Nature of the Wind, the Culture of the Landscape: Toward an Energy Sustainability Project in Catalonia

Landscape and energy are an inseparable and innovative binomial because of the challenges they imply and being the factors we use to measure the quality of our habitat. Presenting the report “Wind Energy and Landscape. Guidelines for a suitable installation in Catalonia”, which involved research int...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Daniela Colafranceschi, Pere Sala, Fabio Manfredi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
Series:Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/13/7110
Description
Summary:Landscape and energy are an inseparable and innovative binomial because of the challenges they imply and being the factors we use to measure the quality of our habitat. Presenting the report “Wind Energy and Landscape. Guidelines for a suitable installation in Catalonia”, which involved research into the methodology for installing wind farms, this article presents a critical reflection on the possible spatial, ethical, and aesthetic effects of energy transition. Landscape design interprets the convergence of territorial values with the innovation of an energy system: it is not measured on a geographical scale, but draws from geography the sense of the overwriting of everyday places, giving them sense, orientation, meaning, and narrative. The research involves ecology, society, nature, and culture. Methodologically, the approach is reversed: rather than designing a project for the correct installation of wind power plants, the project for the wind landscape is understood as new contemporary nature. Wind energy and the culture of the landscape legitimize an advance in thought on design tools, espousing the dictates of the <i>European Landscape Convention</i> and more recent ambitious goals set by the <i>UN</i> with the <i>2030 Agenda</i>.
ISSN:2071-1050