Students:Memorandum

Reffering to the European Landscape Convention that clearly states that:

• "Landscape" means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors;
• "Landscape protection" means actions to conserve and maintain the significant or characteristic features of a landscape, justified by its heritage value derived from its natural configuration and/or from human activity;

and according to which each party undertakes:

• to recognise landscapes in law as an essential component of people’s surroundings, an expression of the diversity of their shared cultural and natural heritage, and a foundation of their identity;
• to establish procedures for the participation of the general public, local and regional authorities, and other parties with an interest in the definition and implementation of the landscape policies mentioned in paragraph b above .

"It is clear that the views of all interested groups should be considered, not just scientific and technical or political elites.", and not only the general public alone. ... This concept "implies an exercise in democracy whereby differences are accepted, common characteristics found and operational compromises eventually reached; these represents an alternative to the drawing up by experts of hierarchical classifications of landscape qualities"

We, students of the international ISPoS study program have udertaken the project under 2011 Summer school that included:

• exploration the case study of the Ústi nad Labem region with special focus on Hora Svaté Kateřiny
• investigated problems of the brown coal mining industry associated with the Československé armády quarry
• listen to the lectures of regional personalities
• have undertaken the role play task within which we represented regional stakeholders:
  • Environmental NGO group
  • Local residents group
  • Mining company group
  • Regional government group
  • Tourists group
• have written SWOT analysis of the region from the point of view of these groups (on our pages)
• undertaken the negotiation process to agree on common priorites as expressed in common SWOT analysis, and identified shared views and conflict issues
• designed the Vision of regional development from the point of view of regional stakeholders
• and last, but not least, have developed personal relationships to the region and its inhabitants.

Thus, we have fulfilled the goal to "establish procedure for the participation of general public", and expressed it in our role play game with concrete outcomes that were introduced to real regional representatives during our round table organized in local cinema in Hora Svaté Kateřiny. Information and experience that were developed on this purpose we thus openly offer to anybody interested in the region and its problems and publish it within our Student wiki.