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The European Landscape Convention's (ELC) definition of landscape, "an area, as perceived by people…" places the public central to any understanding of landscape. This paper argues for 'just' involvement of the public and looks at how the focus of landscape as a perceived entity has been taken up within Landscape Character Assessment (LCA), an approach applied in the England and Scotland for implementing the ELC. Based on a conceptual framework grounded in perception as a phenomenological experience of landscape and informed by principles of participation, LCA's from 2007 to 2011 have been assessed as to how public involvement has been considered. The results show that only a quarter of all assessments accessed involved the public, and that among these there is great disparity in the degree to which the public is engaged. IntroductionLandscape has been referred to as an integrating, holistic concept, which provides common ground for diverse disciplines and actors to address shared problems (Tress et al., 2003;Naveh, 2001;Fry, 2001). Yet the concept landscape is situated in an increasingly complex social and economic context. Building on Castells' thesis of the 'Information age' it has been noted that shared values diminish, and that conflict and tension heightens as the diversity of values increases (Healey, 1996;Innes, 2003; Tress et 1 al., 2003). Competing values are seen as being founded on technical advances, increased mobility and contact between diverse cultures. Landscape can be considered one of the arenas where these contested values can create conflict, as a diversity of users and the interests they bring with them vie for limited resources.The significance of landscape for the well-being of individuals and society is well recognised (Luginbűhl, 2006; EEA, 2007) as is the implication of quality of place for attracting local businesses and population into competing urban regions (Selman, 2006). At odds with this realisation of the benefits of landscape as a resource is the frequently commented perception of deterioration of the landscape across Europe (Buchecker et al, 2003).It is within this context that the European Landscape Convention (ELC) was conceived. As the first regional international treaty concerning landscape (Prieur, 2006), the ELC sits under the auspices of the Council of Europe (CoE). As such the convention can be seen as a tool to forward the CoE's objectives for democracy, extension of human rights, and raising awareness of European cultural identity and diversity (CoE, 2011).Unlike the European Union or European Commission, the work of the CoE does not constitute law nor represent the power of the state but can be viewed as more of a "moral authority" (Olwig, 2007). This position allows individual signatory states to choose the means to fulfil the obligations of the convention from within their own legal system and national planning traditions (Prieur, 2006). In such a way the aim of the Convention is not to develop a new order within landscape dictated from Europe, but t...

Our identity is tied to where we are and how we engage with the landscapes in which we find ourselves. But what happens if the landscape which we use for our everyday life is drastically altered by a catastrophic upheaval, for example, when forest fires ravage the landscape? In this paper, interviews with individuals affected by the largest forest fire in modern Swedish history are used to exemplify our conceptualisation of how landscape identity is impacted by dramatic change. We address the phases of stability, change and progression in relation to the case. Finally, we propose that landscape identity can be utilised as a central concept for engaging with the social aspects of the impact of forest fires.

In this paper, we engage with the topic of public participation in landscape planning. Academic discussions and policy rhetoric tend to build on a conceptualisation of landscape as a democratic entity, yet practices of participatory landscape planning often fall short of these ideals. Most scholars approach this rhetoric-practice gap from procedural and normative positions, defining what makes a successful participatory process. We take an alternative approach, scrutinising the role of landscape planning theory in participatory shortcomings, and reveal how poor substantive theorisation of 'the political' nature of landscapes contributes to the difficulties in realising participatory ideals. We engage theoretically with the political dimension, conceptualising and explaining the implications that differences, conflicts and power relations have for participation in landscape planning, that is, politicising the landscape. This theoretical engagement helps bring about a much-needed realignment of substantive theory, procedural theory and practice for developing participation in landscape planning.

Access to the published version may require journal subscription. Published with permission from: Elsevier. Awareness-raising of landscape in practice. An analysis of Landscape Character Assessments in England AbstractAwareness-raising is one of the measures which signatories to the European Landscape Convention are expected to realise, yet it is unclear what awareness-raising entails when related to an ambiguous subject such as landscape. Our study builds a conceptual understanding of awareness-raising of landscape, recognising that it cannot be a purely top-down process but needs to be seen as a "multi-directional transfer of knowledge" or "co-creation of meaning". We have used this conceptual understanding as a lens for analysing practices which in some form help raise awareness of landscape. Document studies of Landscape Character Assessments undertaken in England since 2007 and interviews with key actors involved in Landscape Character Assessments were carried out in order to understand how awareness-raising is addressed. The findings suggest that while often overlooked or recognised as a top down endeavour landscape assessments have potential to develop cocreation of meaning.

In this article, we deal with landscape activities in relation to changing landscape identity after a major wildfire in Sweden in 2014. The aim was to investigate the relationships between 22 landscape activities (before the fire) and 2 components (emotion and cognition) of landscape identity (before and after the fire). A total of 656 respondents living nearby the fire area participated in this study. Before the fire, a positive association was found between the activities of enjoying nature and foraging, and both components of landscape identity. This suggests that the more participants enjoyed nature and picked berries and mushrooms, the stronger their attachment to the landscape (emotion), and the more they remembered and reasoned about the landscape (cognition). Post fire, these relationships were found only between the two components of landscape identity and foraging. This implies a significant role of this type of activity for keeping 'alive' landscape identity.

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