Redefining urban landscape regarding scientific realism philosophy of science

Abstract

The concept of urban landscape faces many complexities and ambiguities. These ambiguities lead to misunderstandings between academic sources and professional society. The “scape” and “landscape” terms also have changed from their origin. The term of “image” and concept of legibility makes it more complex. There are some disciplines referring to the concept of urban landscape. Each of these disciplines knows itself as the responsible of the urban landscape. This article tries to review the various literature of these two concepts counting the complexities of these terms and then presents new definition for them. This article tries to review various notions about urban landscape and image through content analysis and library studies. Urban landscape of each city is the emergence of reality of that city. It could not be reduced to an objective issue, neither is it subjective being shaped separate from objective one. Urban landscape has been judged by dominant philosophies of science in specific time. This research tries to go behind the various definition of urban landscape which have been presented in different time. After that, it provides a new framework through ¨scientific realism¨. From the scientific realism point of view, previous definition reduces the anthology of urban landscape to its epistemology. According to this approach, mechanisms should be considered in presenting a new framework. According to critical realism and regarding Lefebvre’s reading of phenomenological materialism and by using Lefebvre’s production space theory and influential forces in semiotic dimension of urban landscape, a new theoretical framework could be suggested.