Towards a Definition of Landscape Resilience: The Proactive Role of Communities in Reinforcing the Intrinsic Resilience of Landscapes

Abstract

The resilience approach seems to be related to the understanding of the concept of strong sustainability (Neumayer, 2003; Voghera & Giudice, 2019), which requires flexibility, integration, and empowerment. Resilience can be a useful lens to interpret the transformative action of territory and landscape, seeking a balance through projects still linked to the landscape in a generic way. A balance that must be multiple, dynamic (Butler et al., 2019; Loupa Ramos et al., 2016) and co-evolutionary (Davoudi, 2012), capable of maintaining the robustness and identity (Aimar, 2019), function and structure of the system (Walker et al., 2004) in adapting to continuous transformations (Adger et al., 2005; Folke, 2016). In this sense, several research topics are emerging, firstly that of landscape resilience. This is a borderline, polysemic concept, whose debate is still opened in the literature, where resilience at the urban scale is discussed through an ecological and landscape approach to urban and territorial design (Meerow et al., 2015). Currently, the landscape approach does not seem to be the right key to build resilience, as the landscape plan is an ineffective tool at the local project scale. Rather, the focus should be on territorial governance and the involvement of social actors. Indeed, there is a belief that landscape can be a lever to engage and empower communities, with place-related and people-centred approaches (ICCROM, 2015). Their contribution would be relevant to increase the inherent resilience of a system (Brunetta et al., 2019), through active conservation (Winter et al., 2018) of cultural and landscape heritage.