Interpreting historic and cultural landscapes.: Potentials and risks in Geographical Information Systems building for knowledge and management

On the basis of several studies carried out on cultural landscapes in a spatial-planning perspective, this paper discusses the potential and limits of Geographical Information Systems for supporting the territorialization of multidisciplinary landscape analysis for the management of a Site of the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL). On behalf of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, a multidisciplinary team of experts in architectural heritage and landscape studies has analysed the UNESCO serial Site “Residences of the Royal House of Savoy” to identify a strategic vision for the management of this complex system. The GIS must offer a response by: Representing and organizing experts´ multidisciplinary analysis without losing the additional interpretative level arising from a holistic view; highlighting historic, scenic and environmental landscape relations which go beyond the administrative boundaries of WHL properties, thus facilitating connections with broader land management. This paper proposes a methodological approach for a GIS responding to landscape-oriented studies calling for the consultation of the single mapped features within the complex system in which each one finds its proper meaning. Examples concerning multiple landscape relations between the WHL Site and its landscape are given, as well as issues concerning their geographical representation. Our final considerations will stress both the benefits and the risks of the coexistence of different data collections (strictly descriptive or management-oriented) within the same web-GIS, potentially leading to ambiguity. The proposed method is addressed to all cases of protected site management plans encompassing cultural landscapes.