Inspiring deep emotion, landscape carries many meanings. This book follows the development of several threads of the concept of landscape as they have evolved across disciplines and across countries, leading to the European Landscape Convention and the designation of cultural landscapes as World Heritage Sites. The book introduces the key notions of landscape, such as landscape as meaning, as picture, as scale, as scenery and as place. It also considers the various factors which influence the way in which landscape is perceived now and in the past, with all of the senses. Finally, it looks of the various ways of protecting, managing and enhancing the landscape, taking into account a future of climate change. Beautifully illustrated and including 'capsules' in each section which provide fascinating insights into subjects from reading pictures, to mapping and GIS, through a discussion of the range of types of landscape to issues such as eco-museums, this book provides an excellent introductory overview for any students with an interest in the landscape around us.
Biography
Peter Howard is a geographer who studied at Newcastle and later at Exeter. He taught landscape ideas to students of art and design, and later ran degree courses in landscape and heritage, at Plymouth University. He is now Visiting Professor of Cultural Landscapes at Bournemouth, and is editor of the Landscape Research journal.
’Howard provides ample insight into the complexities and contradictions of landscape, for designers in the role of enhancers, to invest their practices with new creative approaches from an informed contemporary perspective.’ Garden Design Journal 'In the Aotearoa context it would be an excellent introductory text for students of landscape in any discipline, and equally would be highly informative for anyone who would like an introduction to the ’richness of the present confusion’ (p.1) in landscape studies. Howard’s very accessible book can help us all better understand the landscapes we love, why we love them and why others might care differently about them.' New Zealand Geographer 'An Introduction to landscape attempts to cover a vast interdisciplinary maze with erudition; and many readers, both students of landscape-related disciplines and the general reader who is seeking to better understand the physical world around them and how it has been represented, will find many thought provoking and stimulating ideas here.' Australian Archaeology
