The Lifescape approach - What we do
Lifescape is a work in progress. It is a work which is never complete, a never ending story, because the andscape, its people, and their relationships are continuously changing.
Regional development can be brought to a higher level through European cooperation, because international contacts provide opportunities to appreciate different ways of doing things when examining the issues in one’s own region. Lifescape is thus about broadening the horizon of people. There is no blueprint, only learning by doing.
Lifescape was conceived to demonstrate the synergy between landscapes, people working together, and economic development. It promotes innovation in regional cooperation and economic development, and facilitates transnational exchange and learning. Fourteen partners in five countries work together through twenty transnational subprojects, sharing experiences to find new approaches. The partners take regional identity and social networks - rather than borders - as their point of departure. They mobilize regional pride, responsibility and solidarity as driving forces, bridging the gap between ecology and economy by strengthening the region’s social fabric.
The regional projects of Lifescape can be seen as a collection of experiments for implementing the Lifescape logic in real life situations. They offer different ways to deal with worldwide ecological challenges in a regional context. The various activities touch upon many facets of society; from education to practical landscape management, and from spatial planning to farming. Tens of thousands of people have been affected by the project.
Lifescape involves children, businesses and local communities by developing educational, communicative, financial and social activities. In order to communicate our endeavours we developed four themes to make our efforts accessible to policy makers and local communities. These themes are:
In all cases we believe that Lifescape has been a success. An inspiration to us and, we hope, an inspiration to you.
