Common Property in Europe: Landscape Design Evolution Over Time

The term “commons” is used today to indicate a set of land property models, use or management of resources based on a fundamental element: namely allowing, regulating, and ensuring land access and use over time by a variously identified community. In Europe, common property plays a significant role in many countries for managing extensive agricultural surfaces. In Italy, state-owned land and common property extend over approximately 1.5 million hectares involving about 5% of the entire national territory. The collective nature of assets that communities have always managed necessarily leads to a greater awareness of sustainable development to preserve the common good for future generations. In 2018, the Italian National Landscape Award of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage focused on the interaction between common property and evolving landscape and awarded first prize to a particular collective property with ancient origins dating back to the Middle Ages located in the Delta Po Region. The winning project: “Between Land and Water, Another Way of Owning” offers a holistic vision of an “evolving landscape” and multiple values: public awareness-raising, applied research work, innovative agricultural practices, and social cohesion and identifies criteria for a “new generation” agricultural-environmental model capable of combining top-quality agriculture with “ecology” and biodiversity demands. In 2019, the project received an award from the Council of Europe for its great value, thus becoming a part of the Landscape Award Alliance of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers as a source of inspiration.