Getting acquainted with their landscape: research by design as a tool to understand people's perception of current and future landscapes

Abstract

In the current policy setting in Western European society, spatial planning tends to emphasise the achievement of policy intentions through the realisation of actual spatial interventions and the growing importance of citizens as spatial actors. The place-based planning approach refers to the fact that the design of integrated interventions must be tailored to places, since it largely depends on the knowledge and preference of people living in it.This paper unpacks the planning practice in Flanders by analysing and describing two landscape cases, as the actual arenas where different social activities compete, many key-actors are gathered and spatial planning processes and interventions take place. The key concepts “governance”, landscape quality” and “research by design” are defined. We investigate if research by design can be used as a tool to explore people's perception of current and future landscapes.The case studies disclose a deliberative process, which makes use of a research by design methodology, is not only able to gain knowledge on people's perception of current and future landscapes but can also improve the mutual understanding of the appreciation of landscapes by various spatial actors.Both cases illustrate the current struggle of authorities with the growing importance and knowledge of citizens and the difficulties the policy makers experience introducing these actors and knowledge in planning processes. The designs and masterplan developed within the cases refer to the place-based approach, as it is proposed by the European authorities.