FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — How do you develop tourism in a richly historic, 74,000-acre mountain valley without sacrificing pure air, clean water, animal habitats and unsullied views? The University of Arkansas School of Architecture has organized a two-week, bicultural brainstorm session to explore this question. Beginning on March 3, a delegation of five Italian city and park officials will travel throughout Arkansas to discuss sustainable development ideas for Italy’s Monti Simbruini Natural Regional Park.

They will meet with Gov. Mike Beebe and Arkansas World Trade Center consultants; tour state parks, museums and gardens; and attend the Governor’s Conference on Tourism. The Italians will wrap up their trip Friday, March 14, by participating in a daylong public symposium, “LOST Arkansas: The Challenges to Preserving Cultural Landscapes,” organized by the University of Arkansas landscape architecture department.

“Our Italian colleagues are seeking specific information on park and land management,” said Fran Beatty, head of the landscape architecture department. “We also want to brainstorm on ideas for economic development. What I’m hoping for is that we can move from identifying opportunities and constraints to developing specific ideas for the park.”

Monti Simbruini Natural Regional Park has it all: picturesque hillside villages offering postcard views, the sacred grotto where St. Benedict founded his order, timeworn pilgrimage paths and the crumbling remains of Nero’s villa, for starters. But nearby Rome acts as a magnet for jobs, investment and tourism, leaving the 74,000-acre park sustained primarily by day trips made by religious pilgrims.

“It’s what we call a hit and run operation,” said Davide Vitali, director of the University of Arkansas Rome Study Center for Architecture and the Humanities. “The park is not organized to accommodate tourists for a week or longer, so they come for a day and then return to Rome, which is a shame.”

The picture is further complicated by the park’s high population density. Between 15,000 — 20,000 people live in the seven villages within the park, and “this obviously generates tensions between the living population, which needs business development and accessibility, and the environmental and protectionist needs of the park,” Vitali said. The Italian delegation hopes to establish a relationship with Arkansas State Parks that may lead to shared research on environmental management strategies and possibly the exchange of personnel for training purposes.

Vitali and Beatty have been working to address the park’s problems for several years, organizing a conference, publishing a book and bringing in School of Architecture students to work on projects.

“Our relationship is evolving, and this trip, which concludes with the public symposium, expands the dialogue to include anyone interested in cultural resource protection and sustainable park and land management,” Beatty said.

“LOST Arkansas” will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 14, in Giffels Auditorium on the University of Arkansas campus. Highlights include:

·         Keynote address by Perry Howard, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects. A program coordinator for the landscape architecture department at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Howard has worked to involve landscape architecture professionals in rebuilding after natural disasters such as the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. He has also called for educational efforts to promote an understanding of natural and managed environments that would mitigate damage from future natural disasters.

·         Lecture by landscape architect Charles Birnbaum, founder and president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit foundation in Washington, D.C. An outspoken proponent for the preservation of modern American landscapes, Birnbaum is author of Making Postwar Landscapes Visible, co-author of Pioneers of American Landscape Design and co-editor of Design with Culture: Claiming America’s Landscape Heritage and Preserving Modern Landscape Architecture I and II.

·         Panel discussions moderated by Birnbaum featuring presentations by Tom Green, director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, and Maurizio Fontana, director of Monti Simbruini Natural and Regional Park.

The symposium is cohosted by the Arkansas chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and provides continuing education credits for design professionals. The registration fee of $45 includes a picnic lunch by the Fulbright Peace Fountain; students and media representatives may attend at no charge. The registration deadline is March 10. To register, contact Kyle Marshall as (479) 575-4945 or kdm02@uark.edu.