Top-down and bottom-up initiatives for the Walloon landscapes and their inhabitants

Abstract

Landscape protection implies selecting values for preservation and legitimising specific interests while potentially excluding others. Literature on landscape protection recognises the need to move beyond the expert-dominated conservationist paradigm. Based on an analysis of laws, decrees, charters, web documents and semi-structured interviews, this research examines the processes and results of public involvement in landscape protection in Wallonia. While ‘democratisation’ of the landscape gains ground in institutional protection tools, citizen initiatives are mostly carried by only a few inhabitants or isolated groups and wield limited influence in the decision making process. Nonetheless, citizens’ groups increasingly invoke landscape interest in local initiatives, expressing a desire to share their values and develop local projects. This observation underlines a gap in participation processes. Rights and responsibilities of the population depend not only on their place in the decision-making process but also on their interests and attitudes towards their landscapes.

Keywords:

• Landscape protection
• Public participation
• Citizen initiatives
• Belgium
• Wallonia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The people interviewed for this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly. Interview transcripts are therefore not available. Concerning the legislative documents analysed in this research, the data are openly available in Wallex at https://wallex.wallonie.be/home.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lauriano Pepe

Lauriano Pepe is a PhD Student in Geographic Sciences at the University of Liege (Belgium) and a Member of the Laboratory for the Analysis of Places, Landscapes and European Countryside (Laplec/UR SPHERES). His thesis reflects on the management and issues of heritage landscapes in Wallonia (Belgium).

Serge Schmitz

Serge Schmitz has a PhD in Sciences and is a Rural Geography professor at the University of Liege (Belgium). In 2007, he founded the Laboratory for the Analysis of Places, Landscapes and European Countryside (Laplec/UR SPHERES). His research interests include heritage landscapes, the functions of rural landscapes, rural tourism and renewable energy in landscapes