MODSCAPES is a collaborative research project funded under the HERA JRP III (Humanities in the European Research Area – Joint Research Programme) 2015 call dedicated to “Uses of the Past”.

MODSCAPES explores rural landscapes produced by large-scale agricultural development and colonization schemes planned in the 20th century throughout Europe and beyond. Such schemes were pivotal to nation and state-building policies, and to the modernization of the countryside. They provided a testing ground of ideas and tools for agronomists, environmental and social scientists, architects and artists, which converged around a shared challenge. Their implementation produced new rural landscapes which have seldom been considered as a transnational research topic. MODSCAPES aims to raise awareness of this largely underestimated shared cultural heritage which stands today as a tangible evidence of recent European history.