Submitted by laborate on Mon, 31/10/2011 - 11:05 GMT.
Rafael Crecente, director of USC's Land Laboratory (LaboraTe),
granted an interview to newspaper El Progreso de Lugo,
published on October 25th. Rafael Crecente talked about
the Master Program in Sustainable Land Planning.
About the aims of the master and its approach: "It seeks,
first, meeting the specifications and requirements of Galicia,
and also addressing the current multi-level, multi-sectorial
crisis: energy, food, financial... The aim is to design
and implement strategies that respond to this situation
given the available resources and with a territorial approach,
which is finding what resources and strengths the Galician
territory has. [...] The land, as natural resource, is the
starting point for transforming the land in territory, a
set of activities intended to improve the organization of
the natural resources and also the society and social rules
govern their use. And in regard to Galicia, with an special
focus on these so unique property conditions and how to
reconcile the individual interest with collective interests
and usages. Here there are many owners, which on the one
hand is good, but on the other one it is difficult to manage."
The origin and academic background of our master students
are quite varied: "We have students from eleven different
degrees and five different countries. In the previous edition
an intensive program of ten days was carried out in Aveiro
(Portugal), with students coming from universities of Portugal,
the etherlands, Bulgary and China. Students had the opportunity
to interact with their partners and be exposed to real territorial
and social problems. This is something we would like to
repeat in the current edition of the master. The distinguishing
feature of the Polytechnic School of Lugo is the heavy use
of geographic information technologies. The horsepower of
tractors is replaced by the power of geospatial information
technologies."
On spatial planning: "Now there are discussions about a
new Land Act. We have had several failed ones, in my opinion
because the approach taken has been always the same. The
act must take into account other issues, such the differences
between the urban and rustic lands instead of just focusing
on building houses; land can have other uses. [...] We should
address the characteristics of land tenure, the layer that
underlies and determines everything. It would make us more
effective in fighting forest fires, land abandonment, diffuse
urbanization and pollution, because in the case of Galicia
all these problems have a common denominator: the management
of the property, and in that we intend to make a difference."
On a final, rather optimistic note: "Galicia is very diverse.
Some say that we are very complicated, but that is a strength,
because it means that we have many possible answers available."
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