Research

The Fostering Water Circularity in Peri-Urban Landscapes (FAIR) project aims to establish an integrated framework for circular water management in peri-urban areas, enhancing a new paradigm for urban water cycles. The project addresses the pressing need for conventional water infrastructures and systems, which often relies on "take-use-dispose" models, and are inefficient under climate stress (such as water scarcity, water excess) for a circular transformative approach. This need is particularly urgent in peri-urban regions where urban, rural, and industrial elements converge, often under high developmental pressures. Therefore, FAIR focuses on three European peri-urban areas—Midden-Delfland, Weiz and Prato—representing varied climatic zones to develop adaptable, site-specific water circularity strategies. The project aims to (1) evaluating integrated water resource management approaches that optimize ecological, economic, and social sustainability; (2) analyzing peri-urban water flows and governance dynamics to inform scalable models; (3) co-designing water management practices following a landscape systemic design and the 5R principles (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Restore) through stakeholder engagement workshops; and (4) creating a decision model to guide policy recommendations and transfer circular strategies across Europe. Outcomes of FAIR will include a comparative analysis and atlas of the studied regions, a circular water management catalogue, and a robust framework for policy recommendations, to be disseminated widely among regional authorities, NGOs, and landscape urban planners. This work lays the foundation for resilient, ecologically aligned water management practices and strengthens Europe’s capacity to address climate-induced water challenges through a circular economy approach.

The project contributes to the research field of landscape and infrastructure. The Koralm Railway is a section of the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor, a high-performance railway across Europe. The section of the Koralm Railway connects the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt as a linear infrastructure with a high-performance railway. The railway line is being built using state-of-the-art technology and is about to go into operation. The new infrastructure is transforming the landscape. In the research project, the characteristics of the landscape changed and redesigned by the railway will be surveyed and its impact on the landscape due to infrastructural interventions will be investigated. The results will be prepared for use as an audio guide on ÖBB trains.

Landscape Architecture (LA) has been linked together by numerous historical and contemporary connections and interdependencies across Europe and beyond. Its archives will now be used as a resource to create a comprehensive pan-European narrative of landscape history. The COST Action ‘Connecting Landscape Architecture Archives to enhance European landscape practice, research and education (ConnectLAA)’ will, for the first time, bring together information on the content of European LA archives and make it available worldwide on a digital platform. The involvement of different disciplines such as landscape architecture, cultural studies, art history, archival science, and IT will ensure that the highest scientific and technical standards are achieved in archival management, access, and cultural heritage preservation, and that the archives can be used as knowledge sources for innovative research and education. The focus will be on using advanced technologies to improve the quality, sustainability, use, and reuse of data. The mix of Proposers from different institutions and NGOs, the involvement of practitioners, and the development of innovative learning materials and a common thesaurus will ensure the promotion of promising careers and the development of groundbreaking international research projects that will support heritage agency and reveal previously undiscovered histories concerning places beyond Europe, addressing issues related to the migration and decolonization of collections. It is the basis for building a community of practice to continue to promote international access to data and support the creation of new archives and collections, particularly in ITCs, where the majority of the team are based.