Community Empowerment and Landscape Decision Making frameworks in Scotland
The aim of our network is to influence future thinking on cultures of decision making to move towards a decision-making framework around land assets and landscapes for politicians, policy makers, but most importantly, communities of place and interest which reflects the principles of diversity of experience, human rights and community empowerment.
Principal Investigator Annie Tindley introduces the project in this short video
Our principal objectives are:
(i) To make a targeted intervention that will draw out the various cultures of landscape decision-making and their outcomes in Scotland. This will include interrogation of participatory decision-making practices and other traditions of practice, and the integration of different discourses, values, approaches and data in decision-making, inclusion of diverse communities and addressing conflicts, both contemporary and historical
(ii) To address the critical issue of rural re-population in remote and rural communities, by considering how to enable resilient and sustainable community development and cohesion through new decision-making cultures. This will be defined in terms of environmental, cultural/historical and political/democratic development and long-term planning and perspectives will be prioritised over short termism.
(iii) To interrogate the current mechanisms of valuing and characterising landscapes and how they underpin decision-making frameworks and impact on the ability of communities to make or inform decisions. This meshes with the wider aim of nuancing societal understanding of landscape histories and their change over time and environmental/political/cultural drivers.
(iv) To deepen future resilience in the post-covid 19 and post-Brexit political and economic landscape. As the macro political structures and funding regimes that have been in place for decades are set to change or be withdrawn entirely, this network will focus on how communities of place or interest can maintain and expand their input into decision-making and map future challenges and opportunities.
