Landscape is nowadays an emerging issue. It is a challenge and an opportunity. When the improvement of the environment and the sustainability arguments create a demand which is impossible to ignore, those aesthetic and visual aspects in the definition of the environment which turn the landscape into an added but at the same time essential value become crucial. In this moment of changing sensibilities, the landscape appears as a touchstone to remind us that is not desirable a future for the environment without beauty, without culture, unaware of the ecological values and without any quality to offer at a social level. 

In this context, the COAC - Catalan Institute of Architects - and the ETSAB - School of Architecture of Barcelona - of the UPC - Polytechnic University of Catalonia - , which this year starts the first Diploma in Landscape Architecture in Spain, organise the I European Biennial on Landscape in Barcelona. From the 25th to the 28th of March of 1999, conferences, project presentations and round-tables will be held to debate this issue on the basis of the knowledge gained from our recent most innovative and consolidated experiences in Europe.