Whats Landscape,The Language of Landscape,Anne WhistonsSpirn

8/12/2019 Whats Landscape,The Language of Landscape,Anne WhistonsSpirn

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But he 35 really inco It . He was in this whole tunas} ,-odd.And no onewas Iookins at tum like he as s t r a n ~ . To me thatwas strange, but nobody else seemed r o ~ or t tA h h o u g h ~ the i d e a o f ~ m k i n g ina place-md ~ h a v i n ga story come 0 y o u ~ fiuniliar phrases, used as ohm by landscape architectS articulating a design process as by the general

public 0 e s r i ~ the meaning or vatU of a landscape. Thesephrases, and their corollaries, beliea distioction berv. een - s p a c e ~and p l a c e , ~ borrow the wordsofgeographer Vi Fu Tuan. Oneis purely physical, while the other has r e l ~ - a n c e and connectionco someone. It is this distinction that d ~ ~ Cooperman 0 situate film in Bryant Park wben she could have JUSt as easilyworic:ed in East RiVet Park or Morningside Park. Brrant Park ismtegraJ to the scoC . Or, foraccuracy, perhaps it is bette r to say that her StOry is integraJ Bryant Park. is a loo5dy defined groupcidw:orist:s and pracmionets woo lookil18 at this ci meaning inbnrical

I ~ ~ I where,like \ ~ r b a l l a n g . J a 8 e , acolYrent structUtt can b< ginto take on meaning. Here Spiro s examples abundant. Shelooks at the politically comentious landscape of Skamling Hilloonh of the Slesvig-Holstein region of Denmark. For dose to a

LITERAL SIC:-:S m tIN landscape providemark( rl andduesabout a culture, such as Trenton, NewJerrey s prouddietumo/mdustry : TRE. TOl\ MAKES, TIiE WORLD TAKES, above. In adfflgn for an W I mt stop, fuR Conu. O I ndMart Schulte-areurmg t word pwnrr to Ilruaurr t rpaa bdcN..


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A. >r.\ E \ H 1 S I O ~ SPIR: , mils I l n ~ n p m J l I f I ~ J U d J flS thISg r O f : ~ o n tkbigb p l a i n r o f C o l c r ~ ordp(1)ntt'%J, u ~t L m i J i 4 ~ o / I l ~ bIJS shmng. panicqw/.tl) In tIN VIIlt

c p u u ~ u IhOng p/mttmg p,fJf:idn . tktml am IlJdJ onto

the purpose c:Jeducating people about th~ v i r o n m e m I 1aw it is sh ped by an imporouuly, how residentS can uthose forces to c h a n ~ It. 1b e idea. hasroots in the phil050phy c:J the Gvil RighMO\ m leflt, ma t lireracy equals empovometlL In this contlCXl:, the Ianguag.e is nor: dlingual pov. tt strueture c:J laws and righbur the spatial povo t f stnJCW e c:J the buenvironment; and the illiteracy Spim hfOund is as much an ignoranceof how lanscape is shaped as it is the misapprehensithat it cannot be refonned in other ways,West Philadelphia, like a lot of pourban areas, -as built in the floodplain.bottomS, ofa w t ~ Although tod

Mill Creek is piped underground, durihard rains it makts appearances odinStreets, b a s c m ~ m s and lots, as

In this context,the languageis not the

lingual powerstructure of lawsbut the spatialpower structureof the builtenvirornnent.

Each a,..h(JlIJt J pla.ltdrwmd uuh IrfCJ. tlx IRIgt oId6tlWl di. Jh ng tIN b6MJtJ.oft ' hlilfgalou1 no . r tho-floor bigh: IrtItS arr plantedOJ dlMtlS 1mf-t from t h e ~Jlraight t tTtifal tnm/u . JharplJmtrOJt 10 the broadbortZ/mtaiJUffp. markillg tnrh a JjJiaipiau. The farmhotlJtJ Jta11dagaimt tht skJ ao/ated, txl. t/Jtff)f'thtHtms. I tltufmklnd uly thtwtlmplamedtrfCJsodlJYtf>-gtJhtrandnearlhe hNdt. a dttail f1IIt rolf IalCb I1Ito. I dril't lJafitou af li thtal)' and t agai.: tht) ta1IWJht IattdJcape. gn't 10the tl JDt1ltSl a 1fnJ.

Ct flfW} me aro was underGetman r u l ~ andthe Danish-speaking populat:ion forbiddmto speak their I a n g ~ ; when finally Iiber in 1945. tbto landscape became ifl UTlediatdy rrinscrilxd \l..ith culrural ~ nby members c:JtheDanish ~ i s t a J n . Todayd r p ~ is rnaJ ki by a memorial, a Singleto\\ ttc:Jsrones. H O \ \ ~ t t the entire region.allandsc:ape c:JSbmlingsb:mke has lxm invested with narionalistic symbolism-thelandscape is no less than a rnt Clphor for Danish pride.Spirn comests [hat, l ike poetry, [h e

meeaphorica.l meamng of landscapes variesin amplitude. Some, l i k ~ Skamling at e OVertor M p o l e n t i c a . l . ~ Others are sulxIer, or whatshe ca IJs deeper, such as me Great Plains c:JAmerica, wIleR the metaphors c:J the landscape ate less rberorica.l. Spim teUs tbto stOtyof coming upon a house in agreat expanse c:J t ~ l e s s plainssomewhere ~ t of llin\ er.Around the ere .e \mvery large rrees planted dose tothe structure to ptO\ lde shelteragainsr rhe unrelenting sun andwind. Bur Spirn also understands this as a structured response, a dialogue, wirh th eMenduring d ~ e p context ofplace. She wmcs;

In th e x a m p l ~ Spim sability to discm1 the syntax rLlandscape--ttS fearures (nouns), procr:sses (\ t tbs), and the principlesgoo.-em.ing the ir mteraction--ll.JJov. S her to pettti e how landsa.pecan ha\ e metaphorica.l or S) mbolic sIgnificance, how it anstand for the mlaCity c : J l i ~ on the Plains.

Alrhough these musings have a lofty and t SOtehc X Ie cothern.one c:JSpim s pnmary interestS is sociological: Iflandscape is lan

g u a ~ what is the stateofliteracy? For the last twelveyearsSpimhas worked wirh residents and studems in [he grirty westernneighl::orOOods c:JPhiladdphia on landscape literacy proiern with

rreates itS natunl 60w, o..v rhe last t h ~ ).ea.tS, a groupsinh, SC mth, aJXl oghth graders at Su1zberger Middle Schohav( \lo llrled with Spim and herstudents in a Universityc:JPmSyl\1U1ia design studio to study and map Mill Creek. They folowed its perambulations from where it runs abo\ e ground,where it descends, where it fioods sewffS, where it serdes in \cant lotS, and where it connectS with and defines the neighbohood. uWle teach t h ~ m how to read landscape of tneighborhood,MsaysSpiro. She also reaches them how to be fem in 1andscape, how to ~ w r i t e ~ landscape; and as pan of th


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In this context,the language

is not thelingual power

structure of lawsbut the spatialpower structure

of the builtenvironment.

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centur}' the area 'asunderGerman r u I ~ andthe D.utish-sptaking populacion forbiddenro sprak chei.r l a n g ~ ; whm finally libattd in 1945. the 1andscape bame i m ~ -diacdy mnscribed with cultural meaningb) mmlbersofthe Danish ~ i s m n - . Toda)'the place is marktd b). a memorial, a S 1 f i g J ~rowerof scones. HO..... the entire' lC'gion.a landscape ofSkamlingsbankt has bn in\ fSted with nationalistic symbolism--(hel n d s ~ is no less than a metaphor for Danish pride.

Spirn comens that, like poetry, th elTlffilphorical meaning of landscapes variesin amplitude. Some,liktSkamling ~ , enor polemical.- Othets ~ subtler. or whatshe caI1s -deqler.- suchas dleGmu PJainsofAmmca, whett the mecapbor.sof the land-scape are less rhetorical. Spim tells the stOI1of coming upon a ~ in agrett expaIR of f ~ l e s s plainssomewhere east of Denver.Around the \ \ n C 5e \ t t a.I\ el')' large tnoes plamtd close rothe Structure ro prCl\ ide shelteragainst the unrelenting sun andwind. But Spi rn also understands this as a Structured reo

s p o n ~ a d i a l o g u ~ . with th e-enduring deep context ofplace.- She writes:

Each lannhtulJt pla.ltd,. Jurrhlrrttl, rhtlutgtWkrtnllS ditRlnishing tM hoI/HI.o/fttl Imtlgalou'S .., RttJn lhanOttt floor high: lrt l mrplanlttlas dtMas 1mfr f r r h e ~ .Jlraight ,rrtical tnmks tl f sharproRrraSllfJ the broad hor,zontalIUn:P. markitlg tach a spialpiau. The armhfJlIltS sta1ldagaiwt tIN skj. isdattd. txaptfiw r ~ lrt l luttdmrandubJ lINMulm plaRrttl trm J } dON tt;gtthtr aminwr tIN xJJm. a ddail } tCOli larch jIlr .. I drit t ha


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The postmodem debunking of the validity of texts needs towork he srudefUS have' also generartd. ideas for new landscapes,including a design for a minigolfpuk that karum the creek aspart airs program. According toSpim d l t ~ s gro-...jng supportfor the idra arxl it looks as dIough Mill Cr:k Mini-Golfmightactually be built. te.aching the kids to OQ only know theplace they in, but o ~ v s o n ~ n kam how roidfcet

c h a n ~ .. .how ro be dftivecirizms. MSpim says that \\-uKing on landscape literacy is important inplaces likeWest Philadelphia, where pcwt rty and abandonmemhave broken down the community in ways d1at laws and rights

aloneare simply pov.mess to deal with. Landscape a r c h i [ ~she says, is opportundy positioned to mah piaces that can -create kJo,' ' and COlllleCtKJnM withina rommuniry f o r a ~ . h is exciting think about the I a n d s c a ~ that R:Sidenu ofWcstPtubddphia might create -ere thqempov. t rM mOOso. Whatvocabulary ,-ou..Id dle} ~ How would they StructUre theirIandsc:ape phrases? What stories v,.'ould they tdPAs much as West Philadelphia begs ans to these ques

tions. r Lttino rl ighborhoods of Los Angeles literally bubbleforth with them. In a current exhibition of photographs tidedEl Nuevo Mundo, the sociologist and photographer

Camillo Jose Vergara explores the rapidly changingneighborhoodsofeast and south Los Angeles. What Vergara found in LosAngeleswas nol the palm-lined boulevards of film and telt ision bu t rh(- duSty front yards,murals, and urban gardensofa Tijuana or a Mexico City.Rather than living within the imitation McditenaneaJla heric olaIlBlo Los Angdes,Winos ~ I y from Mexico, have ~ r e a c e d the I.andscape with a vocabulary and

~ o ~ .\1\ STREET f f ~ ~ is J1 tty MIlCh m ~ Y n ~ Jy. sbusinm, UJs F.IItn4 WllWms, studmt t S U ~Muidk SdJooi W< ft PhtLuk/ph1tl For W,J1U1ms, block o/UnionStrt, leEr is L : m t f s a ~ 0/douhk DutchandOlb gfJmn noS] neigbbors and ronllfJnl struggkwltb speeding cars. Anotlxrhome L:mdsmpe StoningtonHarbor ConnllCUt above, p r o t J r d ~ s ronnectlon with thepilst and bulu.vJr e against nrCTOtJdJlng r o m m ~ l i s m


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weighed against two millennia of moral philosophy.palette that is rJ l le familiar fO them. Murals of di e Virgin ofGuadelupe prtdo rninat Vergara s images, ohm rombinrd withmutal likt: a d ~ i s e m e n l lOr 10cal bosinesse5---Qmnmon practice in Mairo writtm completdy in Spanish. ResKJential gar4dens also rdlect a conscious desire ro recreatC a homesoum ofchrbotdn within the Los Angdes comot. Take. fOr instanCe a manknown simply as Vincente who Vergaro. encountered in his frootyard where he had covered the din w ir h a neat matrix ofcon-crete. When presSl, Vincente explains that he has severalgrmdchildren and a dog and that rather than have rodeal wjtha muddy yard after rain he s convertedto hardscape. A garden ofseveral dozenhanging potS surrounds his porch,adding color to {he live ly a nd warmlandscape. ~ e o p l e are used 0 seeingCalifornia in a urtain way says Vet-

FOR SPlRN 1M l i l g u a ~ 0/ b l 1 d s a J ~ iJmost n:iJe J in dmgnd uorks tISwtJh tJ /ina u 1OUght 1M Iaym {17fN/fing Juai1ra and tkvdcptJ

S k potnls to Richtzrd Haag s BIoftki IlfUi FotnI Cmtn ymSrockhoImbelow. 4I t XJlmpln 0/tinlflls thturo~ u t wm tonaivtJ tl produasO/

l t m g ~ A/t6 mJdmg tiN{ 0/GoatRsxJe mowtlllm dmtbm tmlJN10

~ - o / > k t I a . , .

gam. BUt winos in Los Angeles] sum ming lhis Wap a r a d ~ ofgtem grass and lemon treeS.

During his work on EI NtJeYO Mundo, Vergara cravded roMteo and brought along some ofhis phocographs to show pooWhen he pasemod a phorograt:h ofa home that- had been adornwith murals and larm ofcoI01fu1 plXtod plana to a restaurowner in Tijuana, the restaurateur rmurked, 01bey do this 50rxx ro feel nosr:algia for theircounuy, their rowns their friends. 0anothercase, Vergara showed a picture he d taken ofa tire shopSouth Unual Los Angeles to a Mexican. ComimmJon Pagt

1851


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Language of LandscapeCmlimm/rwt ge 65) Th e exterior ofbuilding was covered in muralsadvenisingthe shop s services. This is a hardworkingperson someone with imagi- n a t i o n , ~ he re-sponded, easily reading the Mexicanizedlandscape ofLos Angeles. In Spim s wordsVergara s photographs show how the immigrants of lDi Angeles are using thegramma r an d synrax of their native land [remake the Iandscl pe

Manhew Poneiger wishes we wouldtalk about stOries ramer than language perse. In their book, Landscape N a a l i t ~ john \ ~ I e y Sons, 1998) Poneiger, aprofessor of landscape architecture at theSnue University of Ne w York-Syracuse,and his coauthor, Jamie Purinton, writeabout the variety of stories that are communicated by the landscape. Like Spim,Poneiger and Purinton write about boththe structure of landscapeand the humanmeaning ascribed to it as literate Structures, or Stories. P(){teiger says that in re-searching the book he interviewed dozensof people and posed the simple request:

~ T e l l me the Storyof this place. The conversation that ensued might cover history,a story about something that happenedhere; o r m ay be th e person would talkabom how the landscape changes over theseason, what she notices about thedimateand th e wildlife, or even something asnebulous as the shifting panems of light;or maybe the conversation would veer into m yt h o r spirituality, a belief that thelandscape is dear to one s h ea n o r that itpossesses a soul.

Potteiger s methodology of soliciting s [ Q r i e s ~ abom landscape should be fa-miliar to any landscape architect who hasb ee n i nv ol ve d in a public charreneprocess, ror what inevitablycomes to lightin these processes are the stories that theresidents of a panicular place tell abomthat place. A haJlmark of the profession senlightenment has been the emphasis onnO{ only gathering these stories bu t designing with them. Potteiger applaudsthis development, which he says helps tocreate better designs, ones that provide astrong and valid relationship betweenusers and a p l a c ~ . You hear designers complain \ ~ 1 1 people ge t it? .. . 1 think thereal question is Can we get it?

A popuJar trend nowadays is toattemptto tell these stories of a community literally, by using acruaJ text in landscapes. A


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short ist ofprojens that haveappeared inLands


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Language of Landscapecliche, says Spiro. But Conway believesverbal language, if used rightly, can be auseful device in design because rather thanexplaining, language creates ambiguity,complexity, and hence wonder. I f we re-citea poem twice weget a different meaning says Conway. . . tr has to do wit hwonder. We re looking for the possibilities in language, and in that sense we relooking for the possibilities in landscape.

Conway s view of language reAects apostmodemist interest in subjectivity ndthe relativity of meaning qualities that reembodied in the theory of poststructuralism. A literary theory birthed inFrench linguistics poscstrucruralismholds that language is an artificial Structure applied [ the world tather than derived from it, that words and the thingsthey signifY renot narutally connected,In a n d c a ~ Narratlt tS Potreiget andPurineon refer an example from Ferdinand de Saussure, in which he demonStrated how there is nothing inherentlytree-like in the word ttee. This simpleidea has grown and expanded over theninety years from when it was first uttered and in its wake i t has spawnedcountless deconstruCtionist worksmosdy the effect of making us uncertain ofwhat we re reading. sinterpretedan d transmuted by Roland BanhesJacques Derrida Julia Krisceva an dcountless other academicians, poststructutalism has pervaded almost every discipline going beyond th e boundaries ofliterary theory to ha\ e a profound effecton the social sciences. The connectionswith the language of landscape reobvious for there may be no more subjectiveexperience than t ha t o f landscape. Likelanguage, each person may re d differenttypes and levels ofmeaning intodifferemland= .The question that has plagued poststructuralism is the question of universalism: s the text that I re d the same as thetext you read? \ Qimout universalism, whois [ say there is any text at all? There areonly readers ndtheir subjective readings.The same problem existS in landscape,which people seem to view in different\\faYS. The question is fl { whether peopleha\ ( differentexperiencesof1andscape-itis assumed they do--but whether theyre d those landscape experiences in a waythat might construe a common language?


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to unckrsmnd ,-hat garnet schisc is to und ~ t s t ; ; l n d how m ~ t a m o r p h i c geologyoccurs. and fO perhaps ( l m h a \ ~ amerlOll

i m a ~ ofwhat these things look like, sas c i ~ n t i s t Pearson can d i s s o l v ~ herscription into parricular signs that areshared among a group-sciemists, Land-scape architects do this all the time whenthey design to a particularcontextand attempe to tell Stories that perhapsonlycals will truly understand. story mightgo like this My fa-ther li\'es in che prttty lutk c w s t a l ~ I 1 ofStonington, Connecticut. E \ ~ t y day he

d r i ~ duuugh r hilly woodlands hisway to work and he IlO{Keli r details ofthe la:ndscape, r dense decKluous \\ OCllk,r oa:asionaI dearing. and r ubiquitouS

s o o n ~ w a l l s that divided r land intoparcds. lkyremind mecifiums,M hesays.Theytake me back to earl iergenerations,which issomerhing my mind loves towander back to . This pan: of Connecticut hasexperienced great change in recent years,

There m y be no moresubjective experience thanth t ofumdscape klanguage each person mayread different types ndleveLs ofmeaning intodifferent landscopes

Thr best answer to chis question depends00 whethera Story is panicu.laror genera.l.A panicular Story might go l i k ~ this.

~ Pcanoo is a groIogisc in San Francisrowhospendsa lot of time rock climbing In NortMrn California_ Onr ofMr

f a \ O r i t ~ spots is a p l a c ~ called Goat Rocklocated in B o d ~ g a Bay, a c o u p l ~ hoursnorth of tM city Goat Rock is Dot a chal-lenging p l a c ~ to climb, bu t Pemon likesit bause as a reward at the end ofclimbshe is treated [ a magnificent viewof the Pacific Ocean. When she describesthis 1andsc.1pe, she talks about the smallbits of shiny-m: . garnet schist that coverche rock and that td l a story about cheex metarnClrphic processes that formedthe S t o ~ To unckrstand tM SfO ) . onends panicular k n o w l e d ~ ofgeology-


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Language of Landscape

This 111111n/6 1\lauhtu. POlltig u ; curaftan exhibition wltd Storied Land: LandscapcJ Nar aU\c.lArt at Iht Slone Qua..,.,H i ll A n Park. CazmtJl1a Ntu. York 315-655 3196J. EI Nuevo Mundo u ; br r- im Jl l I t 29-Srplt ,kr 5. 1999 i NtuYri CiI ill ,htCooptrHm.,n NationalCN-Jigrt AIMJOlll 212-860-6890).

structure Anne' Whiston Spim raisrsthis question o:plicidy in her book. al-hough it SffiS laden in most e\-ef}' landscape design that attcmpt'S t be goodand beautiful in general terms, to appealto morc than just a single ~ r s Otgroup. Lke Conway, Spim sees th e language of 1andscaJ'(' as an o c p a n s i ~ forcc,ont that conJlt'Ct'S and IOtl lTeWes in surprising ways, MLanguagc is what linksWest Philadelphia to SOffit of the grel f1andscaJ'(' projts of the world-ForestCemetery in Stockholm, or the Bloedc:l

R r s e n ~ saysSpim. u.sc eheword Ianguagt deliberately. \'

Whats Landscape,The Language of Landscape,Anne WhistonsSpirn

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