Exterior and Interior Landscapes: The Narrative to Adopt the Paradigm of Sustainability

The present text reports the content of the dialogue among the speakers from the webinar arranged by the UNESCO Chair of the Università degli Studi della Basilicata. The latter took place in July 2021 in the context of “Dialogues of UNESCO Chairs: a laboratory of ideas for the world to come” and deals with the landscape as an environment, both physical and psychological, in which to interpret information and act. It also deals with the role narratives have in the change from one paradigm to another, with the objective of becoming a fully sustainable, conscientious, and responsible mankind. The dialogue touched upon many deeply intertwined aspects: peace is a prerequisite for sustainability, and the dialogue between individuals, as well as an inner dialogue, is needed in order to change and adopt the narrative of sustainability; the first object (and subject) of change is ourselves, which is why we can borrow the idea of “ecology of mind”; a key skill for sustainability is knowing oneself, thus increasing one’s sense of responsibility toward others and the community; changing the current narrative changes the future of places and people alike; contextualizing narratives in history means seeing them from a relative point of view in order to acquire awareness and a sense of direction in our project for the future; sensitivity and care are required in order to inspect and relay the narratives of our landscapes; narratives are compounds of different materials, and among the latter we find memories; the role of culture, knowledge, art, and beauty in the making of a sustainable world; the observer, immersed in the process, changes themselves as they participate in it, creating new possibilities for themselves, others and the world. The path of this dialogue developed as we thought, simultaneously, about outer and inner landscapes, about communities, and about ourselves. In order to make a sustainable world, we must become sustainable and ecological in our lives and in our being.