Putting the World on Stage

Putting the World on Stage recounts the history of the notion of landscape and its diverse meanings in European countries, exposes the diversity of sensibilities to landscape of European citizens, analyses the relationships between landscape, nature and environment, and discusses the different policies of landscape in Europe.With a focus on France, the aim of the book is to engage with the new insights that have emerged regarding the origin of the word ‘landscape’, its meaning and its social representation. Articulating history, geography, sociology and land planning, the author argues that major challenges for European societies are to better combining quality of life whilst taking into account ecological implications and democratic practices. From social sensitivities to the notion of environment, from "natural" landscapes to "cultural" landscapes, from the notion of "beautiful nature" to "landscape construction", from “setting in order” to “staging”, this lively and inspired book deciphers an essential element of the human relationship to the world and of national and European identities.The book will be of interest to researchers in the fiedls fo geography, anthropology, environment, philosophy, and spatial planning.