MODSCAPES explores rural landscapes produced by large-scale agricultural development and colonisation schemes planned in the 20th
century. This transnational research project investigates 11 case studies across Europe and beyond.

… BUT WHO EVER HEARD ABOUT ‘MODERNIST’ RURAL LANDSCAPES?
At first sight, there is a contradiction between ‘modernist’ and ‘rural’. Yet throughout the 20th century, many European
States imagined, adopted and implemented large scale development and agricultural schemes to modernise the countryside:
parliamentary as well as fascist regimes, socialist republics or colonial powers. Today, there are thousands of modernist farms, hamlets,
villages and towns in Europe and beyond, where several million inhabitants live or have lived.

Modernist rural development schemes were pivotal to Nation- and State-building policies, and to the modernization of the
countryside. They provided a testing ground for the ideas of scientists, architects, engineers, planners, landscape architects and
artists, who converged around a shared challenge.

A TRANSNATIONAL RESEARCH PROJECT

MODSCAPES aims to explore, document, and raise awareness around this largely underestimated shared cultural heritage, which has
seldom been the topic of international and interdisciplinary research.

MODSCAPES introduces the concept of landscapes as a unifying paradigm between tangible (the built environment) and intangible
legacies (the related cultural and sociopolitical contexts) to bridge the gap between research, practice and policies through a
trans-disciplinary approach.

Note
ADCP: Agricultural Development and Colonization Schemes
ADCS: Agricultural Development and Colonization Policies
MRL: Modernist Rural Landscapes
Web site: https://modscapes.eu/