12 квітня 2020 р.

What is a Landscape?

What is a Landscape?
The advisement of certain landscape definitions 

… because it is so personal, I cannot teach you about “the landscape”; I can merely tell you about “my landscape”.
      Peter J. Howard, An introduction to landscape

… landscape is not only concerned with the countryside or matters of heritage, it is not just a physical entity.
  Kathryn Moore, A New Look at Landscape

Updated 12.04.2020

I come to the conclusion that it is essential to consider some prevalent definitions of the landscape that occur in dictionaries and Internet. I deem that a notion must have one definition independently of the sphere of it`s using. The term «landscape» use in different living domains and isn’t solely geographical, ecological or artistic, therefore different specialists oblige to proceed from the same definition. Moreover, such definition hasn’t to differ from a common usage essentially. We are faced with intricate appearance of the landscape and although many authorities in this field of landscape exploration suppose, that landscape is a tangible, physical entity, I consider it as a mental appearance. It proposes to conduct the debate on this topic. Let’s scrutinize some definitions.
The bold type – initial texts, red type – my commentaries, dark blue type – the quotation in my commentaries. 

Hutchinson N. Landscapes Both Invite and Defy Definition // GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION V. 29, 2016 –

It is a very useful publication as we have a consideration of different variants of landscape definitions. The author gives such from the ACARA Glossary (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], (n.d.). Glossary entry for Landscape) - http://v7-5.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Glossary/Index?a=G&t=Landscape that is following: 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.
I think a landscape isn’t a «visible appearance», it is an image of some area correct terrain. I think it is created not by layers but some processes - geological, geomorphological, biological and anthropological – that leave traces on the day-surface (visible surface). This means that not the landscape is organized, but the structure of the day-surface under the influence of various processes integrated into the landscape-forming process, and our consciousness organizes this structure into landscape. A landscape isn’t portrait as it is integral image, true inscape. So, the landscape is, rather, the face of the terrain, and it is not the face as the face surface but the face as image, but we do not read the face but the structure of the surface as a text, then the landscape is understood as a common sense. I think that a geomorphic landscape can implicate some traces of biological and particularly anthropological origin such as termitary, excavation so on. I use the «day surface» or «day-surface» instead of «surface of the earth» so such a statement is not accurate enough - it is unclear what surface should be considered as the Earth's surface.

Very helpful post!      

Oxford Dictionary of Geography:
An area, the appearance of an area, or the gathering of objects which produce that appearance. Carl Sauer first used the term in geography in 1925, stressing the concept of the landscape as the expression of interaction between humans and their environment.
It is important to connect the appearance of an area (as a terrain) with landscape. A landscape is not the area or territory and, accordingly, isn’t characterized by metric units. The Carl Sauer’s viewpoint is correct. Just therefore «the Humboldtian landscape thus never corresponds to objects but is, rather, a way of knowing – an “impression” of Nature» [Humboldt’s compromise or, the forgotten geographies of landscape: p. 10].

Turner M.G. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY: The Effect of Pattern on Process Annu_ Rev_ Ecol. Syst_ 1989_ 20:171-97 –

"Landscape" commonly refers to the landforms of a region in the aggregate (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 1980) or to the land surface and its associated habitats at scales of hectares to many square kilometers. Most simply, a landscape can be considered a spatially heterogeneous area.
In this article Monica G. Turner refers to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1980: «landforms of a region in the aggregate (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 1980) or to the land surface …». It is better to say: the aggregate of landforms of some aria that forms its entirety image: isn’t divided or disjoined - in one unit.  
Landscape ecology in theory and practice: pattern and process / Monica G. Turner, Robert H. Gardner, Robert V. O’Neill. © 2001 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. –

What, then, is a landscape? We suggest a general definition that does not require an absolute scale: a landscape is an area that is spatially heterogeneous in at least one factor of interest. Although at the human scale we may observe “a kilometers-wide mosaic over which local ecosystems recur” (Forman, 1995), it is important to recognize that landscape ecology may deal with landscapes that extend over tens of meters rather than kilometers, and a landscape may even be defined in an aquatic system. In addition, we might observe a landscape represented by a gradient across which ecosystems do not necessarily repeat or recur. (p. 7).
I start from that landscape is not a plot (country, territory), it is an integral image of a plot (country, territory), so landscape isn’t measured by area units. It is important for the topology of terrains as a source for landscapes appearance: the question is about nested topology. Therefore the Forman’s viewpoint is not correct. The fact, that source of landscape is «an area that is spatially heterogeneous», is recognized by most of authors. As to scale of plots that can be landscape-raising, the range is very large; all depends on extent of elementary subjects that form the day-surface structure – from tens square centimetre to the whole planet. All depends from scale of process that form given day-surface structure. For instance, the drip erosion forms corresponding structure as shown in Figure 1. Even circle of 10 cm diameter is ample for including of significant details and its connections. Sometimes, in the presence of field observation experience, even a small area is enough for forming the landscape of all-terrain.


Figure 1. The day-surface structure forms by drip erosion.
In addition to written I want to draw attention to the highly important article of author team in complement: Konings A.G., Dekker S.C., Rietkerk M., Katul G.G. - Drought sensitivity of patterned vegetation determined by rainfall‐land surface feedbacks (Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 116, G04008, 2011), in which the model of interconnection between patterned vegetation and precipitation is given (Figure  2).



Figure 2. Key pathways of model influence of vegetation biomass on rainfall (R). Biomass influences albedo (a), which influences the surface energy R n available for latent (LE) and sensible (H) heating. In the “no radiative feedback” simulations of section 4.2, this influence is artificially removed (red cross). Biomass (P) also has a direct influence on the total surface latent heat flux (equations (12) and (13)). In the “no ET feedback” simulations of section 4.2, this influence is artificially removed (blue cross). The dashed line indicates that rainfall also influences biomass. –

Some more instances of process that leads to forming of pattern in vegetative cover is contained in article of D.L. DeAngelis «Self-Organizing Processes in Landscape Pattern and Resilience: A Review // International Scholarly Research Network ISRN Ecology Volume 2012, Article ID 274510» (Figure 3) –



Figure 3. Feedbacks between halophytic and glycophytic vegetations. The halophyte has a positive effect on soil salinity, which has a negative effect on glycophyte growth. The glycophyte is assumed to be a superior competitor for light.

As to the question of nested topology that is interesting for geographies and landscape-connoisseur I want to draw attention to the so-called «TopoText», for instance: «TopoText: Context-Preserving Semantic Exploration Across Multiple Spatial Scales» - http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~elm/projects/topotext/topotext.pdf. Then the structures of day-surface parts are texts and landscapes are the total senses written within these parts

Brown P. «Up, down, and across the land: landscape terms, place names, and spatial language in Tzeltal» -
This highly interesting article is devoted to representation of day-surface structure peculiarities in the language of Mayan corn farmers. As author writes, «This paper addresses the conceptualization of a people’s environment – natural and manmade features of the landscape – by looking at how these are coded in their language and expressed in language usage» (p. 151).
The article suggests an idea that a landscape may be treated as the manner of collating of intricate current of sensor dates that come to brain, as the manner of surroundings typification, classification, in the first set - a day-surface structure. So it is the way to complex suppression by dint of transforming continuity in discreteness. In such sight we can consider a landscape as a face of some area.

Schama S., 1995: Landscape and Memory. Harper Collins, London, UK.
Simon Schama (1995) argues that landscapes exist in the mind: «Although we are accustomed to separate nature and human perception into two realms, they are, in fact, indivisible. Before it can ever be a repose for the senses, landscape is the work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock… Landscapes are culture before they are nature, constructs of the imagination projected onto wood and water and rock».
I think it is a correct understanding of the landscape matter. But we must take into account the possibility of existence of hidden organization connected with the so-called landscape-forming process, in which our mind is permeated. Such variant I call an onto-landscape. No doubt that landscape phenomenon appearing with agriculture becoming, as L. Simonsson wrote, «the land as an expression of its people. In this perspective land does not have any meaning without the consideration of the peoples’ history and identity» [Simonsson L. Applied Landscape Assessment in a Holistic Perspective. A case study from Babati District, north-central Tanzania, 2001: p. 10]. It is a very correct view on landscape phenomena.

Macpherson H.,  Minca C. Landscape, embodiment and visual impairment: an exploration of the limits of landscape knowledge, 2006

In article the authors consider some important questions such as:
. Landscape as a ‘territorial unit’.
The idea of landscape as a territorial unit can be traced to the term’s use in Germanic languages and older forms of English (Mikesell 1968; Olwig 2002). Recently it has represented a common starting point for a range of cross­disciplinary approaches to landscape (Fry 2001; Scott 2002). Gary Fry, a key figure within landscape studies, argues that there has been an ‘emergence of landscape as a level of organisation in countryside management’ and goes on to suggest ‘landscape ecology in its broadest
sense would appear to be the most promising candidate for the development of interdisciplinary theory applicable to multifunctional landscapes’ (Fry 2001, 160­163, 2 emphasis added).
I think we have the confusion connected with mixing of two notions – «terrain» and «landscape». The «terrain» is a measurable territorial unit, and «landscape» is its image, that is not measurable.   
. Landscape as ‘a form of visualization’
The work of historical geographer David Lowenthal is considered to have been key in
preparing the way for approaches to landscape which begin to consider it as a form of
visualization and a way of structuring knowledge about space (Olwig 2003). Lowenthal,
initially in his work with Hugh Prince, analyzed the impact of class and national identity
on the creation of material landscapes (Lowenthal and Prince 1964). This work began
to show the socially constructed ways in which space is perceived and comprehended
as landscape. The idea that landscape is not a ‘thing’, quantifiable and real, but rather
a culturally mediated construction, has become popular across the social sciences and,
particularly, in human geography (where landscape made its first appearance as a ‘scientific’ concept in the mid Nineteenth century). The most prominent geographer to adopt and develop this cultural perspective on landscape is geographer Denis
Cosgrove.
I think such a viewpoint is correct. A landscape is not a «thing», we don’t walk on landscape and can’t touch it, as well as we can’t map it – the border of each landscape is the border of terrain that is bedding for it. A landscape can be defined as an informational pool that expands in terrain image in our consciousness

Unt L. Encounters in Landscapes: Stenography, Landscape and Memory in Estonian Open-air Performances

Living in and looking at a landscape can be regarded as acts of remembrance, where the landscape is not scenery, but a stage of action. (p. 319). Depending on the scenographic strategies, the actual landscape can be used as a stage to act on, or it can be reduced to scenery, a backdrop to perform against. (p. 320).
A live body orients and responds to the sensory world in the constant communication between itself and the landscape it inhabits (Merleau-Ponty 1964). By placing the viewer in the landscape, it can be regarded as the perceiver’s stage of action rather than scenery. (p. 321).
The author bases on treatment that a landscape is a stage of action. It is a correct treatment as well as reference on the M. Merleau-Ponty’s position because we realize our action due to  sensory orientation in environment.

Peter Longatti, Thomas Dalang
The Meaning of “Landscape” – An Exegesis of Swiss Government Texts

We first observe a shift from the original ‘picture’ concept of landscape as a visual experience and at the same time an emotional experience, landscape as home for people, to the concept of landscape as a physical location where biological processes take place.
Then there is a shift back to the social and psychological aspects of the landscape focusing on people’s needs and activities in the landscape so that the invisible aspects of the landscape become the dominant features and the idea of the picture finally disappears. (p. 35).
I concentrate attention on the phrase: «original ‘picture’ concept of landscape as a visual experience and at the same time an emotional experience, landscape as home for people» and want to notice that «a physical location where biological processes» pertain to terrain. So, we have to do with confusion of notions. I add that peoples realized its activities not in the landscapes but in the terrains.

Actors and orders: The shaping of Carsten Paludan-Müller, maj 2008

In this interesting article I want to single out the following points with what I am in conformity: «Landscape is a word of Dutch origin, and a phenomenon with many interpretations. It is a constantly re-configured frame, and medium of human aspiration and action.
There is always more to the landscape, than meets the eye. Basically, our perceptions of and actions in the landscapes are shaped by who we are. And who we are is in many ways shaped by our relationship to our physical environment including the landscape. In other words, there is a dynamic interplay between formation of landscape-identities and formation of human-identities» (p. 2/15).

Greider T., Garkovich L. Landscapes: The social construction of nature and the environment.

«Why does a real estate developer look  across an open field and see comfortable suburban ranch homes nested in quiet cul-de-sacs, while a farmer envision endless rows of waving wheat and a hunter sees a five-point buck cautiously grazing in preparation for the coming winter? The open field is the same physical thing, but it carries multiple symbolic meanings that emanate from the values by which people define themselves. The real estate developer, the farmer, the hunter are definitions of who people are, and the natural environment – the physical entity of the open field – is transformed symbolically to reflect these self-definitions. These symbolic meanings and definitions are sociocultural phenomena, not physical phenomena, and they transform the open field into a symbolic landscape.
“Landscape” are the symbolic environment created by human acts of conferring meaning to nature and the environment, of giving the environment definition and form from a particular angle of vision and through a special filter of values and beliefs. Every landscape is a symbolic environment. These landscapes reflect our self-definitions that are grounded in culture. » [Greider, Garkovich, 1994: 1].
It is a very correct position!

Lowenthal D. Living With and Looking at Landscape // Landscape Research, Vol. 32, No. 5, 637–659, 2007 -

Awareness of landscape involves active participation, however motionless the beholder. Wind and weather, light and shadow, clouds and sky, seasonal foliage, the disposition of birds, animals and people make each glimpse a new scene, even when seen repeatedly from the same spot. Moreover, landscapes change as we move through them: each step, each turn of the head, engages new vistas. So much depends on our physical interaction that no static scenic consensus can adequately reflect it. (p. 638).
It is the vital dictum of one of the most authoritative author. But I must mark that we don’t move through landscape, we move through terrain.

Sua´rez-Seoane S., Baudry J. Scale dependence of spatial patterns and cartography on the detection of landscape change: relationships with species’ perception // ECOGRAPHY 25: 499–511, 2002.

In this interesting article I draw attention to some moments:
. Mapping landscapes is a basic task for landscape ecologists. (p. 500).
A landscape can’t be mapped, this can be made only with day-surface structure: the map marks not landscapes but types of the day-surface.
. Defining terms
a) Landscape unit: an aggregation of areas with similar land cover and a characteristic combination of topo-ecological factors (see Baudry 1985, Forman and Godron 1986, Zonneveld 1989). It constitutes a functional entity resulting from human activities. b) Typology of landscape units: a classification system using a set number of landscape units to describe a landscape. Four typologies were generated using fine or coarser levels of detail (see Table 1). c) Analysis units or blocks: aggregations of grid cells created to change the spatial resolution of an analysis. (p. 500).
A landscape doesn’t contain (consist of) the units as it is integral image of terrain: it is a mental construction.
. Fig. 1. Geographical location of the study area. (p. 500).

It is an incorrect dictum: it is necessary to write «territorial location»


National Geographic Society – Microsoft Word
A landscape is part of the Earth’s surface that can be viewed at one time from one place. It consists of the geographic features that mark, or are characteristic of a particular area.
 

I think better to say so: A landscape is image of the terrain (country) as a part of the Earth’s surface that can be viewed at one time from one place or forming by perception during going/journey through the terrain, this image is a pattern that is an informational pull. It doesn’t consist of the geographic features that mark, or are characteristic of a particular area, because it is an undivided, entire image of some terrain; it is its pattern forming in the person’s consciousness.

What are landscapes?
‘Landscape’ is a concept which includes the physical environment and people’s perception and appreciation of that environment. It is not restricted to the purely visual, but may comprise and encompass the ways in which individuals and communities perceive the natural and physical resources, as through traditions, lore, and legends that express the significant and memorable elements of a landscape.
‘Landscape’ is a concept based on people’s perception and appreciation of environment within some terrain of scale spectrum. It is not restricted to the purely visual, but may comprise and encompass the ways in which individuals and communities perceive the natural and physical resources, as through traditions, lore, and legends that express the significant and memorable elements of a landscape.
Landscape means the natural and physical attributes of land together with air and water which change over time and which is made known by people’s evolving perceptions and associations [such as beliefs, uses, values and relationships].
The base of landscape as an image of certain part of daytime surface is the attributes of land together with air and water which change over time and which is made known by people’s evolving perceptions and associations [such as beliefs, uses, values and relationships].   
... “landscape” also ... takes into account the overall composition, spatial structure and aesthetic values of an area, together with its meanings and associations for different segments of society.   
... “landscape” is the overall composition, spatial structure and aesthetic values of an area, together with its meanings and associations for different segments of society, it allows the landscape-forming process that causes such pattern of a given part of the surface.  

What is a landscape?
Ad by Atlassian –

A landscape is everything you experience outside a building. It consists of plants, people, earthforms, sensory experiences, and every other environmental feature around the world both human made and naturally existing.
Such definition is not correct because a landscape doesn’t «consists of plants, people, earthform, sensory experiences, and every other environmental feature around the world both human made and naturally existing» for plants, people, earthform, sensory experiences, and every other environmental features are the context that is based for displaying of landscape.

Landscape has a large scope of definition. Mostly, it is named as an area comprises flora and fauna.
But I as a Landscape designer define the term of landscape as a place where different features combined to create such a sublime, scenic and tranquil place.
From a small garden inside of the house to a large ones in city scale, all, are considered as a landscape.
Landscape is like a canvas full of colorful ideas and drawings which allows anyone to come in and become happier.
I begin from thereafter of that landscape doesn’t «an area comprises flora and fauna» - they are the components of day-surface structure, and a landscape may not be a place. And far not all landscapes are similar to «canvas full of colorful ideas and drawings which allows anyone to come in and become happier».

A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms and how they integrate with natural or man-made features.
A landscape includes the physical elements of geophysically defined landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions.
A landscape doesn’t «include the physical elements of geophysically defined landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions», it is the wholeness of all «features of an area of land». For instance, «landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains» are integrated in «alpine landscape». But I don’t think that weather conditions are included in such image.     

Let us understand it in simple words. For instance, suppose you live in a hilly area. So, whenever you get up in the morning and go outside your house, what all things can you see? Hills, trees, grass, houses, huts, fields, rivers, plants, flowers, snow, road… and all such sort of things, isn’t it? All these things are a part of a landscape. Hence, we can say that a landscape is whatever we can see when we look across the land.
«Hills, trees, grass, houses, huts, fields, rivers, plants, flowers, snow, road… and all such sort of things » are not «a landscape is whatever we can see when we look across the land», all this stuffs are details of day-surface structure as the base for landscape appearance.

Definitions of landscape invariably include an area of land containing a mosaic of patches or landscape elements. The Landscape makes your home perfect with help of patio design, fire pit installation, pond design, fencing, pathways, masonry work, etc. Attractive gardens and fountains design keeps you in touch with nature.
The day-surface patches are parts of its structure and, therefore, the bases for landscape appearance.     
   
What Is Landscape?

Landscape, John Stilgoe tells us, is a noun. From the old Frisian language (once spoken in coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany), it meant shoveled land: landschop. Sixteenth-century Englishmen misheard or mispronounced this as landskep, which became landskip, then landscape, designating the surface of the earth shaped for human habitation. In What Is Landscape? Stilgoe maps the discovery of landscape by putting words to things, zeroing in on landscape's essence but also leading sideways expeditions through such sources as children's picture books, folklore, deeds, antique terminology, out-of-print dictionaries, and conversations with locals. (“What is that?” “Well, it's not really a slough, not really, it's a bayou...”) He offers a highly original, cogent, compact, gracefully written narrative lexicon of landscape as word, concept, and path to discoveries.
We see here absence of anything that points out on geo-complex (Russian version) or ecosystem whether any similar.

What is a Landscape?
Assigned Reading: McGarigal (Lecture notes)

Definitions of landscape invariably include an area of land containing a mosaic of patches or landscape elements. (P. 3.2).
Definitions of landscape can't «include an area of land containing a mosaic of patches or landscape elements» because mosaic, as such as landscape, is an image of certain placed patches that are not the elements of landscape, they are physiographical elements of terrain.

Forman and Godron (1986) defined landscape as a heterogeneous land area composed of a cluster of interacting ecosystems that is repeated in similar form throughout. (P. 3.2).
A land area may not be a landscape; it is merely a material base for landscape as its image. Here the question of ecosystem definition is essential: is it something tangible or model of biocenosis (bio-community) on the system principle? I think it is the second version. 

Turner et al (2002) define landscape as an area that is spatially heterogeneous in at least one factor of interest. (P. 3.2).
Landscape isn’t an area= territory because a character of draft of content is essential but not its area=territory, therefore it may be distinguished many nested domains of different scales that characterized own arrangements of contents. These arrangements just are bases for landscapes displaying.   

The landscape concept differs from the traditional ecosystem concept in focusing on groups of ecosystems and the interactions among them – the focus is on spatial heterogeneity and its impact on process. (P. 3.2).  
Group of ecosystems are ecosystem of larger scale till to the Biosphere as a whole!

Some variants of landscape definitions give in this publication.
From a wildlife perspective (p. 3.3): a landscape is a heterogeneous distribution of habitat (patches or gradients).
A landscape may not be «a heterogeneous distribution of habitat» as is a total image of some part of surface. Heterogeneous distribution of something belongs to such characteristic as texture.   

However, landscapes generally occupy some spatial scale intermediate between an organism's normal home range and its regional distribution. In-other-words, because each organism scales the environment differently (i.e., a salamander and a hawk view their environment on different scales), there is no absolute size for a landscape. (p. 3.3).
A landscape doesn’t occupy anything and animal’s perception is limited enough!

The section «The Landscape Concept – Structure and Function» (p. 3.7) is very important. Reading: «All landscapes have a user-defined structure (pattern) that is hypothesized to influence its function (process). This interaction between spatial pattern and process defines the landscape concept» (p. 3.7).
This expression is similar to my opinion on landscape as an organization of day-surface draft forming by landscape-forming process, so it is a pattern that is landscaping (as a process) effect.

The expression «The composition of a landscape» and «The configuration of a landscape» (p. 3.7) –
I think the composition and the configuration are characteristics of some surface as source for display of a landscape!

The expression «If the landscape is not defined properly (in terms of its content, scale and context) relative to the phenomenon under consideration and the stated objectives, then no amount of quantitative assessment of landscape pattern-process will reveal meaningful relationships» (p. 3.8) –
I think the landscape may not defined in term «content», «scale» and «context», this aspects are the peculiarities of a terrain as a source of landscape. 

Defining Landscape Terminology
Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscape -

Character-defining feature - a prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, or characteristic of a cultural landscape that contributes significantly to its physical character. Land use patterns, vegetation, furnishings, decorative details and materials may be such features.
Mentioned aspects, qualities – «land use patterns, vegetation, furnishings, decorative details and materials» - are the characteristics of surface that is based on landscape displaying and landscape hasn’t physical character, it is a mental image.
  
Component landscape - A discrete portion of the landscape which can be further subdivided into individual features. The landscape unit may contribute to the significance of a National Register property, such as a farmstead in a rural historic district. In some cases, the landscape unit may be individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, such as a rose garden in a large urban park.
A landscape doesn’t have a discrete portion as it is an integral image of terrain!

Component landscape - A discrete portion of the landscape which can be further subdivided into individual features. The landscape unit may contribute to the significance of a National Register property, such as a farmstead in a rural historic district. In some cases, the landscape unit may be individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, such as a rose garden in a large urban park.
«A discrete portion of the landscape» doesn’t exist, a landscape doesn’t decompose on the parts, it is a pattern! 

Cultural landscape - a geographic area (including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein), associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values. There are four general types of cultural landscapes, not mutually exclusive: historic sites, historic designed landscapes, historic vernacular landscapes, and ethnographic landscapes.
I have some questions and remarks as to this point:
1.     What is «geographic area»? I think it is misunderstanding;
2.     A landscape doesn’t «including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein» because it is an integral image of area=terrain, it doesn’t decompose on the parts.  

Ethnographic landscape - a landscape containing a variety of natural and cultural resources that associated people define as heritage resources. Examples are contemporary settlements, sacred religious sites, and massive geological structures. Small plant communities, animals, subsistence and ceremonial grounds are often components.
A landscape doesn’t «contain a variety of natural and cultural resources», it is integral image of milieu «that is associated with people define as heritage».

Feature - The smallest element(s) of a landscape that contributes to the significance and that can be the subject of a treatment intervention. Examples include a woodlot, hedge, lawn, specimen plant, alley, house, meadow or open field, fence, wall, earthwork, pond or pool, bollard, orchard, or agricultural terrace.
All of counted are only the separate objects – particulars of day-surface structure and not the «smallest element(s) of a landscape»!

Historic character - the sum of all visual aspects, features, materials, and spaces associated with a cultural landscape’s history, i.e. the original configuration together with losses and later changes. These qualities are often referred to as character-defining.

Historic designed landscape - a landscape that was consciously designed or laid out by a landscape architect, master gardener, architect, engineer, or horticulturist according to design principles, or an amateur gardener working in a recognized style or tradition. The landscape may be associated with a significant person, trend, or event in landscape architecture; or illustrate an important development in the theory and practice of landscape architecture. Aesthetic values play a significant role in designed landscapes. Examples include parks, campuses, and estates.
Any part of day-surface is «historic designed», so any landscape must to contain the historical context.

Historic vernacular landscape - a landscape that evolved through use by the people whose activities or occupancy shaped it. Through social or cultural attitudes of an individual, a family, or a community, the landscape reflects the physical, biological, and cultural character of everyday lives. Function plays a significant role in vernacular landscapes. This can be a farm complex or a district of historic farmsteads along a river valley. Examples include rural historic districts and agricultural landscapes.
A landscape doesn`t evolve and not may be occupied as it isn’t the tangible, all of it takes place with terrain as bases of landscape displaying.


I invite you to participate in the discussion of the difficult issue of defining the notion of landscape.

Oleksa Kovalyov

Немає коментарів:

Дописати коментар