Towards a theory of the landscape: the Aegean landscape as a cultural image

摘要

Seeking to contribute to a theoretical and analytical approach to the study of landscape, this essay offers directions for integrated future research that combine quantitative with qualitative methodologies towards the ultimate goal of landscape planning and policy implementation. Towards this goal, this paper represents an attempt to apply concerns about landscape theory and appropriate methodology on landscape form, function and meaning by delineating a framework of analysis for the Aegean landscape of Greece. Such a challenging goal, however, undertaken here through critical geographical perspectives, should rather be approached on a transdisciplinary basis. The plethora of processes of action and interaction among the various components of a landscape dictate that there are almost no methodological frameworks and tools that are irrelevant to in landscape study, planning, use or policy implementation. If one focuses on characteristics distinctive to the landscape context, however, such as the visual-cognitive-experiential interface and biophysical-human interaction in the landscape, the beginnings of a theory of landscape as a stage set for human life may, thus, be established.