Continuing international cooperation, PAScapes researchers from VU Institute of Geosciences prof. Darijus Veteikis ir assoc. prof. Ričardas Skorupskas took part in the XXVIII Conference on Cultural Landscape Issues “Tożsamość krajobrazu – Koloryt lokalny miejsc i regionów” (“Landscape Identity – Colours of Local and Regional Specificity”) at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski, Poland) from 14-16 May 2025.
The conference is part of the Interdisciplinary Landscape Seminars series and brought together participants from various Polish higher education and research institutions. In the plenary session, prof. Darijus Veteikis and assoc. prof. Ričardas Skorupskas presented the paper “Leaning to Change or Resistance: Factors Shaping the Genius Loci of Lithuania’s Lowlands and Uplands, 1946-2020” (prepared together with colleagues Julius Mačiulaitis, Ieva Misiūnė and Jurgita Mačiulytė).
The presentation explored the diversity of land cover in the landscape as a changing identity, as a spirit of place (genius loci), formed through long-term processes of interaction between man and place. Land cover data were used to show how these processes have manifested themselves differently in the lowland and upland landscapes of Lithuania, revealing their stability or transformation through the examples of two reference sites.
New contacts were established during the conference and possible directions for joint research were discussed. A sightseeing tour around Olsztyn, which showcased the cultural and natural landscape of the area, enriched the comparative perspective on the transformation of post-Soviet landscapes in Lithuania and Poland.
