LAA310 Sustainability and major landscape changes

The students will be able to choose a project task from offered real cases which has led to major landscape changes. The project task can be angled towards interventions in nature, cultural landscape changes or peoples's experience linked to the landscape. The groups work with different projects and organize their own field-trip to the area.

The landscape we live in has always been and will always be changing. This is due to both natural conditions and human influence. In recent years transformations in the landscape have occurred which both accelerates and leads to major challenges for society and environment.

Norway has joined the European Landscape Convention. The importance of creating a sustainable development based on a trade-off between social, economic and environmental needs is emphasized here. On what terms do the changes in the landscape take place?

The convention points out that "the development of production techniques in agriculture, forestry, industry and mining and in regional and urban planning, transport, infrastructure, leisure and tourism as well as general changes in the world economy in many cases accelerate changes in the landscape". The agreement obliges the countries to map the landscapes in their territory, to analyze the character of the landscapes and which forces and threats lead to their change.

The aim of the course is for the students to develop their analytical ability to study major landscape changes that have occurred in recent years, identify and understand the driving forces behind the development, know and apply planning tools used in the planning phase and be able to discuss the changes in light of the concept of sustainability.

Knowledge:

The student must acquire knowledge of:

• Different approaches that are relevant for an interdisciplinary analysis of landscapes with the various consequences of an intervention, and how this can promote understanding and communication among people
• Important overall guidelines, legislation and guidelines that are relevant for physical planning of projects affecting large areas in Norway
• National, regional and municipal planning and how the public participates at different levels
• The role of important professional bodies in social planning. This could be, for example, the Swedish Road Administration, the Norwegian Railways and NVE
• The importance of the tools for managing social development, such as map databases, digital shaping tools and how they affect our perception of reality.
• How to exercise specialist expertise to stimulate interdisciplinarity and sustainable solutions?
• The aesthetic dimension versus the instrumental one.

Skills:

The student must have acquired skills in:

• Defining a task area and formulate relevant issues for the development of a group project
• Analyzing historical changes in a larger landscape area over time, point out which driving forces have worked and understand the consequences of these
• Pointing out the biggest driving forces for landscape changes today
• Working at different scales and using different tools such as inspections, conversations, interviews, drawings, figures, sketches, sections, photos, tables, perspectives and scientific sources to develop a project and promote a message
• Using precise concepts and good language to create good written reports
• Being able to make oral presentations to convey a project content in a clear and simple way to promote dialogue with various people involved

General competence:

The student must have completed:

• Ability to work in interdisciplinary teams with complex issues towards a common goal
• Critical thinking and being able to reflect on one's own professional practice and understanding of one's own role
• Expertise in the involvement of people and ethical issues related to this