Perception, Representation, Awareness. The EUMM's experience

As landscapes can be understood both as complex mosaics of the physical environment and social constructions and processes experienced by people, so the perception of their own territory is a crucial point. Can representation’s technologies (new and traditional) help in an approach leading people from perception to awareness? The paper is focused on the results of the participation process associated with the birth of the first urban eco-museum in Lombardy (the Ecomuseo Urbano Milano Nord, acronym EUMM). Even it is an urban ecomuseum, it represents a case quite similar to the territory ecomuseums, so interpreting the same objectives of improving the environment and the life of all inhabitants living there. With respect of the European Landscape Convention’s main purpose, the way followed by the residents in the Ecomusem was to become aware of the territorial transformations of Niguarda, a small town in the hinterland of Milan in the past, and a now instead a quarter integrated in the same city. The making of a shared mapping of the Niguarda neighbourhood – being carried on by a group of anthropologists and architects - and the community map have helped: - to define and represent the main elements of the shared urban landscape; - to build a taxonomy of landscape changes and the relationships between social perception of landscape and land use; - to allow communities to record and archive local knowledge, transforming it into an effective tool of local identity and building awareness of latent structure of landscape perception; - to test the use of innovative user-friendly technology (GIS-PGIS-GeoBlog) for the analysis and data-processing of geographic and landscape information. In a broader way, this work can be thought in the perspective of European Landscape Convention as spatial data of urban landscape obtained through participation allow an easier process of identification and become a medium of empowerment by local communities to represent themselves and their landscape’s values and projects.