Landscape (original) (raw)
Related papers
2015
Landscape can be described in many ways, for example, its ecological diversity, botanical or cultural significance. But it is always more than its constituent parts. For future challenges we need to formulate a new philosophy of landscape that considers identity at its core.
Landscape and Landscape History
2013
The Origins of Landscape Science Definition of Landscape The definition of the term 'landscape' by e.g. geographers, ecologists and others can be quite variable. The original meaning was probably connected to a visual view of surroundings, as a picture or scenery, as has been widely adopted in art and literature. As a scientific term, landscape was introduced only in the early 19th century by Alexander von Humboldt, who defined it as 'the character of an Earth region' that is more than just the sum of its parts, as was indicated by a German bio-geographer Carl Troll (1939). According to the European Landscape Convention (2000), landscape means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors. Landscape can also be regarded as a provider of resources that includes land use, natural capital, etc., as a way of communicating through social order or customary law, or as a research object. This definition is close to the ideas developed by a Finnish geographer Johannes Gabriel Granö who combined natural and cultural themes including perception of landscapes through sight as well as other human senses (Granö, 1929). Thus, landscape includes two components tied to each other: one is objective, real and visible landscape (e.g. landform, vegetation pattern and texture, water bodies, buildings, human infrastructure) and the other is the subjective, virtual, non-visible landscape (Palang, 1994) including feelings generated by senses, a knowledge and past experience of the place, cultural associations, etc. Landscapes are heterogeneous in at least one factor of interest (Turner et al., 2001) and therefore landscape types and sub-types having similar features or attributes can be defined. Elements and Components of the Landscape The state of landscapes is mainly determined by the mixture of habitats or land cover types resulting from many causes, including variability in abiotic conditions (geology, relief, soils, climate, water), biotic interactions of fauna and flora that generate spatial patterns even under homogeneous environmental conditions, patterns of human settlement and land use and the dynamics of natural disturbance and succession (Turner et al., 2001). The socioeconomic factors determining the state of landscapes include the economy, for example production and distribution of goods and services, political factors such as objectives and decisions, social factors determined by the population and tourism and cultural factors such as traditions and values (Messerli and Messerli, 1978). Socioeconomic factors are driven by political means e.g. agricultural, forestry and energy policy, land use planning, environmental protection and promotion of the economy, and by the demand for natural resources, recreational areas and other ecosystem services. The dominant vegetation type, i.e. forests, arable lands, wetlands, meadows, is usually recognised as the main factor characterising a specific landscape. The dominant
In his article "The World of the Landscape" Bart Verschaffel analyzes the visual logic of the landscape genre in painting as it was developed from the sixteenth century onward. He argues that the structure of a minimal foreground, a middle ground cut off from the foreground, and a background that gives way to the distant, corresponds to a meditative attitude, proper to the nature of the image as such. The landscape is essentially a calm image. Second, Verschaffel puts forward that the middle ground in landscape images is not, as in history painting, a waiting room adjacent to the action in the foreground, but is rather oriented towards the horizon and beyond: a landscape always represents the world. Further, in the tradition of landscape for the Romantics the vagueness resting on the horizon comes to the fore and creates an "atmosphere" that touches a lonely soul and transforms an image of the world into an intimate encounter.
Landscape; a Shifting Concept The Evolution of the Concept of Landscape from Renaissance
'Landscape' is a contemporary term in the field of urban and environmental studies. A concept which came from Europe to Iran and now is frequently used in various fields in the country. The concept of landscape, as a new kind of reality in the world, emerged in the Renaissance era in Europe, and according to the changes in the western worldviews in these centuries, has gained various aspects and meanings. The multifaceted concept of landscape which is even hard to describe in the philosophic view, had been coined in the field of art, passed through the world of philosophy, and affected by the recent achievements in the field of the relation between human and environment, is wildly considered in the planning and designing the human environs. Still, its multifaceted meaning frequently ignored by the specialist around the world as well as Iran. By considering the evolution of the concept of 'landscape' in Europe in a historic recall, this paper attempts to reveal the fundamental aspects of this concept, its current meaning, and anticipate its future shifts and its field of influence. By adopting a descriptive method and comparative analysis, the concept of landscape from the Renaissance until now is examining and classified through the historical and existing definitions. At the end, based on this historical review, with the futurological approach, the paper looks into the possible future for this ambiguous. The results of the classification of the definitions of 'landscape' from the Renaissance until now shows that although the emergence of 'landscape' coined based on the classic dualism between subject and object and the distinction between the world of physics and the world of phenomena as an individualistic regard to the nature, but with by the failure of this dualism and accepting the uncertainty in the world, it evaluated as a subjective-objective phenomenon. In the 21st century, this concept as a new field of science has gained the considerable attention and considered as a savior discipline for our crisis period of mono-dimensionality in the human and its environs relation.
Landscape: Where Geography and Ecology Converge
2008
The word landscape is old and popular. It has many senses from territory to scenery. Geography uses this concept since Humboldt, which pointed out its spatiality and its physical and cultural characteristics. The geographical approach of landscape concept emphasizes relationships between natural and cultural processes in a spatial portion. Depending on physical or cultural/symbolic approaches, one of both processes will prevail. In ecological approach, the main characteristics to define landscape are spatiality, heterogeneity and relationship between elements, including men or not. Here we propose a unified landscape concept defining it as a heterogeneous space portion where relationship between natural and cultural processes occur.
The term 'Landscape' with complex objective and subjective concepts and extensive physical and non-physical aspects, has always been of special interest to authorities and theoreticians in the intellectual fields related to the Ecology, Geography, Urban Design, Landscape Architecture and other related disciplines and fields. Additionally, sometimes provided definitions have simply directed the concept of 'Landscape' toward an environmental issue, which has been taken into consideration from an ecological perspective. As a result, different definitions and approaches have been raised for the issue of 'Landscape'. In this respect, sometimes there have been attempts to define the term 'Landscape' by looking at scholars' and experts' perspectives from other countries (beside Iran) , or sometimes by typically considering their own perception of the term 'Landscape' as a definition. Moreover, the relationship between man and the environment and the interaction between these two elements in the discussions of Landscape experts and scholars, have created complex relations in the existing definitions of 'Landscape'. Thus, sometimes the concept of 'Landscape' is regarded as an objective fact, which is apart from the man and his mind, and sometimes it is considered as an absolute abstract subjective reality. The objective and subjective complexity aspects of 'Landscape' have led the scientific disciplines, developed and grown in the Descartes' bipolar world, to restraint 'Landscape' to merely one-dimensional concept and consider it as an abstract concept in its objective or subjective forms. Furthermore, stated definitions have always been the best indicator and criteria for evaluating the experts' perspectives of the issue and their approach types. Therefore, by collecting and classifying library documents including inside-and-outside-country provided definitions of the concept of 'Landscape' in different areas and disciplines and also by qualitative analysis of inferential and analytical methods, this study attempts to examine the concept of 'Landscape' and understand the approaches to deal with it.
Landscapes Both Invite and Defy Definition
Geographical education, 2016
This article examines various meanings of the term landscape. It advocates a deep engagement with the concept to enable high school students to carry out a range of thoughtprovoking geographical inquiries. Each aspect of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority's definition of landscape, shown below, is examined by reference to more one-dimensional ideas of landscape such as "the visible features of the surface of the earth" to the more complex ideas expressed in critical geographies. Landscape Visible appearance of an area, created by a combination of geological, geomorphological, biological and cultural layers that have evolved over time, and as perceived, portrayed and valued by people. A geomorphic landscape is the landscape without the biological and cultural layers (ACARA Glossary, n.d.) Experiencing landscape Geography teachers are rightly preoccupied with the agency of students, with young people's multiple ways of experiencing and seeing the landscape. But if the teacher's aim is to extend and enrich students' knowledge of the world then landscape, as an essential threshold concept, needs to be explored in more detail. A threshold concept opens up new ways of thinking. It unearths many different viewpoints on the concept (Brooks, 2013, p. 85). Students need to be familiar with the key geographical concepts and ideas: the grammar of geography (Lambert, 2011); the specialised knowledge produced within disciplinary communities (Maude, 2016); as well as the ability to think geographically (Morgan, 2013). These new understandings enable students to carry out a range of thought-provoking geographical inquiries, experience fieldwork with renewed enthusiasm, and perhaps be persuaded to turn to the more sensory and evocative sources of paintings, poems, novels, folk tales, music, film and song that also portray landscape.