European Landscape and Participation – Rhetoric or Reality?

Abstract

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) obliges parties to establish procedures for the participation of the general public, local and regional authorities, and other interested parties in landscape matters. This indicates that the views ofall interested groups should be considered, not just scientific or political elites. Participatory, dialogue-based approaches mean that values and meanings attached to landscapes by different groups need to be negotiated between competing interests. Justifications for participation include reinforcing local identity, democratization, legitimacy, information exchange, tackling conflicts, and social justice. Introducing effective public participation in landscape protection, management, and planning has wide-ranging and radical implications for policy-makers and administrators. Successful participation involves sharing knowledge and negotiating power relations, and can challenge oppression and injustice. However, participation has been criticized as time-consuming and costly. Participation rhetoric may conceal inequalities in bargaining power and divergent motivations of participating stakeholders, and allow manipulation by powerful interests. Participatory projects may mask power structures in local communities, conceal the oppressions of daily life (e.g. gender) and override legitimate decision-making bodies. Drawing lessons from literature on participation, in particular literature critiquing the prevailing orthodoxy regarding participatory approaches in Third World development projects, a theoretical analysis is provided of participation rhetoric, attitudes to participation, and advantages, disadvantages and effectiveness of participation related to landscape issues in the European context.