The landscape as a learning space. The experiential approach of a ‘landscape school’ in Trentino, Italy

The European Landscape Convention marked an epistemological turn by emphasising the role of personal experience developed within socially constructed frames of reference. The landscape, therefore, should be regarded as a common good, crucial for personal and collective well-being, which implies a commitment of a political nature. This entails widespread awareness, as well as updated technical skills and appropriate politico-administrative actions. Landscape education must play a key role, therefore, but awareness-raising, cultural initiatives, and training processes require approaches and methods centred on experience, thus shifting from teaching to learning, from a passive to an active role of participants. This article analyses the experience of a ‘school’ of landscape education operating since 2009 in Trentino, Italy. It develops an analytical framework and a critical examination of the approaches applied. In particular, it discusses the ‘learning devices’ used to stimulate interest in the landscape and to develop participatory, cooperative and responsible attitudes.