ABSTRACT

The relationship between democracy and landscape reflects the demands of an increasingly complex and diverse society. The Landscape Observatory of Catalonia is a centre for thought, study, documentation and action on landscape. The Landscape Observatory drew up the landscape catalogues of Catalonia, established by the Landscape Act, which are tools for characterising landscape in order to bring it into regional and sectorial planning. One of the main results of the catalogues has been the map of 135 landscapes units, based on their character, as a result of a participatory process with the population. So, the 135 landscapes units are not seen as political/administrative entities, but as living spaces and places for rethinking the governance of landscape. Taking the experience of the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia as a base, the chapter shows initiatives that escape the logic of conventional tools and place new contents on the table, new ways to reach agreements and to act, and new tools for cooperation between actors.