ESLAND Island landscape toolkit

The European Landscape Convention defines landscape as an “area as perceived by people whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and human factors.” Landscape could therefore be read also as a spatial experience through the senses. Living landscape depends on the way people are aware of landscape experience: a driver’s eyes do not have the same perspective as a passenger; a man on a boat sees island landscape in different way to a man on land. The ESLAND landscape toolkit aims to provide the means to communicate and share European culture expressed in islands of the North, Baltic and Mediterranean Seas, in order to reinforce European identity and its unique heritage value. The power of the toolkit guides landscape perception, so different toolkits could bring about different visions. We propose a complete tool that is easy to consult: a map that contains cultural contents (environmental, natural, historical and archaeological values). The map can enhance landscape awareness but we must remember that, "the map is not the territory”; in our case, it is not landscape