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Міжнародний науковий симпозіум «Сталий розвиток – стан та перспективи» 131
(Львів-Славське, 12-15 лютого 2020)
J. Schultheiß, M. Reiss, K. Adler & E. Jedicke (Geisenheim, GERMANY)
THE COMPETENCE CENTER CULTURAL LANDSCAPE -
NETWORKING AND KNOWLEDGE-TRANSFER
FOR A FUTURE-ORIENTED LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT
Hochschule Geisenheim University,
Department of Landscape Planning and Nature Conservation, Germany
For thousands of years man has shaped the landscape through use and cultivation.
This has resulted in a diverse cultural landscape. However, the intensity of anthropogenic
activity has increased significantly over the last two centuries. After the Second World War,
technical developments, new social requirements, an expanding population and a growing
prosperity lead to a further acceleration of this process. Today Central European landscapes
are deeply shaped by man and so are most of all natural processes that run within them
(NEUBERT & WALZ 2000; BURGGRAAFF & KLEEFELD 2007; BAUDE & MEYER 2012; BÜTTNER
& RECKER 2012).
In recent decades, it has become increasingly clear that current landscape
management is unsustainable - be it ecological, economic, cultural or social. Only a
fundamental change of how man sees, treats and forms landscapes can guarantee, that we will
be able to satisfy these different and mostly basic needs adequately.
In addition, various actors responsible for landscape development are facing increasing
challenges, which currently make it difficult to manage the landscape in a sustainable way:
1. Growing professional requirements to landscapes
2. Increasing legal-administrative complexity
3. Impractical courses of studies
4. Problems with qualified staffing
5. Development of new professional fields
6. Ongoing focusing in science
The only way to achieve sustainable landscape development is an overall, holistic
view of the issue. Furthermore, it is necessary to link different actors, which, at first glance,
often have opposite interests to fulfill their respective needs. This includes actors from
practice (e.g. agriculture, forestry, nature conservation, landscape and spatial planning) and
various scientific disciplines.
Until today, there is a lack of organizations and institutions that try to bring different
stakeholders together, who are mainly responsible for landscape development. Nevertheless,
such an active network of stakeholders seems to be necessary to organize and reach the goal
of a more sustainable landscape management. The Competence Center Cultural Landscape
(CULT), founded in 2017, is to assume and fulfil this function. It is based as a permanent and
independent institution at the Hochschule Geisenheim University (HGU) in southwestern
Germany and sees itself as an initially national, but perspectively European network for
dealing with and solving current and future questions of sustainable development of cultural
landscapes.
132 2nd International Scientific Symposium “Sustainable development – State and Prospects”
(Lviv-Slavske, 12-15 February 2020)
The CULT focuses on three fields of action: networking, generating new knowledge and
education (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1: Fields of activity of the CULT
The core task of CULT is the networking of stakeholders. The aim is to bring
together the ones that would not cooperate in their daily routine and to animate them to
collaboration. The encouragement to interdisciplinary cooperation between its network-
members is of extraordinary importance. It is the only way to find new and innovative
answers for persisting and upcoming landscape-challenges.
A central hurdle on the way to a more sustainable landscape development is not the
lack of knowledge; it is rather a lack of communication between scientists and practitioners,
because they are quite often acting side by side and not together. That is the reason why the
CULT mediates between practice and theory. This not only puts scientific findings into
practice, but also encourages scientists to learn from practitioners and to conceive new
scientific questions.
Network meetings take place twice a year. At these meetings, topics of current
relevance are discussed and worked on. Furthermore, the CULT arranges meetings,
conferences and workshops about specific topics, especially if network members ask for
cooperation.
Another focus of the CULT is to generate scientific project funding for its members;
particularly application-oriented projects that support the knowledge transfer between
practitioners and scientists. Such network activities are highly relevant in the search for new,
promising project ideas, new cooperation between CULT members and for existing as well as
new funds. Hence, the CULT-Team is in close contact to federal (and European) institutions
to generate project funding for research projects for CULT members.
The network is open to any stakeholder who want to participate, e.g. governmental,
non-governmental and academic organizations or economic partners. There are already
Міжнародний науковий симпозіум «Сталий розвиток – стан та перспективи» 133
(Львів-Славське, 12-15 лютого 2020)
intense collaborations between nature conservation sciences, spatial planning, forestry and
cultural sciences.
Another topic area deals with the transfer of knowledge about cultural landscapes at
universities and other educational institutions. Students often only learn a selected knowledge
of cultural landscapes depending on the respective discipline. This complicates an integrated
and interdisciplinary solution of problems in cultural landscapes and closes the view for
existing problems, which do not directly concern the respective field.
At present, an extra-occupational training course is planned, which will be offered
jointly with external stakeholders (nature conservation, protected area administrations,
landcare associations, preservation of historical monuments etc.) and should be on a part-time
basis. The training course is intended to provide up-to-date and comprehensive knowledge of
cultural landscapes and is aimed at professionals.
The Competence Center Cultural Landscape (CULT) is very interested in the
development of international relations, especially to promote joint conferences, projects and
education. Ultimately, this is to ensure an exchange of knowledge and experience between
cultures within their landscapes.
References
BAUDE, M. & MEYER B. C. (2012): Changes of Landscape structure and soil production function since
the 18th century in northwest Saxony. In: Journal of Env. Geogr. Vol. III. No. 1–4, S. 11–23.
BURGGRAAFF, P. & KLEEFELD, K.-D. (2007): Kulturlandschaft in der Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung.
In: Les Cahiers de l’Urbanisme – Le projet Planarch 2, Archéologie et aménagement du territoire, S.
106–118.
BÜTTNER, T. & RECKER, U. (2012): Top down und bottom up – Ansprache und Gliederung von
Kulturlandschaften. In: Koblenzer Geographisches Kolloquium, Nr. 34, S. 33–2.
NEUBERT, M. & WALZ, U. (2000): Der Landschaftswandel im Raum Pirna. In: Landesverein
Sächsischer Klimaschutz – Mitteilungen 1/2000, S. 19–27.
