Manifestations of Relationship

"Real isn't how you are made. It is a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time... then you become real."

The Velveteen Rabbit, Watership Down.

Humans are programmed to form relationships.

North Americans' understanding of the term “relationship” can be defined as a correlation, kinship or the way we regard or behave toward each other.

Humans are programmed to form a variety of relationships.  These include:  pleasant acquaintances you greet regularly on the street, respectful interactions forged at work, supportive friendships developed over time, bonds of family members and the hopeful spark of loving attraction.  All these relationships have a role to play in forming our understanding of our place in the world.

Cultural Landscapes are the manifestation of intimate human relationships with the environment. The outward manifestations of these relationships, provide insight into ideas, beliefs, and philosophical paradigms of the community that shaped them. Cultural Landscapes are physical narratives of our culture and reflect our collective identity. 

Categories of Cultural Landscapes

Cultural Landscapes cover a wide range of ways we relate to our environment. They define our relationship to our surroundings over time and across the globe. The Cultural Landscape Foundation fits our interactions into four basic categories: Designed Landscapes, Vernacular Landscapes, Ethnographic Landscapes and Historical Site Landscapes.

Designed Landscapes

Piet Oudolf's private garden, Hummelo, NL.

Designed Landscapes are those intentionally created by man. This includes gardens and parks. They may be created by trained professionals using design principles or by amateur working with recognized styles.

Vernacular Landscapes

Kensington Market, Toronto, CA.

Vernacular Landscapes are occupied by people whose
everyday activities organically cause the landscape to evolve. The landscape can be used to interpret the physical, biological, and cultural character of the culture. Vernacular Landscapes fall into two sub-categories:

•  A landscape that has distinguishing features that are evidence of a past interaction with the everyday life of an absent culture.
•  A landscape associated with the traditional way of life that is still actively evolving with the living society over time.

518 Alto Street, New Mexico, US.

Ethnographic Landscapes

Ethnographic Landscapes are those that contain significant natural and cultural resources. These resources are significant to people of the region, who value their religious, artistic, or cultural associations.

Historic Site Landscapes

The Mackenzie King Estate, Ottawa, CA.

Landscapes of Historic Sites can be an integral part of past events, activities, or person.

The Mobius Nature of Landscape

"River landscape with Riders." Aelbert Cuyp, 1655.

What does the word “landscape” mean? The term does not refer to simply natural elements or to just to the physical space around us.

"The Mill at Wijk near Duurstede."
Jacob van Ruisdael, 1670

The term originated in the 16^th century.  “Lantskap” is a Dutch term used by painters to describe artists’ perceptions of their surroundings. Landscape is established when human perception looks beyond itself, to discover a moment of recognition that shapes our identity. It represents the interface between human thought, actions, and the biophysical. Landscape is never static!

I find it interesting that the very etymology of landscape is engrained with human’s influences upon nature. The term originated in the Netherlands, which is a landform that exists because of human engineering. The term in its very nature implies a unit of human occupation and integration within our environment.

Möbius strip.

Landscape encompasses the interaction between: ecology, time, and culture. The interwoven natural and human processes, both intentional and accidental, that create distinctive patterns on the world's surface. Studying the patterns of interaction shed light upon our individual values and cultural attitudes. Our identity is formed by the möbius nature of landscape. Place shapes culture, meanwhile as Simon Schama put it, "everything in nature is imprinted by our tenacious obsessions." Exploring our relationship with landscape is an invitation for self-reflection.

A prairie girl's first introduction to the North Sea off the coast of Holland.