The Chester Congress of 1849

Abstract

Two Roman polychrome mosaics, depicting Europa and Orpheus, are preserved in their original settings in a town house of Roman Sparta. Discovered last century, they have been inventoried, but not studied in detail. Probably both were produced by the same local workshop in the third to fourth century, sharing characteristics peculiar to Greek mosaic. They appear to mirror each other. The depiction of Europa near Orpheus occurs rarely in the classical repertory. This collaborative research defines the pictorial originality of each mosaic. Europa, an archaic image, reflects the iconography of the Nereids. Orpheus may have copied a lost painting. The choice of motif and possible symbolic readings are examined. Perhaps the tenets of Orphic thought pervaded the images. Such a combination might bear witness to tastes and attitudes in Greece during the late Roman period.     

Green Infrastructure Planning: Cross-National Analysis between the North East of England (UK) and Catalonia (Spain)

As green infrastructure (GI) plans are being developed and implemented in a number of regions throughout the UK and interest in the theory and methods is emerging in various other countries there is opportunity to explore the potentials for GI planning throughout Europe. Using the experience of the UK, and particularly that of stakeholders and organizations in the North East of England, we analyse the functions and benefits that a GI network can provide and, through cross-national comparison, we critically theorize the potentials for GI planning in Catalonia. While recognizing that there are key differences between these regions, particularly in relation to climate, societal characteristics, institutional organizations and frameworks for landscape planning, we discuss the transferability of the characteristics which appear to be provided from GI planning in the UK. We conclude that, overall, the implementation of GI planning would be relatively easy to achieve and mostly beneficial under a Mediterranean environment. Our conclusions are tempered by a recognition that the provision of functions and benefits are subject to the influence of the particular organizational characteristics and the cultural background of each region, and in particular the different impacts that climate change is likely to have.