Urban landscapes in town planning and national environmental policy

An analysis of environmental law and town-planning law shows the double, if not triple, affiliation of the urban landscape: sometimes associated with protection of territories from urban development, sometimes related to urban beautification and new urban development practices, it is also linked to issues of urban identity. This public policy study enables us to determine whether landscape is an actual environmental policy or primarily rhetoric. However, landscape could become an important town-planning issue if its invisible components - social and environmental aspects - were included in its visible dimension.