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circle of experts, towards the population involved in planning decisions. Thus,
we could definitely argue that the core of the problem is to raise social aware-
ness by communicating and discussing opportunities and threats related to dif-
ferent scenarios and visions. In this regard, Enerscapes elaborated a shared as-
sessment of landscapes “historic”, “social” and “environmental” values within
the process of introduction of RES systems into MED territories and landscapes.
The integrated management of territories could foster economic diversification
and increase in employment, especially in rural areas, more exposed to eco-
nomic decline. The studies on RES can promote investments in this field at local
level, destined to grow in the future, supporting the settlement of new economic
activities, including the production of technological goods and specialised ser-
vices. Moreover, the preservation of landscape and cultural heritage can help to
attract sustainable tourism.
1.5 innoVaTion in The enerscapes projecT
Within Enerscapes, innovation meant process and governance innovation: land-
scape planning, spatial planning, and energy planning working together towards
a common goal that consisted of making up an effective process for RES pro-
duction systems. This novel process required the drawing together of EU and na-
tional policies, local laws and regulations, searching for consistency among the
various components and aiming at actions and projects feasible both at a region-
al and local level. In this field, the problem was not sufficiently explored. In the
MED area there are still only few sector-based studies concerning the impact of
wind farms on landscape and environment. Thus, the project answered the need
for studies approaching the problem in its entirety, dealing with the relationship
among spatial development, landscape preservation and RES production sys-
Fig.3
Tuscia
romana,
Lazio region,
italy.
photo by
andrea
cherchi.
