‘Assessing the visual impacts of urbanization from the highway: a visual evaluation of the South Fork interchange site,North Bend,Washington’

This study is noteworthy as an application at project design scale of a methodology developed in 1976 by Jones & Jones for the Federal Highway Administation course ‘Esthetics and Visual Resource Management’ currently being given to highway professionals around the country. It also demonstrates the transfer of this methodology from highway facilities to urbanization.     

Vegetation in the early landscape art of the Sydney region, Australia: accurate record or artistic licence?

With its relatively short European history, Australia's earliest paintings may provide information on both the pre-European landscape and changes since first settlement. The pictorial record is examined as historical documentation of natural landscape, particularly vegetation, by considering artistic depictions of the region around Sydney, New South Wales, from initial settlement in 1788 to the early 1850s. Critical comment relating to the accuracy of the landscape paintings is examined by reference to the pictures and to Sydney's dramatically varied geology that shaped the landscapes and the vegetation communities that artists painted. There are few detailed studies of Australian landscape painting and much of the critical comment is found to be generalized and only partly accurate, including the persistent criticism that artists misrepresented Australian environments for a multitude of reasons. The pictorial record displays consistent observation of the real variation in landscape character, and in vegetation structure, communities and species. It also appears to provide interesting evidence of differential impact of fire, indicating different pre-settlement fire regimes in different landscape types.     

Valley landscape management: the context of a ‘river contract’ in the Semois valley,Belgium

A trans‐boundary and multi‐disciplinary approach to the river contract project for the Semois valley in Wallonia (Belgium) is described that provided the opportunity for a landscape‐scale focus during actions to restore the watercourses and the associated valley area. A trans‐boundary landscape survey was carried out under the context of the Interreg III European programme. This resulted in the rediscovery of lost views and viewpoints within the landscape and in the implementation of actions leading to the opening up of the valley, which provided opportunities to re‐establish lost landscape features, such as hay meadows. The gathering of many partners in the negotiation process of this project can be seen as an example of ‘landscape democratization’ or participative management of landscapes in a trans‐boundary and trans‐disciplinary context and as such this project is a concrete realization of the aims of the European Landscape Convention (ELC).     

Landscape and the philosophy of aesthetics: is landscape quality inherent in the landscape or in the eye of the beholder?

The paper proposes that landscape quality assessment may be approached on the basis of two contrasting paradigms, one which regards quality as inherent in the physical landscape, and the other which regards quality as a product of the mind – eye of the beholder. These are termed, respectively, the objectivist and subjectivist paradigms. These paradigms underlie the surveys of the physical landscape and studies of observer preferences.Examination of these paradigms through the approaches taken by philosophers from Plato to modern times demonstrates the ubiquity of the paradigms in underlying human perception of landscape. Until recent centuries, the objectivist paradigm provided philosophers with the basis for understanding beauty, including landscape beauty. However, the philosophers Locke, Hume, Burke and particularly Immanuel Kant identified beauty as lying in the eyes of the beholder rather than in the object. The parallels between Kant's aesthetic philosophy and contemporary theories of landscape quality based on an evolutionary perspective are examined. Most philosophers over recent centuries have adopted the subjectivist view of aesthetics.The paper concludes by proposing that only the subjectivist model should be used in research of landscape quality.     

‘The imaginary texture of the real …’ critical visual studies in landscape architecture: contexts,foundations and approaches

In this paper I examine potential for critical visual research studies in landscape architecture and related disciplines. The reasons for a neglect of imagery in research publications and the gap between landscape architectural practice and theory are considered, and the ways in which this restricts understanding are explored. I argue that visual studies can be used to bridge the practice–theory divide and enable investigations which are currently limited or absent in text-based methods and dissemination. To this end, five kinds of visual study are defined and their philosophical and methodological underpinnings and potential discussed. I conclude with an examination of the relationship between critical thinking and visual processes and the role of the viewer. The overall aim is to provide openings for future visual research studies and the development of critical visual discourses.     

Introduction to a special issue: the future of landscape characterisation,and the future character of landscape – between space,time, history,place and nature

Abstract

In any discussion of landscape characterisation the elephant in the room is the question of just what is landscape? Another way of putting this question is to simply ask: ‘How would you characterise landscape?’ What this implies is that there is a certain circularity in landscape characterisation because, through the very act of characterising landscape, one is also defining what one means by landscape. The European Landscape Convention’s definition of landscape as ‘an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors’ suggests a similar circularity because the character of an area, as it results from the action of natural and/or human factors, is dependent upon human perception, which is presumably also, in addition, one of the human factors acting upon the landscape. This circularity, or ‘circulating reference’, to use Bruno Latour’s term, is fundamental to Denis Cosgrove’s analysis of the origin of the modern concept of landscape as scenic space, and his analysis, we would suggest, helps explain some of the questions raised in this special issue concerning landscape characterisation and the future character of landscape .     

Botanical relics of a lost landscape: herborising ‘upon the Cliffs about the Pharos’ in Genoa,March 1664

This paper uses approaches derived from historical ecology to show how knowledge can be gained about the historical and cultural value of neglected urban landscapes. We study the area around Genoa’s lighthouse and consider the long-term survival of individual plant species and some implications for landscape conservation. We examine topographical representations over the last 500 years to establish the landscape context of the lighthouse. We then analyse the records of plants collected by two English naturalists of the seventeenth century, John Ray and Francis Willughby, and demonstrate how the plants were identified and documented. We survey the current vegetation to establish whether any species identified in 1664 still grow at the site. This exploration of botanical ancestry at a local scale makes it possible to demonstrate cultural–historical values of the lighthouse rocks and their vegetation which should be considered as part of the cultural heritage of the city of Genoa.     

From urban beautification to a holistic approach: the discourses of ‘landscape’ in the Arab Middle East

The English word and Western idea of landscape was introduced during the colonial restructuring of Arab cities in the early decades of the twentieth century. Thereafter, landscape came to be understood predominantly in the context of urban modernity, associated with the Western picturesque tradition adopted in landscaping municipal parks and public urban spaces. The formal conception that prevails today precludes a broader appreciation of landscape as a source of livelihood, the fabric of lived-in experiences and collective identities, just as it reduces the scope of landscape architecture, an emerging profession in the Arab Middle East, to urban beautification. Inspired by the integrative and community-centred conception advanced by the European Landscape Convention, this paper argues for a holistic landscape approach that contributes to development while responding to regional environmental and ecological constraints. The methodology of ecological landscape design is applied to secure a holistic reading of people and place and to engender integrative solutions that address socio-economic, environmental and heritage concerns. A selection of projects are cited to demonstrate the potential of a holistic approach in changing current limited perceptions of landscape and in expanding the discourse of landscape in the region beyond the current focus on appearance and beautification.     

Human sources of landscape stewardship: the re‐emergence of private farming in the Czech Republic

Historically, an important role informing the Czech cultural landscape was played by the strong middle class of farmers. The period of collectivization which occurred progressively between 1950 and 1989 meant liquidation of the rural community. Whereas in 1950 there were 1,404,225 private farmers, this number had decreased to only 2,000 in 1988. This paper focuses on the problems of stewardship and responsibility towards landscape associated with this social group, which recently has started a new period of growth. The research uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods. Dialogues with interviewees have enabled us to interpret stewardship and responsibility into a coherent story about the relationship between people and landscape. Similarities and differences have been related to variables such as farmer's age and length of time in farming. The results show that patterns of stewardship and responsibility are not related to economic variables, but rather to common features of ‘timeless’ rural culture.     

Assessing the impact of international development policies on the process of civil society participation in urban development in the countries of the South: the case of Syria, 2005–2010

This paper seeks to explore the effect of the international development policies promoted by the United Nations Development Programme on civil society participation in urban development process in the countries of the South. More specifically, the case of Syria during the period 2005–2010 was examined. An institutional analysis was conducted in order to investigate the question of whether development institutions in particular contexts, in terms of both the mental models and the organizational forms of development, permitted the space needed to apply this principle in practice. In this, the paper argues the need to promote a proactive approach to enable civil society participation in the countries of the South rather than a normative internationally accepted approach developed in isolation from the given political and institutional context.     

The re-emergence of core region growth: a return to the metropolis?

Recent trends in migration in the United States are reviewed, focusing on the links between regional and metropolitan population change. Three explanations for the counterurbanization phenomenon of the 1970s are presented and their implications for future migration trends considered. The author concludes that "while 1970s core region declines may have been strongly linked to the counterurbanization process, post-1980 core region gains do not appear to signal a return to the metropolis."     

Politics,planning and the protection of nature: Political abuse of early ecological ideas in Germany, 1933–45

This paper has three objectives. First, it illustrates how the theme of rationality, so important for a country's artistic culture and for studies in the positive sciences, is present both in modern Italy and the field of town planning. Second, it examines the ‘limits’ of town planning: a sort of set of ‘commandments’ which establishment culture has formulated in order to test and institutionalize planning projects. Third, it attempts to demonstrate how one of the peculiar and conditioning features of town planning in Italy is the importance attributed to history (the history of the city, the history of planning schemes and procedures) in justifying decisions which result in urban transformation.     

Rudolf Schwarz and the speech of the land – grammar as a political device in postwar Germany

The paper examines the connection of language and urban form in the work of the German architect and urban planner Rudolf Schwarz. Schwarz, who is credited with having exerted major influence on the protagonists of modern architecture such as Mies van der Rohe, was one of the most famous architects in postwar Germany and the author of the 1950 plan for the rebuilding of Cologne's destroyed inner city. From the 1950s onwards, Cologne's once dense mediaeval nucleus was restructured by a network of six-lane thoroughfares and various sequences of scattered concrete blocks. This redesign, as radically modern as it may seem, was closely tied to Schwarz's traditionalist conception of language. His linguistic arguments were influenced by a century-long tradition among conservative German intellectuals, who strove for a deeper and unmediated understanding of the world through verbal communication. Claiming an intrinsic relationship between the structure of German grammar and of the phenomena it captures, they believed in the ‘rootedness’ of their nation in its geographic environment through language. In that respect, Schwarz's conception and use of language – which was in many ways exemplary for German city planners in the postwar era – laid the groundwork for the modernist transformation of the city and thus for a dilemma that haunted German urban planning in the decades that followed.     

Estimation of radiance reflectance and the concentrations of optically active substances in Lake Mälaren, Sweden, based on direct and inverse solutions of a simple model

A semi-analytical model which predicts radiance reflectance just below the water surface (Lu/Ed 0-) has been developed and used to predict the spectral variability of radiance reflectance in Lake M?laren, Sweden. Radiance reflectance is predicted as a function of the optically active substances in the water, which include the concentrations of chlorophyll-a + phaeophytin-a, suspended particular inorganic material (SPIM), suspended particulate organic material (SPOM), and dissolved yellow substances. These substances are linked to the absorption and backscattering coefficients through a series of empirical relationships, and ultimately radiance reflectance is estimated as a function of the ratio of backscattering to absorption. Parameterization of the model, i.e. the development of the empirical relationships linking the optically active substances to the inherent optical properties (IOPs), is based on both in situ measurements and laboratory analyses. We have collected data that allowed us to examine the potential variability in radiance reflectance, as predicted by our model, due to both variations in the optically active substances, and in the model parameterization. Simulations based on a data set collected during the fall of 1997 from 12 sites, which span a large range in water quality (secchi depth 0.8-5.0 m), suggest that, with the proper parameterization, the model can accurately predict the spectra of radiance reflectance as a function of the concentration of optically active substances. Variations in the concentrations of optically active substances accounted for a large portion of the total simulated variability in radiance reflectance (i.e. that resulting from variations in parameterization and in the concentrations of optically active substances). However, the measured variability in parameterization could account for up to 50% of the total variability in simulated radiance reflectance. This suggests that variability in the model parameterization, arising from both real variability and experimental error, will limit the use of this model for interpreting remote sensing data. Nevertheless, inverse solutions of the model are able to estimate the concentrations of chlorophyll, suspended inorganic material (SPIM) and the absorption of yellow substances from measured radiance reflectance spectra The average error for the 12 sites was a -0.07 for chlorophyll, -0.15 for dissolved yellow substances (measured as the absorption at 400 nm) and 0.07 for SPIM, even though individual errors could be as great as 50%.     

Toward a sustainable land management of vernacular landscape in the highlands of south‐western Saudi Arabia: indigenous and statutory experiences

The vernacular landscape of the highlands of south‐western Saudi Arabia comprises three distinct elements: natural, agricultural and built. The highlands are currently facing land use planning problems which result in deforestation, despite significant attempts at afforestation by several governmental agencies (especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Water) and by municipal governments in the area. Intentions towards more sustainable forms of land management now characterize official documents. With regard to landscape issues, this is marked by a discourse of sustainable land management and the sponsorship of initiatives addressing the relationship between land management and the environment. This paper demonstrates that the approach to sustainable land management is technical, rational and scientific. A more balanced approach would combine scientific knowledge and practice with traditional expertise.     

Complexity in urban agriculture: the role of landscape typologies in promoting urban agriculture’s growth

This research identifies the potential shortcomings of local initiatives to encourage urban agriculture projects by comparing citywide efforts with existing community projects. It investigates how more effectual policy might be developed to accommodate a fuller range of urban agriculture projects, and how urban agriculture stakeholders might use clearer promotion processes to meet stated goals. It hypothesizes the important role of clear urban agriculture definitions, typologies, and links to associated benefits towards meeting the stated goals of policy-makers. Utilizing San Francisco in California as a case study, this paper investigates recent efforts at citywide urban agriculture promotion.     

City as a geopolitics: Tbilisi,Georgia — A globalizing metropolis in a turbulent region

Tbilisi, a city of over a million, is the national capital of Georgia. Although little explored in urban studies, the city epitomizes a fascinating assemblage of processes that can illuminate the interplay of geopolitics, political choices, globalization discourses, histories, and urban contestations in shaping urban transformations. Tbilisi's strategic location in the South Caucasus, at the juncture of major historical empires and religions in Eurasia, has ensured its turbulent history and a polyphony of cultural influences. Following Georgia's independence in 1991, Tbilisi found itself as the pivot of Georgian nation-building. Transition to a market economy also exposed the city to economic hardship, ethnical homogenization, and the informalization of the urban environment. The economic recovery since the early 2000s has activated urban regeneration. Georgia's government has recently promoted flagship urban development projects in pursuit of making Tbilisi as a modern globalizing metropolis. This has brought contradictions, such as undermining the city's heritage, contributing to socio-spatial polarization, and deteriorating the city's public spaces. The elitist processes of decision-making and a lack of a consistent urban policy and planning regimes are argued to be among major impediments for a more sustainable development of this city.     

Abandoned Mid-Canada Radar Line sites in the Western James region of Northern Ontario, Canada: a source of organochlorines for First Nations people?

The potential exists for human exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other contaminants originating from abandoned Mid-Canada Radar Line (MCRL) sites in sub-arctic Canada. We examined patterns of differences with respect to body burden of organochlorines (lipid-adjusted) between residents of the Ontario First Nations of Fort Albany (the site of MCRL Site 050) and Kashechewan (no radar base) and Hamilton (an industrial, southern Ontario community) to assess whether the presence of Site 050 influenced organochlorine body burden with respect to the people of Fort Albany. PCBs (Aroclor 1260 and summation operator14 PCBs congeners [CBs]) and DDE in the plasma of Fort Albany and Kashechewan subjects were elevated relative to Hamilton participants. PCB and DDE-plasma levels in First Nation women were of comparable magnitude to those reported for Inuit women living in the west/central Northwest Territories. Significantly lower DDE/DDT ratios observed for Fort Albany indicates exposure to higher levels of DDT compared to Kashechewan. The probable source of DDT exposure for Fort Albany people is the DDT-contaminated soil surrounding buildings of Site 050. The results of the correspondence analysis (CA) indicated that people from Hamilton had relatively higher pesticides and lower CB body burdens, while people from Fort Albany and Kashechewan exhibited relatively higher CBs and lower pesticide levels (CA-1). The separation of Fort Albany and Kashechewan from Hamilton was also clear using questionnaire data (i.e., plotting dietary principal component [PC]-1 scores against PC-2); PC-1 was correlated with the consumption of a traditional diet. Separation of Kashechewan and Albany residents occurred because the people of Kashechewan ate more traditional meats and consumed shorebirds. Only one significant relationship was found between PC analysis and contaminant loadings; PC-1 versus CA-3 for Kashechewan. The presence of Site 050 on Anderson Island appears to have influenced organochlorine body burden of the people of Fort Albany. ANCOVA results revealed that it was not activity on Anderson Island that was important, but activity on Site 050 was the influential variable. When these results are considered with the DDE/DDT ratio data and the CB 187 results (Fort Albany and Kashechewan residents differed significantly), the findings are suggestive that Site 050 did influence organochlorine body burden of people from Fort Albany.     

Energy landscape: Los Angeles Harbor and the establishment of oil-based capitalism in Southern California, 1871–1930

In the first three decades of the twentieth century, the Los Angeles metropolitan area emerged as the fastest growing urban–industrial economy on the Pacific Coast. This was a significant achievement for a city without a natural harbour. Despite formidable barriers presented by physical geography, the gradual development of a deep-water harbour in Los Angeles was fundamental to the emergence of oil-based capitalism in Southern California. In the first three decades of the twentieth century, under the municipal governance of a Board of Harbor Commissioners, private oil companies developed Los Angeles Harbor into a modern transhipment facility comprising infrastructures and technologies dedicated to the efficient transportation, storage, and refining of petroleum and petroleum-based products. From this perspective, Los Angeles Harbor needs to be understood as a long-term, fixed-capital investment into oil-based energy as fuel for industry and transportation. As a transhipment facility, Los Angeles Harbor also functioned as a critical outlet for surplus energy after the discovery of several large fields in the Los Angeles Basin in the early 1920s. By focusing on a particular built landscape, this paper aims to contribute insight into how geographies of fixed-capital investment play a role in the regional dynamics of energy transition and establishment.