Paysages patrimoniaux en Wallonie (Belgique), analyse par approche des paysages témoins

Abstract

In 2000, the Walloon Region (Belgium) has initiated a research program at the Standing Conference on Territorial Development (CPDT) in order to address the European Landscape Convention requirements. The research concentrated at first on the identification and the typology of Walloon macrolandscapes at a regional scale. Then the research focussed on the landscapes characterisation at a scale of 1/ 20 000 and their patrimonial qualification. The paper traces the research progress (definition of the concepts of landscape and patrimonial landscape, the adopted procedure) and presents the elaborated method to appreciate the landscapes scientific values, called the method of the “ witness landscape”. It also presents the difficulties met during its application on the field. The method is iterative and combines the observation on the field, the review of both historic and present cartographies, the interpretation of aerial photographs and the mobilisation of the available bibliography. Reading, analysing, understanding and documenting the landscape in order to highlight the meaningful landscapes’ configurations and components, such was one of the research team contributions to the landscape management.