KNOWLEDGE CO-PRODUCTION ON LANDSCAPE CHARACTERS, VISIONS AND PLANNING: THE CASE OF THE REGIONAL LANDSCAPE PLAN IN FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA (ITALY)

The recent debate on landscape planning in Europe has seen growing interest in knowledge co-production processes. The need to apply the European Landscape Convention and political pressures to pool the knowledge of citizens and non-experts has been at the fore in the last few regional landscape planning experiences in Italy. Using a qualitative approach and specific analysis criteria, the research examines the case of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Landscape Plan (PPR FVG), exploring the relational geographies and the power relations embedded in the knowledge co-production processes related to the Plan. This research provides a comprehensive map of the top-down and bottom-up relations linking the actors producing knowledge on the regional landscape and an in-depth analysis on power equilibria for the key nodes structuring the landscape Plan. The study questions the knowledge co-production mechanisms included in a regional planning experience and stresses the importance of the exercise of co-production experiences in fostering the diffusion of “landscape democracy” at the micro-scale. Eventually, this research shows the complexity of relational dynamics, with links which are often unequal, but generally aimed at joint production of knowledge in relation to regional landscapes.