LAUSR

In 2007 Swiss Federal legislation introduced Regional Nature Parks (RNPs). In this paper I treat the landscape as an object of political-legal regulation and focus on the governance of its uses. I use the constitutionality framework to support our analysis. Constitutionality refers to a form of institution building that stresses bottom-up natural resource management initiatives. Through a detailed case study I show that the interests of landscape users are not equally well protected by law. The success of the new parks model depends on a subtle balance between local self-organization and top-down control. The interests of the weakest actors, i.e., landscape viewers, can be supported only through strong backing at higher levels of government.