Interpreting places & landscapes

Geography 1, 2nd Sem. AY 2010-2011 Ms. Rocelyn C. De Vera

 How the environment shapes & is shaped by people How it is perceived & understood by people

VISUALIZING LANDSCAPES

2 Major Kinds of Landscape

Natural Landscape - Landscapes without any evidence or trace of human activities. Cultural Landscape - a characteristic and tangible outcome of the complex interactions between a human group and a natural environment.

Landscapes
Natural Landscape Cultural Landscape

Cultural Landscape
A characteristic and tangible outcome of the complex interactions between a human group and a natural environment

cultural Landscape
Archive of society
Reflection of

our culture and experiences Comprehensive product of human action

Collection

of evidence about our character and experience, our struggles & triumphs as humans

Types of Landscape
Ordinary/Vernacular Landscape Symbolic Landscape

Types of Landscape
1.) Ordinary landscapes (vernacular)
Everyday landscapes that people create in the course of their lives Landscapes that are lived-in and changed
Influence and change the perceptions, values, and behaviors

Types of Landscape
1.) Ordinary landscapes (vernacular)
Work Social activities School

Types of Landscape
2.) Symbolic landscapes
Representations of particular values, or aspirations, that the builders & financiers of those landscapes want to impart to a larger public

Symbolic Landscape
Landscapes of power Landscapes of despair Derelict landscapes

Landscape as Text
Like a book, landscapes can be read and written by groups and individuals. Landscapes do not come ready-made with labels on them. There are readers and writers

Landscape

Landscape
Many cultural landscapes exist in any single place Quiapo School Reflect the lives of ordinary people, as well as the more powerful

Study of Landscape
Humanistic approach
Places individual at the center of analysis Values, meanings, intentions..

Study of Landscape
Humanistic approach
Critique:
individual group

Study of Landscape
Alternative:
Larger forces and individuals
Culture, gender, government Enhance or constrains individual lives Two-way

Place-making
Territory

Provides a source of physical safety & security A source of stimulation A physical expression of bull identity
breeding areas December and January

beach areas that offer protection from the winter storms and high surf wave action
Harem

Place-making
Territory

physical territory (the physical body, real and

personal property);

social territory (family, intimates, clan, tribe, peer

group, club, associations, other social, cultural or religious groupings);

psychic territory (thoughts, opinions, theories,

philosophies, plans, purposes, dreams, memories, time).

Place-making
Territory When a territory is threatened defend it attack the territory of the attacker suffer the trauma of invasion overcrowding

Destruction of properties, vandalism

Breaking up social ties Plagiarism,Attacking of ideas

Place-making
Territoriality

Persistent attachment to a specific location

Geography of peoples behavior

Claims to spaces

Claiming space
Unwritten territorial rules
1. regular use 2. use of spatial markers 3. bubbles or areas of personal space that we try not to invade (or allow to be invaded by others)

Place-making
Personal space different people within those cultures, may have quite different ideas of personal space.

"typical" American prefers to speak to strangers literally at arm's length

"typical" Swiss prefers a distance of twelve to eighteen inches "typical" Japanese prefers about two arm's lengths both of which may discomfort many Americans.

friends

Place-making
Proxemics

Study of the social & cultural meanings that people give to personal space.

different people Different cultures, different ideas of personal space.

Sense of place
People and places through territoriality

Place-making
Sense of place
Feelings evoked among people as a result of the experiences, memories, & symbolism that they associate with a given place
Place is important to us, that its loss can be traumatic Insiders feel at home

 Sentimental
Affective bonds with places Become significant to individuals (special attachment or sense of identity or belonging) Home, school, city,country

T O P O P H IL I A

How do insiders develop sense of place?

a) through shared dress codes, speech patterns.. b) through familiarity with the history and symbolism of particular elements of the physical environment

c) through peoples familiarity with one another and their surroundings

 Cognitive Images

what people see in the minds eye when they think of a particular place or setting

The formation of cognitive images:

Information

Perception

Cognition

Recall

Environmental Images

THE REAL WORLD

Senses

Birth and personality

Culture

TRANSFORMED COGNITIVE IMAGE

What causes distortion of images?

a) incomplete information - the farther we live from the area, the less info we have b) our own biases - we remember more what we like or what we think is significant

Compiled through behavioral patterns

Cognitive images
Influence behavior

Images and behavior

The narrower The less likely
Venture beyond their home area

 Shopping Behavior of people

nearest store with the lowest prices

traffic, parking, pedestrian circulation

People go to places they regard as attractive, relaxing, reassuring, they tend to avoid places they regard as repellant and fearsome