Welcome to CULTURESCAPE!..

An Erasmus Intensive Programme is a short program of study, which brings together students and staff from universities in different participating countries in order to:

• Encourage efficient and multinational teaching of specialist topics which might otherwise not be taught at all, or only in a very restricted number of universities;
• Enable students and teachers to work together in multinational groups and so benefit from special learning and teaching conditions not available in a single institution, and to gain new perspectives on the topic being studied;
• and Allow members of the teaching staff to exchange views on teaching content and new curricula approaches and to test teaching methods in an international classroom environment.

CULTURESCAPE Rationale and Aim

Cultural landscape issues have been gaining an increasing interest in recent years on European and international context. In 1992, the World Heritage Convention became the first legal instrument to recognize and protect cultural landscape worldwide; and European Landscape Convention came into force in 2004 to promote landscape protection, management and planning, and to organize European cooperation on landscape issues. Recommendation by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the Guiding Principles for Sustainable Spatial Development of the European Continent (Rec. 2002) aimed, among others, to protect Europeans’ quality of life and well-being taking into account landscape, cultural and natural values. More recently, International Federation of Landscape Architects set up a Cultural Landscape Committee to understand an appropriate evolution of cultural landscapes to develop such skills to assure their vibrant future.

The aim of this programme is to undertake an intensive program of study to enhance the international capacity in landscape design with cultural landscapes. It is also aimed at responding to the need of better understanding of the value of European cultural landscapes that we inherited from the past and to provide the students with the necessary knowledge on how to integrate cultural landscapes into landscape designs for a better quality of life.

Teaching Approach

A mix of teaching techniques will be used that reflects the needs of the students. However, the main pedagogic approach of the intensive programme will be to actively engage students with the material to be studied.  Learning will therefore be facilitated through teaching strategies that include problem-based learning, teamwork, group discussion, guest conversationalists, and investigative research projects.

The intensive programme will be conducted using participatory learning and teaching methods with emphasis on field and studio-based study.  Students will be required to undertake a specific research project during the programme and present this at a concluding conference.

Programme

The programme is presented below.  Fieldwork is an integral part of the programme, both local to the village of Adrasan and within the wider region.  During the IP students will be issued with a group research and design topic which will require their attention throughout the visit.  At the end of the IP, each working group will present its design project during a conference session.  Free time is built into the programme as a preparation time for the conference.  A final programme will be issued at the start of the IP and any changes to the programme will be communicated during the trip.

CULTURESCAPE Programme

Student Design projects

During the IP, all students will be allocated to a group of 5-6.  Each group will develop a design project for a selected area in Adrasan.

The activities undertaken during the IP will provide insight into each of these designs.  There will be time set aside for literature and web research.  In addition, there will be a document library available which consists of specific research papers, books and maps.

Student Conference

Towards the end of the IP, a Conference will be convened at which each group will present its design project to all of the other groups plus invited guests. It is expected that each presentation will:

• Last a maximum of 30 minutes
• Be presented using PowerPoint and project printouts
• Use examples identified during the IP.

After CULTURESCAPE, these presentations, plus other contextual material collected during the visit will be converted into a Virtual Field Course. This will take the form of a web resource that contains structured learning material related to cultural landscape related landscape design in the context of Antalya, Turkey. This will provide an ongoing record of CULTURESCAPE as well as an important learning resource.

Certification

The recognition of studies will be done according to the rules and regulations of each partner university and the Erasmus University Charters. The students will be given 5 (five) ECTS credits upon successful completion of the programme. All students who participate will receive a Certificate of Participation.