Minutes Rural Landscapes First Plenary, 6th of May 2009

Round of introductions: Participants localise themselves

Rural Landscapes Topic Map

Participants localise the landscape context of their themes

The objectives of the first plenary were to:

• introduce the participants
• inform about the seminar concept and working methods
• start an initial allocation of case study themes on the topic map

Working Method

1. This seminar is a combination of plenary sessions plus accompanying individual and group work. This individual/group work is based on a case study each participant brings into the seminar. The case study should preferably relate to the participants' context, such as current studio projects or thesis themes.
2. People with related themes will form small groups. Therefore, we have started to localise each case study on the Rural_landscapes_topic_map. This was done during the first session with all participants. Those who did not attend can still relate their themes on the Rural Landscapes Seminar Case Study List.
3. A first draft outline of the case study should be produced before the end of May 09.
4. Discuss your case studies in thematic small groups (this process will be supervised by the tutors), derive some core questions.
5. Your output will be both a case study and a collaborative essay of your small group.

N.B.: All articles that reach a certain level of quality will be published in the new LE:NOTRE encyclopedia. LE:NOTRE is the European Thematic Network on Landscape Architecture that brings together around 100 European landscape architecture schools on a community website. Recently, an encyclopedia tool has been added to the website where the articles of this seminar would fit in very well.