The involvement of companies in cultural landscape design
A case study in the Middle Saale Valley around Jena
At European and national level, the task of shaping cultural landscapes and protecting them has received increasing political attention in recent years. Tackling the task at regional and municipal level requires new informal, cooperative approaches in addition to formal instruments of overall spatial planning and sectoral planning. The possibilities of cooperation in the cultural landscape sector between administrative actors and companies are the focus of this work.
The aim of the work is to investigate the interest of companies in the surrounding cultural landscape and the requirements under which companies can imagine being involved by administrative actors in the design of cultural landscapes. Expert interviews and a company survey were conducted in the study area 'Mittleres Saaletal um Jena', as an inter-municipal cultural landscape project attempted to involve companies from the leisure and tourism sector as well as 'atypical' companies, such as the high-tech sector, in the design of cultural landscapes.
One result of the work is that there is potential for more intensive involvement of companies as actors in the design of cultural landscapes. Nevertheless, the companies expressed various conditions under which participation appears possible to them. In addition to the necessary thematic proximity of joint projects to the respective company, advantages for the company, e.g. benefits for employees, customers or properties, are expected. Furthermore, the situational context with regard to the economic situation and integration into other areas of involvement influences the companies in their decision for or against involvement in administratively initiated cultural landscape design; in some cases, the companies expect administrative bodies to be responsible for coordination. Based on the exploratory study, four types of company were formed, which differ in terms of the extent of their interest and their preferred form of involvement. Apart from companies that concentrate on their business activities and show no interest in the surrounding cultural landscape, three types with an interest were identified. The latter differ in terms of their independent willingness to get involved or their willingness to participate in administratively initiated cultural landscape design. Relevant for involvement on the part of the administrative bodies are, on the one hand, those companies that are willing to contribute their own ideas to concept development and, on the other hand, companies that are inclined to implement individual measures of an overall concept.
The requirements identified with regard to the companies' ideas for involvement and the types of companies formed provide administrative bodies in the region under investigation with some indications of how companies can be motivated to cooperatively shape the cultural landscape in the 'Middle Saale Valley around Jena' and result in recommendations for both sides.
Editing:
Anja Müller
Experts:
Michael Roth (LLP)
Dr. Achim Prossek (RLP)
Submission:
November 30, 2009
Publications:
Müller, A. & Roth, M. (2010): Attracting companies to the cultural landscape - results of a case study in the Middle Saale Valley around Jena. In: Stadt+Grün 9/2010: pp. 42-48.
Müller, A. (2010): The involvement of companies in cultural landscape design. A case study in the Middle Saale Valley around Jena. Tönning: Der Andere Verlag GmbH. 160 S.