1st Edition
Routes, Roads and Landscapes
Routes and roads make their way into and across the landscape, defining it as landscape and making it accessible for many kinds of uses and perceptions. Bringing together outstanding scholars from cultural history, geography, philosophy, and a host of other disciplines, this collection examines the complex entanglement between routes and landscapes. It traces the changing conceptions of the landscape from the Enlightenment to the present day, looking at how movement has been facilitated, imagined and represented and how such movement, in turn, has conditioned understandings of the landscape. A particular focus is on the modern transportation landscape as it came into being with the canal, the railway, and the automobile. These modes of transport have had a profound impact on the perception and conceptualization of the modern landscape, a relationship investigated in detail by authors such as Gernot Böhme, Sarah Bonnemaison, Tim Cresswell, Finola O'Kane, Charlotte Klonk, Peter Merriman, Christine Macy, David Nye, Vittoria Di Palma, Charles Withers, and Thomas Zeller.
Biography
Brita Brenna, Associate Professor, University of Oslo, Norway, Beate Elvebakk, Senior Researcher, Norwegian Institute of Transport Economics, Norway, Mari Hvattum, Professor, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway and Janike Kampevold Larsen, Post Doc, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway
'The most immediately obvious aspect about Routes, Roads and Landscapes is its stunning presentation with many incredibly interesting coloured prints of old art, maps and contemporary photographs (in fact more than 90 figures). The text is just as engaging... The multidisciplinary approach to thinking more deeply about canals, railway, the highway, the interstate, the motorway, tunnels, tourist routes and parkways is refreshing and absorbing... scholars from many disciplines will enjoy it.' New Zealand Geographer 'This is an excellent book. It not only introduces the reader to the state-of-the-art in the cultural history of roads, it also opens the field by linking it to art history, geography, philosophy, sociology, literary theory, science and technology studies, and architectural history... this is not only a book that assembles excellent materials for a course reader. It further presents in a stimulating way the potential of a multifaceted history of technology to show the ways in which movement and mobility have for centuries informed people's perception of the world around them.' Technology & Culture '... this thoroughly engaging and meticulously researched text provides a wide ranging and admirably cross-disciplinary understanding of how landscapes have been witnessed, interpreted, and represented by the moving subject.' Journal of Historical Geography '... a fascinating read covering a broad range of topics... It will particularly appeal to those who like to experiment and step outside of their disciplinary comfort zone. The book is wonderfully presented in hard cover and each chapter is beautifully illustrated with figures presumably painstakingly dug out of the archives.' Journal of Transport Geography 'This is a wonderful book! It is richly illustrated with color plates. Its multi-disciplinary approach makes it much more informative than other works dealing with transportation and human experience.' International Social Science Review 'Routes, Road
