Landscape Economy Online Seminar 2026-2027

We invite you to another Landscape Economy learning experience from Systems Thinking to Systems Design.

This seminar will start on October 12, 2026 and finish on January 26, 2026

>>> Register online

The seminar is free of charge thanks to the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union.

Still looking for a study case for this seminar?

>>> You can join the international student competition 'After the Storm' in Valencia, Pain

For whom is this course?

• Are you worried about our planetary boundaries?
• Do you want to understand better what is driving the various systems in our landscapes?
• Are you an architect who cares about sustainable development?
• Are you an urban or landscape planner who wants to make planning and design more inclusive, systemic and strategic?
• Are you an economist who wants to work with other disciplines on transformative processes?
• Are you curious about other people and their knowledge?
• Are you eager to get to know people from other places – academics like you but also citizens and their local issues?
• Do you believe in your capability to create something new?

Then join us in the landscape economy and landscape systems online programme, summer schools and living labs!

Our course is about designing innovation by linking landscape and economy.

We invite an interdisciplinary audience of students as agents of transformative change for the benefits of local landscapes, economies and communities.

Seminar Team

This seminar is delivered by the a consortium of seven universities and the LE:NOTRE Institute. Our team brings together a variety of experiences, disciplinary perspectives and cultural dimensions. Team members interact as lectures, moderators, evaluators and facilitators. The overall coordination is done by Dr. Ellen Fetzer from the coordinating institution.

If you want to learn more about us, please visit the LoLa Team Page.

Online Course October 2026 - January 2027

• Our first online seminar will start on October 12, 2026, and finish on January 25, 2027.
• The course comprises weekly sessions starting at 16 pm CET
• Participants can acquire 5 ECTS.

Participation modes and distribution of credits

• for this semester, our regular mode is 5 ECTS
• you can read more details on the seminar assignments page (coming)

Seminar topics and schedule October 2026 - January 2027

• all online sessions start at 16 pm CET
• a ZOOM link will be sent to all registered participants

We are in the process of fine-tuning schedule and programme. Details will be published here shorty.

Find recordings, slides and readings on our resources page

Seminar objectives and learning goals

We expect that after course completion, participants ...

• can recognise, describe and explain landscapes as complex systems, understood as areas as perceived by people and shaped by interacting natural, social, cultural, economic and spatial processes;
• understand that different disciplines and perspectives may define different system boundaries and interpretations of the same landscape;
• can identify the main components, relationships and interdependencies of a landscape system and relate them to relevant knowledge from their own and other disciplines;
• can recognise and describe flows, variables, feedback loops and causal relationships within landscape systems;
• understand that landscape systems operate and interact at different spatial and temporal scales;
• can recognise non-linear relationships, thresholds, uncertainty and dynamic system behaviour in landscape change;
• can identify relevant actors, institutions, governance structures and power relations and understand their influence on landscape development;
• know how to retrieve missing information and knowledge using multiple strategies and recognise where available knowledge is uncertain or incomplete;
• can use systems thinking to analyse new and unfamiliar landscape contexts;
• become aware of the limits of their own knowledge, perspectives and assumptions and recognise these as part of the process of understanding a landscape system.

Systems thinking and systems modelling

Participants should further...

• understand the main concepts and principles of systems thinking and systems design relevant to landscape development;
• know how systems thinking can complement disciplinary approaches to landscape analysis and design;
• understand the role of conceptual models as purposeful simplifications of complex reality;
• know how to construct and interpret a landscape system map/model, including components, relationships, flows, feedbacks, variables and system boundaries;
• be able to formulate a systems inquiry question that focuses observation and analysis while opening up relationships and processes within the landscape system;
• be able to use systems thinking to move between different scales and levels of analysis;
• know how to use systems thinking methods at different stages of an analytical and design process;
• be able to recognise the assumptions and simplifications underlying their own models and critically assess their consequences;
• become aware of the limits of systems models and methods as representations of complex and continuously changing landscapes;
• become aware of their own strengths and limitations when working with systems thinking and systems modelling.

Participants are critical and reflective and should be able to...

• identify relevant sustainability challenges, conflicts, uncertainties and trade-offs within landscape systems;
• evaluate how past and present processes have shaped the behaviour and form of a landscape system;
• identify and assess feedback loops and system dynamics that contribute to desirable or undesirable landscape developments;
• analyse how different driving forces may influence the future behaviour of a landscape system;
• develop and evaluate possible future system behaviours and scenarios;
• distinguish between what is possible, plausible and desirable when discussing future landscape development;
• formulate systemic goals that address relationships, processes and system behaviour rather than isolated symptoms or objects;
• identify potential leverage points where interventions may influence the behaviour and resilience of a wider system;
• critically reflect on their own assumptions, values, perspectives and disciplinary biases when analysing and designing landscape systems;
• critically reflect on conflicts between different sustainability goals, perspectives, interests and scales.

Participants are able to apply systems thinking to landscape transformation and should be able to...

• identify and frame complex landscape challenges as systems inquiries;
• develop a shared understanding of a landscape system through collaborative and interdisciplinary systems mapping;
• integrate different forms of knowledge, including scientific knowledge, professional expertise and local and lived experience;
• use system analysis to identify opportunities for transformative intervention;
• develop possible future configurations of a landscape system in response to different driving forces and conditions;
• formulate and prioritise goals for a desirable future landscape system;
• identify and justify potential leverage points and intervention strategies;
• synthesise systemic goals, leverage points and future possibilities into a coherent landscape vision;
• develop propositions for landscape transformation that respond to system dynamics rather than addressing isolated problems;
• critically reflect on the potential impacts, trade-offs, uncertainties and feasibility of proposed interventions;
• communicate systems analysis, models, scenarios and propositions clearly to an academic and interdisciplinary audience;
• collaborate constructively across disciplinary, cultural and experiential perspectives in processes of landscape transformation.

ERASMUS PLUS Cooperation Partnership

THE LOLA project is funded by the European Union under grant no. 2025-1-DE01-KA171-HED-000336413. The TELOS Project has been funded by European Union under grant no. 2021-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000031123. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.