People's Landscapes: Beyond the Green & Pleasant Land was a series of free, public roundtable events convened by the University of Oxford’s National Trust Partnership. The events brought together 20 experts and commentators from a range of institutions, professions and academic disciplines to explore people's engagement with and impact upon land and landscape in the past, present and future as part of the National Trust’s 2019 ‘People’s Landscapes’ National Public Programme.
The National Trust cares for 248,000 hectares of open space across England, Wales and Northern Ireland; landscapes which hold the voices and heritage of millions of people and track the dramatic social changes that occurred across our nations' past. In the year when Manchester remembers the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre, the National Trust’s 2019 programme is drawing out the stories of the places where people joined to challenge the social order and where they demonstrated the power of a group of people standing together in a shared place. Throughout this year the National Trust is asking people to look again, to see beyond the green and pleasant land, and to find the radical histories that lie, often hidden, beneath their feet.
You can now catch up with all of the events in the People’s Landscapes series online through the university’s podcast website, Apple Podcasts or via the links below:
Event 1: Contested Landscapes – watch now
Panellists discuss the history of land access and ownership, exploring how this has both physically and politically shaped our land and our access to it.
Panel:
Helen Antrobus | National Public Programme Curator | National Trust (Chair)
Dr Briony McDonagh | Lecturer in Human Geography | University of Hull
Helen Wright | Visitor Experience Manager - Peak District | National Trust
Dr Stephen Mileson | Research Fellow | University of Oxford
Kate Ashbrook | Chair of Trustees | Ramblers
Event 2: Creative Landscapes – watch now
Panellists explore the ways in which writers, artists and musicians have both responded to and created conceptions of 'place' throughout history, considering the role of taste, nostalgia and imaginary spaces in our understanding of landscape today.
Panel:
Grace Davies | National Public Programme Curator | National Trust (Chair)
Kate Stoddart | Independent Curator | Project Manager & Mentor
Dr Rosemary Shirley | Senior Lecturer Art Theory & Practice | Manchester Metropolitan University
Craig Oldham | Designer & Creative Consultant
Professor Fiona Stafford | Professor of English Language & Literature | University of Oxford
Event 3: Living in Landscapes – watch now
Panellists consider landscape as a space for living, exploring the pressures on land from population growth, discussing questions of preservation vs. development, and asking: who should decide how we live in landscape?
Panel:
Dr Ingrid Samuel | Historic Environment Director | National Trust (Chair)
Crispin Truman | Chief Executive | Campaign to Protect Rural England
Dave Lomax | Senior Associate | Waugh Thistleton Architects
Professor Caitlin Desilvey | Associate Professor of Cultural Geography | University of Exeter
Dr David Howard | Associate Professor in Sustainable Urban Development | University of Oxford
Event 4: Future Landscapes – watch now
Panellists consider future landscapes in the context of food, farming and conservation, with panellists considering what we may want vs. what we will need from our landscapes in a post-Brexit Britain and beyond.
Panel:
Dr Anita Weatherby | Research Programme Manager | National Trust (Chair)
Sue Cornwell | Head of Public Benefit & Nature | National Trust
Professor E.J. Milner-Gulland | Director, Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science | University of Oxford
Phil Jarvis | Environment Forum Chair | National Farmers' Union
Dr Prue Addison | Conservation Strategy Director | Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxford Wildlife Trust
Watch more National Trust Partnership events here
Find out more about the National Trust Partnership at the University of Oxford here: www.torch.ox.ac.uk/national-trust-partnership
Environmental Humanities, TORCH Programmes
