LANDSCAPE AUTHENTICITY THE LANDSCAPE AS A LIVING SYSTEM, HISTORY AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Landscape authenticity relates to spatial quality and identity. Orientation in time and space are relevant, as are beauty, (multi)functionality, ecological variation and coherence. Owing to the diversity of connections and interactions between these aspects, landscape authenticity is a complex matter. This article contends that landscape authenticity can be understood by looking at the landscape as an integrated whole: as a living system, as history and as spatial experience. The landscape changes even without human intervention. The legibility of the landscape is crucial to how it is perceived and valued. The role of time is obvious and is characterized by a selective and incremental process whereby some structures endure and are adapted, while others make way for new structures. Landscape authenticity is not about fossilizing the landscape: a landscape cannot be preserved unchanged given that it is itself the outcome of continuous transformation. Understanding the evolution of the landscape is therefore just as important as the visible result.