Landscape echoes the age of globalization. It is therefore subject to its effects, which raises multiple concerns on a global perspective. Landscape condition is no longer reserved to Western countries. All territories are subjected to excessive mutations. Rural spaces are undeveloped. Countrysides are industrializing and some are turning into museums in "Arcadia". Cities have no more limits; they generate "non-areas" as they fabricate areas. High sites are being privatized and public areas are becoming scarce. Seas and forests are overexploited and large natural areas are becoming inaccessible. Nature distorts and reinvents itself from scratch. Territories are standardizing. Subject to mobility, human displacement, social and cultural migrations, they are seeking memories and identities. These observations demonstrate the complexity of a contemporary landscape condition that speaks directly to the living environments of populations of all continents. The landscape as an affirmation of the territory’s multiple values (aesthetic, identity, environmental, etc.) becomes an issue of debate, intentions and projects so that societies become more user-friendly and sustainable.

On 29 and 30 November 2005, Beirut hosted the international conference "Living in the landscape in the Middle East." The conference gathered academic stakeholders and professionals of environmental design from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, Italy, France and Canada.

Editors

• Philippe Poullaouec-Gonidec
  Professor Emeritus École d’urbanisme et d’architecture de paysage / Associate Researcher UNESCO Chair in Urban Landscape (CUPUM) / Membre fondateur UNESCO Chair in Urban Landscape (CUPUM) / Chair of Landscape and Environment (CPEUM)
• Léon Telvizian
  Professor Institut des Beaux-Arts (IBA) / Director of Urban Planning DESS Institut des Beaux-Arts (IBA) / Director Department of Urban Planning / Manager Department of Urban Planning

• Éducation au développement durable
• Évolution paysagère
• Identité et lieu
• Ville résiliente

• Programme du colloque
• Table des matières

Other partners

• Lebanese University
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
• Ambassade du Canada au Liban
• Convention du patrimoine mondial UNESCO
• UNESCO, programme MAB (Man and Biosphere)
• UNESCO, Programme MOST2 (Management of Social Transformation)