GEOG 1: INTERPRETING PLACES & LANDSCAPES

LANDSCAPE
the character of the place, its identifying features
Landscapes are the comprehensive products of
natural and human actions on the environment, a
collection of natural and man-made features on the
earths surface, such that every landscape is a
repository of society.
It is a collection of evidence about our character &
experience, our struggles & triumphs as humans.
If place is a person, the landscape is its character.
NATURAL LANDSCAPE
Landscapes formed by natural processes of nature
(rain, wind, tectonics, etc)
It is the natural physical expression of the place
(natural sceneries)
It is the sum of all natural resources that man has at
his disposal in that area. It is beyond his power to
add to them but he may develop them, ignore them
in part or subtract from them by exploitation
Examples: deserts, tropical, marine
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
A characteristic and tangible outcome of the
complex interactions between a human group &
natural environment.
It is fashioned from a natural landscape by a cultural
group. Culture is the agent, the natural area is the
medium, the cultural landscape is the result.
Landscapes created by human processes.
Segments of the earths surface that show evidence
of human activity.
Man is capable of large scale environmental
modification. Ways in which people modify their
environment include:
1. Altering the original vegetation
2. Plowing soil and planting crops
3. Constructing buildings, fences, roads
4. establishing towns and cities
5. resculpturing the land surface
6. excavating some sites and filling others
Cultural and natural landscapes have an inversely
proportional relationship.
According to Carl Sauer, cultural landscapes have
important diagnostic value because they reflect the
nature of the culture that created the features.
Examining the spatial arrangement of roads, fields,
buildings, architectural styles etc, it can tell you the
cultures technological abilities, level of economic
development, religious beliefs, social structure, & its
goals & aspirations.

Categories of Landscapes Based on Elements

Contained Within Them:
ORDINARY LANDSCAPES
Also known as representative or vernacular
landscape
It is the everyday landscape that people create in
the course of their lives (parking lots, houses, etc)
Landscapes that are lived in & changed & in turn
influence the perceptions, values, & behavior of the
people who live & work in them
These landscapes are often overlooked because
they lack admirable and scenic features or that they
became so familiar
SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPES
Landscapes that represent particular belief or
aspiration of a person or group of people. These are
landscapes that give special meaning or symbolism
a. landscapes of power gated communities,
Malacanang, White House, EDSA
b. landscapes of despair evoke feeling of
hopelessness & helplessness due to its
depressing elements. Payatas, slum areas
c. derelict landscapes landscapes that have
experienced abandonment, misuse, vandalism
d. sacred space an area recognized by
individuals or groups as worthy of special
attention, as a site of special religious
experiences or events. It does not occur
naturally, but rather, it is assigned sanctity
through the values & belief systems
Many cultural landscapes exist in any single place.
Humanistic Approach: places the individual
especially individual, meaning systems, intentions at
the center of analysis. Different people comprehend
landscapes differently
Landscapes as Text:
the idea that landscapes can be read and written by
different individuals.
Landscapes do not come ready-made with labels on
them, rather there are writers who produce
landscapes and give them meaning, & there are
readers who consume the messages embedded in
the landscape.
Landscapes both produce & communicate meaning,
& part of the tasks of geographers is to interpret
those meanings

Coded Spaces:
Landscapes are embedded with meaning which can be
interpreted differently by different people and groups.
The key is to understand the language in which it is
Cultural landscapes are geographers artifacts. By
examining these landscapes today, one can understand written, & recognize the signs & symbols that go into
the making of landscape.
the development of a culture.
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GEOG 1: INTERPRETING PLACES & LANDSCAPES

SEMIOTICS:
the practice of writing & reading signs, it proposes
the view that innumerable signs are embedded or
displayed in landscape, space, and place, sending
messages about identity, values, beliefs, and
practices.
Example, the mall is interpreted as a pseudoplace
meant to encourage shopping.
Place-making:
Places are created by people responding to the
opportunities & constraints presented by their
environments.
As people live & work in spaces, they gradually
impose themselves on their environment, modifying
& adjusting it to suit their needs & express their
values.
People gradually accommodate both to their
physical environment & to the people around them.
Places are dynamic phenomena: place-making is
always incomplete & ongoing
TERRITORIALITY:
Persistent attachment of individuals or peoples to a
specific location or territory. It is the fundamental
place-making force.
ETHOLOGY the scientific study of the formation &
evolution of human customs & beliefs, also used to
refer to study the behavior of animals in their natural
environments
Territoriality is culturally established, provide
unwritten protocols about how to claim space:
regular use, use of spatial markings, personal space
PROXEMICS the study of the social & cultural
meanings that people give to personal space

Personal Space: the invisible silent boundary

surrounding a persons body. This can tell the limit
of our area of personal comfort, dictates the need for
personal privacy, communicate our tolerance for
foreign body or intrusion & indicate our fear of
personal safety.
At a larger spatial scale, territoriality provides a
means of accomplishing 3 social & cultural needs:
(1)regulation of social interaction; (2) regulation of
access to people & resources; & (3) the provision of
a focus & symbol of group membership & identity
It allows people to create & maintain a framework
through which to experience the world & give it
meaning.

significant common meaning for those with no direct

experience of them.
Places are engrained with our memories & provide a
way to concretize memory. Its because we each
have unique & powerful associations with place that
even the least imposing landscapes or locations are
valued by someone.
As place becomes important to us, its loss can be
traumatic.
COGNITIVE IMAGES:
People form cognitive images as a product of
information about the real world, experienced
directly or indirectly, & filtered through their senses,
their personality, & the attitudes & values they have
acquired from their cultural background.
Environments are learned through experience,
cognitive images are changing, each of us
generates & draws on different kinds of cognitive
images in different circumstances.
TOPOPHILIA - Love of place. The emotions &
meanings associated with particular places that have
become significant to individuals.
PLACE MARKETING
The deliberate manipulation of visual & material
culture in an effort to enhance the appeal of places
to key groups.
Places are being reinterpreted, re-imagined,
designed, packaged, & marketed, such that place
has become a valuable commodity while culture has
become an important economic activity.
Manipulation of culture depends on promoting
traditions, lifestyles, & arts that are locally rooted; in
part, it depends on being able to tap into globalizing
culture through new cultural amenities & specially
organized events & exhibitions.

SENSE OF PLACE:
the feelings evoked among people as a result of the
experiences & memories that they associate with a
place, & the symbolism they attach to it.
For insiders, this develop through shared dress
code, speech patterns etc.
For outsiders, details add up to a sense of place
only if they are distinctive enough to evoke a
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