8 - Changing Landscapes. Long-term Laboratory
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
The Changing Landscapes. Long-term Laboratory Research Group focuses on the study of the impact of human activity on landscapes over the long term. Landscape is a polysemic concept that combines biotic, abiotic and social elements, allowing us to explore the complex interactions between nature and culture. The study of landscapes thus implies a historical approach to communities, territories, natural resources, objects, ideas, identities and heritage.
As the past has become an explanatory resource increasingly used by different sciences, the possibilities for intersection/collaboration between different fields of knowledge have expanded. In this context, GI8 supports experimental research that requires the contribution of different disciplines (e.g. history, archaeology, economics, anthropology, biology or genetics) in order to understand landscapes from a historical perspective.
The Group 8 members coordinate, co-coordinate and participate in networks and projects that have received competitive funding.
MAIN RESEARCH LINES
- Explore the possibilities of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to consolidate theoretically and empirically grounded (re)interpretations of the past;
- Discuss the reformulation of the concept of historical sources and the methods and theories of history;
- Formulate plausible and integrated explanations of landscapes, from prehistoric times to current configurations, promoting the preservation of collective memory and heritage in the design of sustainable common futures;
- Fulfill the social responsibility of science by integrating the perspectives of non-academic entities in the pursuit of common objectives/causes and in solving complex problems through applied research projects.