Joan Nogué, “A Journey through Landscape: From Theory to Practice

Drawing from experience accumulated over 40 years of academic and professional trajectory on the question of landscape, as a university professor, director of the Landscape Observatory of Catalonia and ‘militant’ for landscape, Joan Nogué reflects on the theory and practice of landscape today and into the future. Professor Nogué defends an integral conception of landscape that considers both the tangible and intangible elements. Such conception highlights the geohistorical singularity of landscape –every landscape belongs to a specific space and time– while acknowledging the plurality of views and interpretations that it is subject to. Nowadays, landscape discourses and practices flourish with extraordinary potency, although sometimes they fall into the purely formal and aesthetic dimension. The global ecological crisis is ushering a cultural paradigm change that speaks directly to landscape studies. In order to respond to these changes, contemporary landscape scholarship and practice must engage with the broad-range issues of climate change, the multi-scalar formation of territorial identity, the articulation of common good-based notions of public space, the deepening of people’s desire to reconnect with everyday places and landscapes or the increasing citizen involvement in the processes of landscape patrimonialization. The emergence of these new realities is fueling a growing interest in the cultural, social and political aspects of landscape. The landscape professionals capable of grasping the field’s evolving reality will exercise undisputed leadership in the years to come. Harvard GST Sylvester Baxter Lecture.

https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/joan-nogue-a-journey-through-landscape-from-theory-to-practice/