An Attempt to Classify the Landscapes of the USSR

The author, who regards landscapes as physical terrain types rather than as regional units, briefly surveys previous approaches to landscape classification and offers his own classification scheme. The scheme is based on a major division of all landscapes into plains (lowland and upland) and mountain types (distinguished by vertical zonality). Within the classification, soils and bioclimatic criteria are used to determine the upper rungs of the hierarchy, and geological and geomorphic criteria are taken into account mainly at the lower levels.     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE WEST SIBERIAN PLAIN

The various types of natural landscapes of West Siberia are analyzed in terms of the environmental impacts of the more common forms of human activity. These are natural gas extraction and reindeer herding in the northern tundra; oil extraction and logging in the middle taiga, and agriculture as well as manufacturing in the southern wooded steppe and steppe. The impacts of human activity on specific natural processes (cryogenesis, bog formation, salinization) are discussed. The territory of West Siberia is broken down into three types of environmental impact regions: regions of significant impacts (from oil and gas extraction and agriculture); regions of moderate impacts (from logging and reindeer herding); and a region in which natural landscape structures have remained virtually unaffected by human activity.     

The Class of Anthropogenic Industrial Landscapes

Anthropogenic landscapes fall into several classes: agricultural, forestation and aquatic landscapes, which tend to vary with natural zones, and industrial landscapes, which are azonal in character and depend largely on such azonal features as geological structure, hydrogeology, etc. Industrial landscapes are largely of the neo-landscape type, i.e., created by man from scratch. In terms of purposefulness, they are not a direct effect, but are incidental to man's industrial activities. The most common industrial landscape type consists of strip mines and their spoil banks. Such strip-mine landscapes may be denuded (devoid of vegetation); slag-cone terrain; weed-overgrown wasteland; denuded lacustrine wasteland; stone-quarry badlands; cultivated hydraulic spoil banks.     

SOIL-CLIMATIC BELTS–DO THEY ACTUALLY EXIST?

The use of combined soil-climatic belts (or soil-bioclimatic belts) has become widespread in the Soviet literature to designate the highest taxonomic entities of a world soil-geographic regionalization. These belts, which include such designations as polar (cold), boreal (cold-temperate), subboreal (temperate), etc., have been defined on the basis of mean annual temperature and the sum of temperatures during the growing season. The author finds that the entire concept of soil-climatic belts lacks a sound theoretical basis and is of little practical significance, with no attempt made to define such belts in terms of soils. A new approach to defining the highest taxonomic units in a world soil-geographic regionalization is urged.     

Persistence of the cultural landscape in Campania (Southern Italy) before the AD 472 Vesuvius eruption: archaeoenvironmental data

Cultural landscapes were prominent during the Early Roman period when agronomic knowledge allowed the spread of intensive land exploitation in most of the available land. The aim of this contribution is to explore whether for the Campania region (Southern Italy) archaeoenvironmental data would support continuity or change in the cultural landscape of Roman tradition in the 4th and 5th centuries. To do so, new data from two sites located on the northern slopes of the Vesuvius, both buried by the AD 472 eruption have been investigated. Charcoal analysis, ¹⁴C dating, and chemical analysis of organic residues were carried out in order to study the landscape and the food production at these sites. The results suggest the persistence of the Roman cultural landscape until the 4th and 5th centuries in this area. The landscape is in fact strongly marked both in agriculture and woodland exploitation and management, being characterized by managed chestnut forests as well as valuable cultivations of walnut, large vineyards, olive groves, and probably orchards and crops. The integrated approach with archaeobotanical and archaeometric analyses proves to be a powerful method for the study of the past landscapes, providing a good insight into the environment. Furthermore, this study provided the most ancient evidence of chestnut silviculture for wood.     

A Method for Establishing some Parameters of the Morphologic Structure of Landscapes

An attempt is made to characterize the morphologic structure of natural landscapes in terms of quantitative indicators. The following parameters are suggested: (1) structural diagrams of landscapes in the form of graphs, in which the vertices represent the landscape units and subunits, and the edges the hierarchical relations between these elements, (2) structural matrices that would show, for example, whether particular types of morphologic elements occur in a set of landscapes, (3) histograms showing the total areal coverage of types of morphologic elements in particular landscapes, (4) coefficients of complexity of landscape structure, which would be directly proportional to the number of morphologic elements and inversely proportional to their mean size, (5) entropic measures of diversity of landscape structure, which would increase with the number of morphologic elements and decrease with polarization into dominant elements and elements of limited distribution, and (6) measures of the degree of contrast in the landscape structure, in the form of the variance of the number of neighbors of taxons at a particular taxonomic level.     

The Subject and Structure of Geosystems Theory

A logical model of the system of disciplines generally known as physical geography distinguishes three subjects of study, each associated with a particular level of organization of the basic study object, namely the earth's physical landscape envelope or landscape shell and its subsystems (individual landscapes or geocomplexes): (1) study of the componental level of organization would be the subject of the particular disciplines in physical geography (geomorphology, climatology, etc.); (2) study of the integrated level of organization would be the subject of landscape science, which is viewed as a synthesis of the particular disciplines; (3) study of the earth's natural environment at the level of the entire landscape envelope would be the subject of general physical geography or general earth science. The subject matter of the particular disciplines and of the synthesized landscape science is further broken down into research areas: regional research (concerned with geographical spaces); typological research (quasi-geographical spaces) and general research (nongeographical).     

On the Method of Applied Landscape Research

Landscape science, as a discipline concerned with the integrated investigation of natural areal complexes of different ranks, has been gaining an increasing range of practical applications in connection with optimal design of cultural landscapes. The paper focuses on the use of applied landscape maps in investigations designed to make optimal use of the ecological potential of natural landscapes and their morphological subdivisions. Five types of maps are distinguished, corresponding to successive stages in the investigation. An inventory map presents a picture of the present state of the natural complexes, with emphasis on those features that are most relevant to the stated applied purpose (recreational use, agricultural use, engineering applications, etc.). An evaluative map classifies the natural complexes in terms of their suitability for the stated purpose. A predictive map focuses on the likely future behavior of these complexes, and a recommendatory map lists measures required to enhance the potential of natural areas for particular purposes. The ultimate result is a synthesized map of the entire proposed cultural landscape.     

QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR INVESTIGATING THE VARIABLES THAT UNDERLIE PREFERENCE FOR LANDSCAPE SCENES

A series of quantitative methods for investigating the basis for preference for landscape scenes was applied to photographs of alpine and subalpine landscapes in Alberta. The procedure incorporates a multidimensional scaling analysis with the repertory grid technique and also employs a property vector-fitting algorithm as an aid in interpreting the dimensional solution. The preferences of a sample group were based on three criteria. In order of importance, these are character of vegetation cover, depth of field, and elevation of terrain. Additional validation of the results was obtained through a principal components analysis of the repertory grid data.     

An Experiment in Using Visual Attention Metrics to Think About Experience and Design Choices in Past Places

The influence of the visual properties of a built space or landscape on the behaviors of people within them and the manipulation of these visual properties to cue or constrain behaviors are subjects of long-standing archaeological interest. Advances in cognitive neurosciences and a suite of improved computational modeling tools, combined with the proliferation of detailed 3D models of archaeological complexes and landscapes, offer an opportunity for new approaches to these topics based on models of low-level perceptual cues and visual attention. The approach described here takes aim at the question of where people will look, rather than simply what is visible, with the goal of investigating the intentions of designers of spaces and visual aspects of the experience of a place. In simple terms, our approach involves placing detailed 3D models of built spaces or landscapes into a digital environment. An individual then virtually walks through the space and what is visible at each moment is recorded in the form of a video stream, which may be broken down into a sequence of scenes. This set of scenes is then analyzed using software that calculates and maps the visual saliency of each scene and the path of focuses of attention (FOAs) over time. This set of saliency maps, raw images, and FOA paths provide the basis for further interpretation. This paper presents an initial experiment to illustrate the approach, carried out in the eastern passage at Knowth, one of the main mounds in the Brú na Bóinne in Ireland.     

神话与宗教中理想景观的文化地理透视

神话与宗教是原始的哲学和宇宙观,理想景观是其中一个重要组成部分。根据文化圈的不同,世界神话与宗教可划分为三种地域类型:中国式、希腊式和希伯莱式。它们各有其不同的理想景观类型。理想景观是人们对于环境的选择和改造,它的形成受自然环境和文化的双重作用,其中自然环境的作用是潜在的、基础性的,而文化的作用是直接的和本质性的。不同的文化通过神话和宗教中的理想景观类型来表达自己的景观理想,又依据这些理想,通过地理回归在现实中使其物化,实现对地理环境的影响。     

Mongolian Deer Stones,European Menhirs,and Canadian Arctic Inuksuit: Collective Memory and the Function of Northern Monument Traditions

Northern peoples and those living in the Arctic and environments with broad vistas created cultural landscapes with distinctive monument traditions that supported their cultural and political systems. This paper explores three societies in different geographic regions and time periods during the past 10,000 years that used stone monuments to humanize their landscapes and invoke or honor gods or spirits, mythological ancestors, or deceased leaders. Canadian and Greenland Inuit and their predecessors of the past thousand years marked their lands with abstract human figures known as Inuksuit; Neolithic and Bronze Age Europeans built megaliths, henges, and passage graves; and Mongolian Bronze Age nomadic pastoralists populated the central Asian steppe with burial mounds (khirigsuurs) and anthropomorphic deer stone monuments. Each tradition contributed in different ways to shape and perpetuate the society’s values by invoking spirits, ancestors, or heroic leaders. The enduring presence of these creations reinforced cultural or ethnic identity through ritual, group ceremonialism, landscape values, communal enterprise and labor, and collective memory. This paper identifies commonalities and differences between these traditions and how they functioned. We also see how successive societies perpetuate, change, reinterpret, or invent new uses and meanings for ancient monuments and their landscape settings to create new ethnicities and histories for their own times.     

Integrated Visions (Part II): Envisioning Sustainable Energy Landscapes

Climate change and resource depletion are driving the transition to renewable energy sources. Both the supply of renewables and the demand for energy are influenced by the physical environment and therefore concern spatial planning and landscape design. Envisioning the long-term development of alternative energy landscapes – that is sustainable energy landscapes – present spatial planners and landscape architects with new challenges. The first paper of this two-part series discussed several existing approaches to long-term regional planning and landscape design, and presented an alternative, five-step approach for the composition of integrated visions [Stremke, S., Kann, F. Van & Koh, J. (2012) Integrated Visions (part I): Methodological Framework, European Planning Studies, [20(2), pp. 305–320]. This paper illustrates how the five-step approach was employed to compose a set of integrated visions for the development of sustainable energy landscapes in south of the Netherlands. The proposed five-step approach is then examined with respect to a set of criteria stressed in the planning and design literature.     

A System of Natural Areal Complexes of the Earth

The tiered vertical structure of all the earth's landscapes is used as the basis for a typological classification of all natural areal complexes. Four basic landscape divisions are proposed: (1) terrestrial landscapes, consisting of an upper aerial layer and lower mineral layer, (2) aquatic landscapes, consisting of three tiers: air, water, mineral base, (3) glacial landscapes, consisting of three tiers (air, ice, mineral) on land, and of four tiers (air, ice, water, mineral) in oceans, (4) variable landscapes distinguished by a periodic succession of structures (terrestrial-aquatic, terrestrial-glacial, aquatic-glacial).     

Economics and environmental change during the Late Mesolithic and Neolithic periods — investigations in the valley of the Gieselau near Albersdorf,Schleswig-Holstein,Germany

Abstract

Interactions between people and the environment have resulted in constant changes in relief and soil conditions since the Neolithic. Soil transport and degradation had considerable effects on human land use. Extensive field investigations (excavations, auger sampling), measurements (e.g. texture, pH-value, C_org, N), datings (¹⁴C, pottery), together with extensive literature searches in different scientific disciplines (archaeology, palaeoecology, palaeoclimatology etc.), made it possible to reconstruct the Holocene landscape development in four study areas along the valley of the Gieselau near Albersdorf (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany). Stratigraphies were established in the study areas. This paper describes landscape developments around Albersdorf and in northern Central Europe during the Late Mesolithic and Neolithic. The compiled data for the landscape and land-use history serve as a basis for the design of the extensive Archaeological-Ecological Centre Albersdorf (AÖZA) — occupying a site of approximately 40 hectares — using reconstructed features from the Neolithic landscapes.     

A DEFENSE OF ANTHROPOGENIC LANDSCAPE SCIENCE

A founder of the Soviet school of anthropogenic landscape science defends the discipline against charges that it ignores the fundamentals of geographic landscape theory and confuses anthropogenic landscapes with types of land use and engineering structures. The development of a separate anthropogenic approach in landscape science is justified on the ground that maninduced landscapes, such as cropland, pasture, vineyards, secondary forest, reservoirs, open pits and spoil banks play an increasing role in the environment and require separate investigation. Anthropogenic landscapes, far from being counterposed to natural landscapes, are treated as a distinctive genetic group of landscapes that owe their origin to human interference, but follow natural laws of development. Anthropogenic landscape science is said to be concerned with the physical-geographic and ecological aspects of human impact on the environment, while the study of types of land use focuses on the technology and economic benefit of such impact. [For previous translations on the issue, see Soviet Geography, October 1974 and December 1975.]     

基于GIS的南方传统聚落景观基因信息图谱的探索

南方地区环境生态因子多样,历史文化底蕴深厚,形成了极富特色的聚落景观。研究其所隐含的景观基因,对传统聚落的保护、开发都具有重要意义。本文分析了聚落景观基因的研究现状,探讨了聚落景观基因的概念、识别原则。在此基础上,探讨了构建聚落景观基因信息图谱的基本信息单元及其提取方法,并对建立景观基因信息图谱的技术思路进行了一定的尝试。最后,展望了景观基因信息图谱的研究意义和研究价值。     

On the So-Called Anthropogenic Landscapes

A Leningrad physical geographer, who is an advocate of the natural landscape school in Soviet geography, offers a critique of the school of anthropogenic landscape science favored by F. N. Mil'kov of Voronezh University and others. Landscapes, in the critic's view, are natural formations produced by physical cause-and-effect relationships among their natural components, and no basis is found for the development of a theory of anthropogenic landscapes that reflect the impact of human activity and minimize the role of natural elements. The author questions whether man is in fact capable of creating landscape in the literal sense and whether this can be accomplished by merely modifying a single natural landscape component. Further investigation is urged to establish the real role of engineering structures and agricultural activities in the landscape and their place within the system of natural linkages within the landscape. This line of investigation should then lead to study of the structure of landscapes that have been modified by man and to an understanding of a sequence of landscape succession, including man-induced and reconstructed variants.     

语言景观研究进展：地方主体的空间实践

本文以地方主体性理论为切入点梳理语言景观相关文献，以构建主体为分析框架，从“国家”、“私人机构”和“多元主体互动”三方面综述语言景观的研究。不同主体通过空间实践达到规训、表达、压迫和抵抗等目的，而语言景观则是这些实践的中介和结果。自上而下的语言政策表现为国家作为主体对地方的规训；反之，由个体作为构建主体的语言景观是主体表达自我和抵抗他者的实践。流动性较强的地方，多元主体通过语言景观互动构建地方性，其语言景观是资本、文化和权力多重力量作用下的实践过程和结果。过去语言学视角的研究只关注单主体的空间实践，未来采取跨学科研究可进一步探寻多主体互动过程与结果，更全面地发掘语言景观在地方构建中的作用以及构建的地方意义。