Considerações sobre o conceito de paisagem

Abstract

Conceptions about landscape come together in human life, since mankind's existence has always depended on his relationship with nature. However, the expression of a landscape concept took some time, and its first concrete manifestation came through arts, both in Eastern and Western civilization. In ancient times, an environment out of human control was seen as a hostile element, so, there were closed gardens, built to enjoy plants, birds and leisure time. In the West, ideas and systematic studies started with Humboldt, who considered landscape to be a result of complex interactions between natural and human elements. Discussions would continue about the concept and evolving method for landscape studies, with an emphasis on geomorphology, or on vegetation, or on land use, or another aspect. There was a trend toward specialisation in the 60's research, and Bertrand defined landscape as a dynamic and unstable combination of physical, biological and anthropic factors. In contemporary western geography, landscape is a visual product of interaction between natural and social elements. As landscape occupies space, it can be mapped by different scales and classified according to a particular method or an element of its totality Landscape is not the same as space, but part of it; something like a parameter or multidimensional measure of spatial analysis.