Phd in LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENT

Thesis title: Progettare paesaggi lacustri idrosociali. Il caso del bacino idrografico del lago di Bolsena

Designing hydrosocial lakescapes supports the theoretical and operational thesis that landscape, water resource management and design should be considered together rather than separately, as is commonly done. Tor achieve this, these aspects have been analyzed and explored through the case study of the Lake Bolsena Basin, in order to define a clear water governance model with a landscape approach. This was done within a clear research framework. The first step was to contextualize the issue at stake, with reference to the Agendas and models selected for their multifunctional and multi-actor characteristics (OECD, 2011; RCSE and ILEC, 2014; Espon, 2020; EU, 2022). Among them, different modus operandi related to the management of lakescapes were studied: Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) and the Espon Lake project. During the research, the territory, in the case study area, was first broken down, described and narrated in its multiple articulations by relating it to three well-known concepts taken as relevant here: the common goods (Ostrom, 1990), the omnipresence of water (Da Cunha, 2019) and hydro-social territories (Boelens et al., 2017). Later, it was recomposed through two interpretations, which can be useful methods for actors interacting with the lake. However, the theories were reinforced through the study of practical examples that have established the basis for good practice in the contemporary context of integrated water resources management. For example, the study of the Danish approach helps us explore the opportunities and challenges that a more multifunctional and careful water governance can be fertile ground for landscape design. The lake basin is seen as a common good of a settled community that must understand its deepest socio-ecological relationships in order to become a hydro-social landscape; and as an active subject of the landscape where water becomes the protagonist of the landscape project, in all its forms and states. The thesis encourages a change in the paradigm of water resource management in lake basins, sensitive places of delicate balance, towards a water governance in which the landscape project serves as a tool for activating the hydro-social landscape.