
Ministry of Agriculture to provide scenarios in order to detail the
future development of the rural areas i Sweden. The study, Landsbygden
år 2020 - fyra framtidsbilder, that obviously also present territorial
visions, was to serve as input in the overall work in Sweden with the
new Environment and Rural Development Plan 2007-2013, that has now been
taken and started to be implemented.
Here are the four scenarios of "The countryside by 2020- four scenarios for the future":
| 
© Photo EuroFutures, 2004. Cover of the Swedish Report "The countryside by 2020- four scenarios for the future"
| 1. Empowerment of village communities
A
scenario where people choose to live and work in the countryside
primarily due to increased means of subsitence. This scenario assumes a
rather slight increas of the rural population in the Swedish
countryside. It also implies that "demographic conditions will be more
even between populated areas and the countryside, primarily due to this
empowerment. Read more: www.leaderplus.se (KOLLA),
2. The era of large-scales industries
In
this dcenario the logic of the industrial scoety as we know it has been
transformed on the agricultural sciences. It is said that the
countryside has a touch of the the old Sovietrussian Kolchos socity,
though, with large service stations and industries near to populated
areas. The labourer and the specialists commute to the countryside
"much alike the situation on the olil rigs in the North Sea. As long as
the relative price on the final product is high enough this structure
will be obtainable"...Read more: LINK TO the Sw strategy...
3. The exotic nature
A
development where the rural parts of Sweden is empty of employments and
of people... At the same time preferences have changed towards "higher
values of the wild nature and the value of culture. The rural parts are
said to "serve rather as an object of study than a as a cultivated
landscape!. The question in this scenario would be "to what extent can
social values fit in? Sweden strive for an international UN-distintion
as the "National Park No 1 of the world"...Read more:
landscapeidentification/sweden, www.environment(national parks KOLLA
4. Enlarged functional regions
Finally
EuroFutures describe a future where people live in the countryside but
work to a large extent in populated areas. This concepte is said to
have been chosen "to associate the ambition among experts" (which
ones?) to hold up both employment, living environments and peoples´s
spare time within "a uniform concept of welfare". Many people from
towns may thus hold perhaps a high office in town while at the same
time withdrawing in their spare time from a hectic city life to a
more relaxed high quality existence on the countryside.
This should be the scenario that has perhaps most in common with the visions of the Landscape Convnetion.
Read more: AK, Nordregio: Towards a new Regionalism in the North, Rural heritage Guide
Obviously
all four of them provide the Swedes with concrete visions around
territories the final outcoming of which in a Sweden we should all
influence by our votes...
Hopefully, the possible ratification of the European Landscape Convention, in 2008, will start making more Swedish people interested by the visions of the future from experts.
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National Committee of the rural zonesSee the countryside! Mythes, truths and strategies for the future. This was the inspirering title of rhe final report of the parlamentary National Commiittee of the rural zones, when it wa delivered to the Ministry of Agriculture in Decembre, 2006. It is said to have taken shape "in the same corridor" as that, holding the Committee of Public Responsabilities. The Introduction is written by Ronny Svensson, who has also some interesting - and controversial - comments on that Committees final work.The Report See the countryside!" has many merits. In fact, one whole chapter is consecrated to " The transformations of Landscape", where the Landscape Convention is cited from the first line - and in many ways held on to. The
Council of Europe is openly adressed ( which doesn't seem to be always
the case in Swedish Reports, also when at the origin of them): http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co_operation/Environment/Landscape ".
© Photo EuroFutures
Les ruraux doivent participer en plein droit aux projets d'aménagement qui les concernent - simplement en tant que citoyens ! | Landscape&Citizens
took part in one of the Commissions meetings at Trollhättan in spring
2005. We hope that the inspiring work under its president, Karl
Erik Nilsson, will bring about in the long run some substantial changes
in rural Sweden.
Its
biggest problem as we have often been able to conclude these last
years, is that, contrary to the situation in many European
countries, Sweden has a very long traditon, indeed, of separation
between urbain and rural zones...
More
information concerning the kind of revised thinking we believe is
needed within the European (landscape) context is giving in our two
communicatins on the demand of the Council of Europe, respectiviely the Swedish National Heritage Board.
The first in Sibiu, European City of Culture in 2007, where in a period of intensified debate on Regions in Sweden, we chose to show how a small ambitious Swedish town, Vimmerby, already famous through the books of Astrid Lindgren, has already started some reflections on its landscape by openly adressing the participation of the inhabitants in this respect. To follow up, indeed.
The second, a report on what could by done in the context of the Convention in the territory of the Municipality of Kinda, actually within the péri-urban area of Vimmerby, but for the good, for the bad, belonging to another County.
More:
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Ministry of Environment
Since 2001 CHECK when Sweden signed the ELC, the Ministry of environment has been given the Directive
of the Government to find partly in collaboration with the National Heritage Board
how this Convention could be implemented in Sweden. Today 29 countries ( out of 47)
have ratified it.CHECK
However, the reports and strategies already taken in the Swedish RDP
Plan, 2017-13, according to some experts doesn't take up landscape
development plans as much as it does general plans for imroved
environment and climate.
In May, 2005, the gouvernment le Gouvernment proposed a so called 16e Environmental Objective, where under the closer description of its content, Rich flore and faune, one finds what has hitherto been prescribed for landscape.
Thus,
it is only normal that expectations should be rather big, as to
the proposals of the National Heritage Board concernng the Convention,
that were quite recently delivered, January 2008 (we will
come back to its content)!
Landscape&Citizens further believes that it's a pity that so many other important aspects of the European Landscape Convention, cultural,
humaniste, entrepreneurial, etc, seem to have such a hard time to be
considered in their own right in this country! Certainly, our Swedish
socity would gain on a bigger variation, more outspoken individual
liberties and a bigger understanding an respect of humanities
concerning landscape, wouldn't it?
© Photo EuroFutures : Sweden, one big National Park?!
Comparer Peggy Lerman, lawyer:
"
Also the need of knowledge, is, finally, one of our mayor
challenges. There is not that kind of systematic and
geographically covering analysis of our landscapes that the Convention
assumes."
Her report can be read on www.raa.se | | The Swedish researcher Lars Emmelin and lawyer Peggy Lerman have for the Committee of Public Responsibilities made an interesting analysis of the " environmental paradigm"
in Sweden, that we have also taken up on other occasions. (See for
instance our The Vimmerby Landscape and the ELC Study, Sibiu, 2007).
The following Study, The landscape in Swedish legislation by Peggy Lerman, holds the same high quality and should indeed be taken very seriously by deciders.
She writes:
"Thus,
a sectoral responsibility concerning the environment, could not, in my
opinion, be seen as satisfying in the view of the
Landscape Convention. The landscape has not been cited in its own
right and independantly, in such a way as to be judged sufficient
according to the expectatins of the Convention. It is not enough, to
say that the sectors must show environmental responsibility. More on Council of Environmental Objectives.
More also on Landscape Identification/sweden, and:
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The National Heritage Board The National Heritage Board has had a Directive from the Government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment during 2007 to find some good ways of implementing the ELC into the Swedish legislation and territorial reality. It reported to the Ministry of Culture -only in January 2008.
In 2006
the Board arranged several Seminars, some of them commented on this
site; a sort of "founding" seminar was the one that was called (in
English) "The European Landscape Convention - time for implementation!"
In its annutal report on 2006, The Future of Cultural Heritage Work
the Board made this eloquent tribute to culture and humanism - not so
often heard in these plain terms in a country where market principles
have also been seen to have had some ravaging effects... :
"Strengthening
humanistic and historical perspectives of future cultural heritage work
demands new and broader knowledge and skills. When more actors work with
the cultural heritage both professionally and as volunteers, the
circumstances of public historic environment work also change. New and
different knowledge about the cultural heritage thus needs tobe
developed. New skills are needed in order to manage knowledge in a
way that both guarantees quality and makes it accessible and meaningful
for the public and professionals alike. The humanistic and historical
perspectives of historic environmental work also need to be
strengthened" , particularly as theyare the field’s most important
contribution to a long-term sustainable society. "
It is thus indicated that up-coming goals should center more upon:•
"Strengthening and internationalising humanist education and research
in order to secure the provision and acquisition of new and broader
knowledge and skills for the development of a proactive cultural
heritage work. (---)
• Giving humanist and historical
perspectives opportunities similar to those of other perspectives, such
as the natural- or social sciences, to impact environmental work and
the transition to a sustainable development.
• Giving
individuals and associations, networks, enterprises and other
organisations more opportunities to take responsibility for the
conservation, use and protection of the cultural heritage."
(Incidentally, the network of Landscape&Citizens
has tried since mid-2003 to do just this - and been able to draw some
lessons about both possibilities and complicating factors in the
contemporary Swedish countryside - a work you may take part of by
clicking Contact us or here: Networking and collaborations in the Sommenbygden and in Alsace, or Swedish landscape I and II.)
During 2007, The Board made known to all Swedish 290 municipalities
that a new Landscape Convention is under preparation. This was probably
most timely, since the municipalities often seem to be occupied with
mainly the natural heritage conventions, leaving the row of cultural
conventions far behind...
© EuroFutures : the town-countryside-scenario
"My personal ideas ( by former president of the Parliamentary Rural Commission, Mr Karl Erik Nilsson):
- We must see the protection of cultural heritage as a municipal resource for the community
- We must go from a fixation on to "objects", i a specialisation, towards a more global comprehension
- ... for how funny would it seem, actually, if all our municipalities should risk to have a similar look?"
At an Automn Meeting, 2006
by the Swedish Heritage Board | | In November, 2007 a final report, called(in English) The Cultural environment and cultural and its historic values was likewise sent to the gouvernment. It recommends the Landscape Convention to be integrated in Swedish Law acknowledging as it says that " legislative support for the cultural environment in the context of the landscape is too weak" and that consequently " the notion of cultural environment should be sharpened".
And to follow up with the well-known observation that the dialogue
between different kinds of competence must develop and rendered easily
able to develop...
Naturally, as Landscape&Citizens
has often pointed to one of the more obvious consequences should be a
greater Swedish concern with the works of an internationally well
established organisation in this field: Council of Europe.
Here we may among many other things also find reasons to participate in the development of European States in "the practice of European
democracy".
See, also the possibilities of the European Rural Observation Guide by CEMAT below and on Landscape Identification/sweden. Other propositions made by the Board during its European Landscape Convention. Time for Implementation! Seminar would be to :
"reconsider
(...)cross boarder cooperation within the landscape, (...) a space that
lacks formal protection. Participation is also an important possibility
just as is the adjustment from a focus on protection and
conservation to that of administration and development."
Note: the present report with its recommendatins from the Board to the government may be read on http://www.raa.se . We will come back to it.
More:
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The Swedish Associtation of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) |
© Photo EuroFutures...
"The era of large-scale industries" doesn't seem to be far off even today...
© SALAR
Many
things to evaluate for a citizen on only one occasion every four years.
And where is the public debate on this? The encourgagement of public
debate by the authorities...?
However, SALAR has started up some information campaigns on their site - in English...
Read more in the PPT by SALAR concerning the three democratic levels, to the right!
| The European Landscape Convention, owes its existence thanks to the will of the local and regional authorities in Europe. That'is why the
Swedish organisation that organises all of our 290 municipalities
and county/councils, SALAR, has an important role to play in connecting
the intentins of the Convention with local and reginal levels and with
the citizens in Sweden.
This may be one of the reasons why The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions has summuraized some critics of the Council of Europe
concerning precisely this local autonomy in Sweden on its web
site, including gouvernmental answers and some of the official debate
concerning various aspects of our present and future regions.
For instance, SALAR wrote in an answer to the gouvernment of this
critic in June 2005, that it was necessary to "encourage
regional democracy by making permanent and by widening on-going essays
concerning of regional organisation and by considering the
possibilities of an assymetric organisation of society.".
The president of, Anders Knape, has also encouraged the Swedish municipalities "to consider the recommendations of the Council of Europe".
Actuellement, on y lit à propos de la Convention Européenne de l'autonomie locale que
la CLRAE a trouvé certains défauts en ce qui concerne son
implémentation. Un nouvel rapport est prévu à ce sujet en 2008.
curiously, however, we have found no evidence of that SALAR openly discusses - as did the National Commission of Rural Zones - the Convention, nor that it claims, with it, public participation in landscape matters.
For Landscape&Citizens it seems natural to express all sorts of support to the idea of a great and transparent local autonomy.
Why not, as has been suggested, introduce a Commission of local
autonomy in Parliament and in the next Constitution? This might
facilitate the necessary introduction of the landscape concept in the Law, discussed by lawyer Peggy Lerman and others.
More:
HIT
-
 Levels of Democracy in Sweden, 2007
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NUTEK - (Authority for commercial and industrial development) This Autority for national commercial and industrial development has, during a Seminar of the National Heritage Board (English title: Landscape, health, leisure time activities and tourism, in 2006, put forward some really good arguments for the ratification of the Landscape Convention:
© Figure by NUTEK,
autumn 2006 : The Anatomy of Attraction:
" In comparison to many other commerces &
industries tourism does
not own the platform for
attraction. This means, when talking about
landscape, that tourism is dependent on collective utilities and a
proper landscape administration rendering attractivity."
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Sweden, tourism wasn't looked upon as a serious source of income until
recently. However the figure by NUTEK to the left comparing relations
between tourism and car export reminds us of some basic facts. Suddenly,it
becomes quite clear to all of us how different kinds of tourism should
be discussed in any Swedish Municipality as an alternative to other
types of incomes.
We talk here about the necessity of what has
also been called "valorisation" , simply of life settings of the
inhabitants for tourist purposes.
From the speech: " In comparison to many other commerces & industries tourism does
not own the platform for attraction. This means, when talking about
landscape, that tourism is dependent on collective utilities and a
proper landscape administration rendering attractivity."
How can this be obtained? The discussion that followede revealed these factors:
- a confidence between tourism enterprising and the Authorities
- a cooperation between the local people concerning the best use of their attractions
- plus knowledge of other languages in order really to adapt to the wishes of visitors...
Landscape&Citizens doesn't find better and more economic arguments than these for a swift ratification of the Landscape Convention! Also, the idea of landscape plans, proposed in various places, so also on this site, creeps closer... Read : |
Universities
©
Tvärsnitt/2007. This journal aims at different
actors in the field of
research - and development.
The photo is from a beautiful essay
by the Islandian philosopher Ragnvald Ingthorsson of the
University of Umeå : Title of the text ( in English)
"Studying humans and salt - different procedures" | Things are changing for the landscape -
By the end of 2007 an important article was published by Nordregio, Nordic Centre for Spatial Development, Nordregio: Towards a new Regionalism in the North in a serie of publications that the EU publish under the title: Structural change in Europe (5) : Cities
and Regions Facing up to Change.
The two nordic authors are prudently optimistic. They note:
"There are indications
that seem to confirm the idea that the regional level needs to be
perceived in a new light. This includes 'regionalism' as far as the
regional and local levels themselves are seeking to achieve empowerment
through a more bottom-up process of mobilisation."
In another article in the same publication, representatives of the Chalmers University in Göteborg, for their part insist on the role of cultural players in spatial planning . So, the European Landscape Convention without having yet been ratified in Sweden, is seen to show its wide-ranging influence among deciders ...
However, the wide-ranging effects of the European ESDP Programme should, according to Landscape&Citizens,
be more discussed also on a civic and participatory level
in Sweden. The questions of closer collaborations between towns and
rural areas, including better integration of transports and - not least
- how the protection and development of natural and cultural resources
play a role in every on-going discussion about regional identities,
should include many different parties, i a also citizens... But we
still see very little of it...
Will the Landscape convention be ratified in 2008?! This would give an important impetus to greater civil participation in landscape and territorial matters. Another
issue, that ought to be taken up by universities is the use of
several languages in the social debate and in the social and
humanist research fields. We believe that this would counter-balance
the negative inluences of nordic "l'agentification" also discussed in Cities
and Regions Facing up to Change.
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The
interest at university level to take up rural development issues in a
more comparative and European perspective has never seemed as acute as
in today's Sweden.
So, again, we are obliged to stress the need - in Sweden - of a Rural Heritage Guide by the Council of Europe.
As a matter of fact, the new report from the Swedish National Heritage Board that
recommends the Government to ratify the ELC uses the same type of
arguments as did an report to the French Culture Ministry in 1994,
leading to the publication of this Guide in French:
Thus, the Swedish Board states in January 2008:
"To
counter-balance demands is the priority of politics, especially at a
moment when one regard to the environment threatens another regard to
the environment. In order to act politically on these issues there
needs to be a clarification of the consequences of different ways of
action. The landscape is the arena where all separate policy fields
meet and that is why a base in a landscape perspective should be where
the good solutions may be found."
Landscape&Citizens
has since long, propesed one such sustainable solution: the Swedish version of the European Rural Heritage Observation Guide."
For us it's time.
And it's a question of time:
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"In
times of rapid change there is an obvious risk of a city losing its
soul. Local history, identity and culture clashing with new
populations, influences and lifestyles are raising questions about the competitive,
attractive and exciting city. / At the
same time there is
tremendous pressure on cities to be ecologically sound and socially" --- (cont. >)
© EU: Cities and Regions
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(>
cont) --- balanced. The new context is unfamiliar for many of
us, and with an unclear balance of responsibilities, mandates,
resources and power, we face the risks of following every trend
uncritically or getting stuck in complacency or wishful thinking. Therefore, we need to develop new approaches that canaccommodate uncertainty and change.---"
Cultural Players in Regional
Development Processes (in: EU: Cities and...)
--- " The
landscapes carved out over centuries by people who lived off the land
and, more generally, through the exploitation of natural resources. / The
buildings that make up what is referred to as rural architecture,
whether or not they are clustered together (villages, hamlets, isolated
houses and buildings), / The local products, adapted to local conditions and the needs of those who developed them, / The
techniques, tools and know-how that have made creative activity
possible and which remain essential for maintaining, restoring,
changing and modernising its results, in accordance with the design
logic and aestehetic of the buildings/environment/landscape as a whole.
These techniques extend to symbols and cultural meanings in the widest
sense. / However, we cannot discuss rural cultural heritage without referring to two obvious facts. The people who
use the countryside, who live there and who have often played a
decisive role in ensuring that these assets have survived are
increasingly aware that it belongs to them and are becoming more vocal
on this issue. At the same time, the countryside, and the heritage that
it represents and contains, is considered the property of every
individual, including those from towns as well as from the countryside."
© Council of Europe: European Rural Heritage Observation Guide
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 Landscape & CitizensContact Photo: Project Leaders from allover the country meeting in Stockholm at a meeting by former Committee for EU-DEBATE on the 27 April, 2006
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