Human geography6

Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context, 5e

Chapter 6: Interpreting Places & Landscapes

Paul L. Knox & Sallie A. Marston

PowerPoint Author: Keith M. Bell

OverviewThis chapter focuses on how individuals and societies perceive their environment. Different individuals and different groups of people will perceive their landscape and environment differently, and this in turn will shape attitudes and behaviors. Landscapes are symbolic places, full of coded meanings that can be read and interpreted. Likewise, landscapes can be written, and meanings can be encoded into them. The concepts of landscape as text, sense of place, and semiotics are all closely related ideas that reflect landscape creation and interpretation. This chapter examines different kinds of landscapes and the kind of attachment people have to them. The chapter also covers the transition between Modernity and Postmodernity, and how landscape fits into these two different worldviews.

Chapter Objectives

• The objectives of this chapter are to illustrate:– How different groups of people experience

landscape and place differently– How ordinary landscapes differ from symbolic

landscapes– How all landscapes can be understood

Chapter Outline

• Behavior, Knowledge, and Human Environments (p. 216)– How do people perceive

the environment?• Place-Making (p. 218)

– Territoriality– Cognitive images– How cognitive images

shape behavior• Landscape As a Human

System (p. 225)– Kinds of landscapes– Landscape as text

• Coded Spaces (p. 228)– Semiotics: the science of

signs– Symbolic landscapes– Sacred spaces

• Place and Space in Modern Society (p. 233)– Effects of globalization on

place-making– Places as objects of

consumption– Place marketing

• Conclusion (p. 245)

Geography Matters

• 6.1 Geography Matters—Jerusalem, the Holy City (p. 234)– Historical and cultural geography of a sacred space

• 6.2 Geography Matters—The Cultural Geography of Cyberspace (p. 237)– Impacts of the internet on place

• 6.3 Window on the World—Slow Cities (p. 238)– The “slow cities” movement in Italy and the rejection of American

influences

• 6.4 Visualizing Geography—Place Marketing and Economic Development (p. 242)– How Portsmouth, England, has remade its image

Interpreting Places and Landscapes

Geographers seek to understand how the environment shapes (and is shaped by)

people, as well as indentify how it is perceived and understood by people.

The language in which a landscape is written is a kind of code, and includes

signs that direct our attention toward certain features and away from others.

The written code of language is also known as semiotics, which reveals

important information about a place.

Different cultural identities and status categories influence the ways people

experience and understand their environments.

Landscape serves as a kind of archive of society, and it reflects our culture and

society.

Globalization has occurred in parallel with a transition from modernity to

postmodernity.

Conflicting Environmental Perceptions

Human cognition and behavior are at the center of psychology. What makes environmental knowledge and behavior uniquely geographical is their relation to both the environmental context and the humans who struggle to understand and operate within it.

Behavior, Knowledge, and Human Environments

How do children acquire knowledge about their environments? How do boys differ from girls in the ways they learn about and negotiate their environments? What kind of knowledge do they acquire, and how do they use it?

Globalization Reshapes Lives

What happens when globalization reshapes the agricultural production system, as it did for these girls and their village, when irrigated cash-crop cultivation was introduced?

Place-Making• Ethology: the study of the formation and evolution

of human customs and beliefs

• Proxemics: the study of the social and cultural meaning that people give to personal space

• Territoriality– The regulation of social interaction– The regulation of access to people and resources– The provision of a focus and symbol of group

membership and identity

The Formation of Cognitive Images

People form cognitive images as a product of information about the real world, experienced directly and indirectly, and filtered through their senses, brain, personality, and the attitudes and values they have acquired from their cultural background.

Place: Experience and Meaning• People tend to organize their cognitive images in

terms of several simple elements:– Paths—the channel along which people move

– Edges—barriers that separate one area from another

– Districts—areas with identifiable character that people may “enter” and “leave”

– Nodes—strategic points and foci for travel

– Landmarks—physical reference points

Images of Los Angeles from residents of different socio-economic neighborhoods.

Preference Map of the United States

Why do you think people have a “high” preference for urban areas such as New York or San Francisco and a “low” preference for places in the upper Midwest? How are places perceived, and are these perceptions accurate?

Risk-Taking

Cautious persons tend to overestimate the consequences of a loss while underestimating the consequences of a gain. What type of person are you? Why do you think you are this way, and how do you think you got this way?

Landscape as a Human System

• Derelict landscapes have experienced abandonment, misuse, disinvestment, or vandalism.

• Symbolic landscapes represent particular values or aspirations that the builders/financiers want to impart to a larger public.

– Clockwise photos (top, left): Colosseum, Rome; Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio; Big Ben, London; Eiffel Tower, Paris

• Ordinary (or vernacular) landscapes are created by people in the course of their daily lives.

Ordinary Landscapes• Ordinary landscapes are instruments of

social and cultural power that naturalize political-economic structures as if they were simply given and inevitable.

• The landscapes of contemporary American suburbia have naturalized an ideology of competitive consumption, moral minimalism, and disengagement from notions of social justice and civil society.

– HBO: The Sopranos, Weeds, Big Love

• The humanistic approach places the individual at the center of analysis, an extension of Carl Sauer’s concept of the cultural landscape.

American Suburb: Vulgaria• Landscapes of bigness and ostentation, characterized by:

– Packaged developments– Simulated settings– Conspicuous consumption

• These are conservative utopias of themed and fortified subdivisions of private master-planned developments.

• They are landscapes of casual vulgarity, dominated by a presumed reciprocity between size and social supremacy.

Semiotics in LandscapeThe Forums Mall, Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas: Casinos have invested heavily in creating opulent malls that are situated close to the gaming rooms. Developers know that consumer behavior is heavily conditioned by the spatial organization and physical appearance. It is all about ambience.

Semiotics in Landscape

Brasilia: Costa’s master plan Brasilia: Niemeyer’s creation

Sacred Spaces

Myit Aiya pagoda: Bago, BurmaBlack Hills: South Dakota, United States

Sacred spaces are segregated, dedicated, and hallowed sites that are maintained. Believers recognize sacred spaces a being endowed with divine meaning.

Sacred Spaces

Hindustan Lourdes, France

Sacred Space: Mecca

Islam, like all faiths, has sacred spaces, but none of these sites occur naturally; rather they are assigned sanctity through the values and belief systems of particular groups or individuals. They rise above the commonplace and interrupt the ordinary routine. Two million Muslims make the hajj to Mecca annually.

Jerusalem: The Holy City

A shared city Dome of the Rock

Jerusalem is a contested city, both in time and place. Why is it so important for people, religions, and cultures to control this particular spot? How does place validate cultural identity? Can humans divest themselves of place?

Fast Cities vs. Slow Cities

Canary Wharf, London, England Abbiategrasso, Italy

The Docklands are now recognized as the largest urban redevelopment scheme in the world. It boasts millions of square feet of office and retail space. But some places, like Abbiategrasso, oppose such changes in consumerism (e.g., the McDonaldization of local landscapes). They now practice a slower lifestyle.

Places as Objects of ConsumptionThe Buddakan reveals the synthesis of both the global and the local (sometimes referred to as glocalism). Restaurants themselves can be both theater and performance—particularly in big cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.

Landscape of PostmodernityPiazza d’Italia, New Orleans: Some of the most striking post modern landscapes are to be found in the redeveloped waterfronts, revitalized downtown shopping districts, and neotraditional suburbs of major cities.

Harborplace, Baltimore, United States

Harborplace in Baltimore has become one of the best-known examples of the kind of large, mixed-use developments that industrial cities have sponsored in an effort to bolster their image and attract tourists and shoppers.

Portsmouth, England, and Economic Development

Portsmouth has been England’s principal naval port and dockyard

since the reign of Henry VIII.

The growth of the dockyard fueled the development of the city, helping to

create a specialized economy based on marine engineering.

Portsmouth’s economy included a lucrative resort and recreation function

during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, but faced challenges

from warmer Mediterranean climes.

A focused tourist industry based on Portsmouth’s naval history has been developed, replete with a conference

center, shops, cafes, hotels, and viewing terraces for maritime events.

Portsmouth, England

The Mary Rose “King Henry VIII”

Marketing Military History in Portsmouth

D-Day Museum Royal Marines Museum

Portsmouth was the main port of departure for Allied forces invading German-held France on D-Day. A D-Day Museum and statuary reinforce the city’s emerging identity as a specialized heritage site.

End of Chapter 6

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

• Have the class give examples of ordinary, symbolic, and derelict landscapes in the local community. What characteristics make these landscapes ordinary, symbolic, or derelict? Do all the students agree on the particular classification of a given landscape? Why might there be differences of opinion?

– Ordinary landscapes are those everyday landscapes that people create in the course of their lives. Symbolic landscapes are those that represent particular values that the builders and financiers of those landscapes want to impart to a larger public. Derelict landscapes are those that have experienced abandonment or decay. Whereas there is probably little dispute over identifying ordinary landscapes, students may have differing opinions about what is symbolic and derelict. See pages 225–228 in the textbook for more information.

State 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

AL II I III I I II IIII

AK II II III II I

AZ IIIIIII I II III

III II III III

In each cell list the number of responses for that ranking. In the example above, two students ranked Alabama as their first choice, one ranked it second best, three ranked it third best, and so forth.

Then make another table to calculate the weightings:

State 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

(10) (9) (8) (7) (6) (5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

AL 2/20 1/9 3/24 1/7 1/5 2/8 4/12 85

AK 2/18 2/14 3/18 2/10 1/8 68

AZ 4/40 2/27 1/8 2/14 4/24 2/10 2/16 3/6 3/3 148

Conduct a preference study—creating a mental map—about where the students would like to live in the United States. Give the students a list of the 50 states, and then have them list their top ten states in which to live, in rank order (assuming that their standard of living would be the same in any state). Then have them list their bottom ten states, again in rank order. Make a table with ten columns (one for each ranking) and 50 rows (one for each state). The illustration below is a sample showing only the first three states:

In this table, the number before the slash is the number of responses for that ranking, copied from the first table. The number after the slash is the number of responses multiplied by the weighting (the number in parentheses in the second row), so that two responses for Alabama as a first choice totals 20 (2x10), one response for Alabama as a second choice totals 9 (1x9), three responses for Alabama as a third choice equals 24 (3x8), and so forth. The final column gives the sum of the weightings (the numbers after the slash). In the example above, Alabama had a weighted positive response of 85, Alaska of 68, and Arizona of 148. Do the exact same thing for the students’ bottom choices of states to live in. Then add the two sum totals for each state together. Some states will have a positive final score (more liked than disliked), and some states will have a negative final score (more disliked than liked). Then scale the totals so that the lowest score (biggest negative number) is equal to zero, and the highest score (biggest positive number) is equal to 100. Any state with a scaled score of 0–20 is low, meaning that the students perceive these states very negatively. Any state with a scaled score of 80–100 is high, meaning that the students perceive these states very positively. States with scaled scores between 40–60 are neutral, meaning that students did not care one way or another, or that positive and negative responses cancelled each other out.Then get a blank map of the United States and write in the final score for each state on its place on the map. You may then color or shade the map to indicate high and low responses as a choropleth map, or draw isolines between scores (as in Figure 6.18, which ranks cities, not states) to create an isoline map. Have the students discuss their class response to the survey. Typically students will view their own state very highly. For more information and for comparisons with other states, see Mental Maps, 2nd edition, by Peter Gould and Rodney White (London: Routledge, 1992) or contact the author of this Instructor’s Manual.

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

• Using the information on coded spaces (pages 228–230 of the textbook), have the students investigate a local shopping mall. What kinds of signs are visible in the mall? What kinds of images did the writers of these signs attempt to create? Are alternative readings or interpretations possible?

– This question introduces ideas of symbolic landscapes, landscape as text, and semiotics. See pages 228–229 in the textbook for a discussion of shopping malls.

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

• Are there any sacred spaces in the local community? How do you know that they are sacred? What makes these spaces different from ordinary or profane spaces?

– The sacredness of spaces may be a matter of one’s own beliefs, though we may also recognize the sacred spaces of others. Be aware that sacred spaces are not always human constructions such as churches, temples, or cemeteries, but may also be natural sites.

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

• What tourist attractions does the local community possess? What makes these places of interest to tourists? Do these tourist places symbolize something else?

– You may consult tourist brochures, travel guides, and the local tourist office to see what local places are marketed. A semiological approach may be useful in making sense of what makes places touristic. Two articles by Michael Pretes, “Postmodern Tourism: The Santa Claus Industry,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 1–15, 1995, and “Tourism and Nationalism,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 125–142, 2003, may be of use.

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

• What is meant by the terms Modernity and Postmodernity? How are these concepts reflected in landscape? What examples of Modern and Postmodern landscapes can be found in the local community? What makes them Modern and Postmodern? Does there appear to be a transition from one to another?

– Modernity as a philosophy emphasizes reason, scientific rationality, creativity, novelty, and progress. These values are reflected in landscapes, especially via architecture and urban planning. The city was understood as “a machine for urban living,” and principles of efficiency and order were important. Postmodernity as a philosophy is open to a range of perspectives and rejects ideas of progress. Postmodern architecture is often characterized by playful ornamentation as well as an absence of innovation—Postmodern buildings often recycle, mix, and blend earlier styles into a pastiche and may also include nostalgic elements. See pages 233–238 in the textbook for further information.

Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes

• How is the Internet shaping the globalization of culture?

– The Geography Matters 6.2 boxed text provides a starting point for this discussion. You can also have the students search the Internet for evidence of globalization trends.