Associating social justice with landscape is not new, yet the twenty-first century's heightened threats to landscape and their impact on both human and, more generally, nature's habitats necessitate novel intellectual tools to address such challenges. This book offers that innovative critical thinking framework. The establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, in the aftermath of Second World War atrocities, was an aspiration to guarantee both concrete necessities for survival and the spiritual/emotional/psychological needs that are quintessential to the human experience. While landscape is place, nature and culture specific, the idea transcends nation-state boundaries and as such can be understood as a universal theoretical concept similar to the way in which human rights are perceived. The first step towards the intellectual interface between landscape and human rights is a dynamic and layered understanding of landscape. Accordingly, the 'Right to Landscape' is conceived as the place where the expansive definition of landscape, with its tangible and intangible dimensions, overlaps with the rights that support both life and human dignity, as defined by the UDHR. By expanding on the concept of human rights in the context of landscape this book presents a new model for addressing human rights - alternative scenarios for constructing conflict-reduced approaches to landscape-use and human welfare are generated. This book introduces a rich new discourse on landscape and human rights, serving as a platform to inspire a diversity of ideas and conceptual interpretations. The case studies discussed are wide in their geographical distribution and interdisciplinary in the theoretical situation of their authors, breaking fresh ground for an emerging critical dialogue on the convergence of landscape and human rights.

This stimulating book explores the intersection of landscape, democracy and spatial justice on an international scale to offer an overarching definition and examination of the emerging field of landscape democracy. The concept of landscape in academia, policy and practice is being met with growing interest and a wider understanding that it is a complex living environment, moulded by tangible and intangible mediums, processes and systems. This book examines how physical, mental, emotional, economic, social and cultural wellbeing depend in large part on inclusive planning and management of landscapes. Through a broad set of theoretical and conceptual frameworks and international case studies, the authors of Defining Landscape Democracy address critical questions, such as: Why is democracy relevant to landscape? How do we democratise landscape? How might we achieve landscape and spatial justice? This work will provide new knowledge and insights for researchers in the fields of landscape architecture, human geography, planning, public policy, sociology, landscape management, and designers and planners actively engaged in shaping democratic public spaces and communities. Contributors include: A. Aagaard Christensen, R. Alomar, P. Angelstam, F. Arler, M. Bose, A. Butler, B. Castiglioni, M. Clemetsen, S. Egoz, M. Elbakidze, V. Ferrario, C. Geisler, P. Horrigan, K. Jogensen, M. Jones, N.T. King, U. Krippner, L.C. Knudtzon, J. Langhorst, L. Licka, E. Lopez-Bahut, J. Makhzoumi, D. Mitchell, K.R. Olwig, E. Oureilidou, L. Paz Agras, J. Primdahl, D. Ruggeri, E. Schwab, B. Sirowy, L. Soderkvist Kristensen, K.B. Stokke, T. Waterman, B. Yigit Turan

Associating social justice with landscape is not new, yet the twenty-first century's heightened threats to landscape and their impact on both human and, more generally, nature's habitats necessitate novel intellectual tools to address such challenges. This book offers that innovative critical thinking framework. The establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, in the aftermath of Second World War atrocities, was an aspiration to guarantee both concrete necessities for survival and the spiritual/emotional/psychological needs that are quintessential to the human experience. While landscape is place, nature and culture specific, the idea transcends nation-state boundaries and as such can be understood as a universal theoretical concept similar to the way in which human rights are perceived. The first step towards the intellectual interface between landscape and human rights is a dynamic and layered understanding of landscape. Accordingly, the 'Right to Landscape' is conceived as the place where the expansive definition of landscape, with its tangible and intangible dimensions, overlaps with the rights that support both life and human dignity, as defined by the UDHR. By expanding on the concept of human rights in the context of landscape this book presents a new model for addressing human rights - alternative scenarios for constructing conflict-reduced approaches to landscape-use and human welfare are generated. This book introduces a rich new discourse on landscape and human rights, serving as a platform to inspire a diversity of ideas and conceptual interpretations. The case studies discussed are wide in their geographical distribution and interdisciplinary in the theoretical situation of their authors, breaking fresh ground for an emerging critical dialogue on the convergence of landscape and human rights.