- Story
“Important insights for the Bernese Jura landscape”
27.08.2024 Chasseral Regional Park will take centre stage at the Swiss Landscape Congress at the beginning of September. BFH’s Professor Evelyn Coleman Brantschen is co-chair of the organising committee.
Key points in brief
- BFH is hosting the 2024 Landscape Congress in conjunction with Chasseral Regional Park.
- The two-day event brings together experts from science, practice and politics.
- The focus is on challenges such as water shortage, urban development and the expansion of renewable energies in a way that protects the landscape.
What actually is a landscape?
Good question! Landscape is more than just meadows and forests. It also includes residential areas. Viewed holistically, landscape is a habitat with a certain cultural character resulting from the interaction between man and nature. Agriculture, industry and architecture also shape the landscape.
What is the Landscape Congress 2024?
The Landscape Congress is organised by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) every two years at different locations.
This year, BFH and Chasseral Regional Park are hosting the conference. It is the first time that the Landscape Congress has been organised in partnership between a university and a regional park.
The two-day congress will feature several dozen presentations, discussion panels and excursions. The main focus of BFH’s involvement is in the areas of agriculture, forestry and architecture.
Alongside Prof. Evelyn Coleman Brantschen, the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL) is represented on the organising committee by Nicole Güdel, and the School of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering by Prof. Dr Marion Sauter.
What is the Landscape Congress about?
The Landscape Congress seeks to bring together the community of experts on landscape who are active in politics, practice, research and teaching in different parts of the country, and to share new insights with them. After all, many regions all across Switzerland are facing similar challenges.
What makes Parc Chasseral interesting in this respect?
The park itself, and also the Bernese Jura, where most of the park is located, faces similar challenges to other regions. How do we deal with drought and water shortages? How do we design solar plants or wind farms in a way that is compatible with the landscape? How can we transform vacant properties and industrial wasteland? These are questions in which the different regions can learn from each other.
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How the Bernese Jura benefits from the Landscape Congress
It was important to us that the Landscape Congress should also deliver insights that will benefit the region long-term. We started working towards this well ahead of the Congress. Master’s students in architecture, for example, have developed ideas for the future of Bellelay Abbey. During the Congress, delegates will be accommodated in a pop-up hotel there.
What does the Landscape Congress mean to you personally?
I’m looking forward to dialogue and exchange with experts from the field and from different disciplines, ranging from natural sciences to social sciences and architecture. During the preparations for the Congress, we realised how challenging the exchange between the different disciplines can be. But it’s well worth it. Because this forces us to think outside the box and discover new solutions.
About Prof Evelyn Coleman Brantschen
Evelyn Coleman Brantschen is a professor on the Forest Policy and International Forest Management team at the BFH School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences.
She studied forestry at ETH Zurich and then worked for several years in the private sector and cantonal administration. The focus of her work at BFH is the intersection between forest and spatial planning.
Evelyn Coleman Brantschen is a member of the board of trustees of the Forum Landscape, Alps, Parks, which organises the Landscape Congress.
How does the Bernese Jura benefit from the Landscape Congress?
It was important to us that the Landscape Congress should also deliver insights that will benefit the region long-term. We started working towards this well ahead of the Congress. Master’s students in architecture, for example, have developed ideas for the future of Bellelay Abbey. During the Congress, delegates will be accommodated in a pop-up hotel there.
