Ermischer Gerard

From CollabLandWiki

Mental Landscapes:Landscapes as idea and concept

Gerard Ermischer, Mental Landscapes:Landscapes as idea and concept, Landscape Research,Vol29, No4,371-383,October 2004

• Ermischer argues that it is important to protect and keep diversity(unique differences) and biodiversity(unique species) within landscapes rather than the global uniformity that is occurring with technology.
• He says that we are in danger of losing all the specific character of different landscapes. He argues that rich and diverse landscapes have great social value as the diverse character of different landscapes is what makes the valuable for tourism because it makes them interesting to visit and experience.
• He argues that what defines a landscape is "the totality of all aspects of a region, as perceived by man" so therefore it is important to understand the human perception of a landscape in order to understand the landscape itself.
• He argues that a positive identification with the local landscape is important for social well being therefore socio economic value.
• He says that a landscape is never static but a living canvas, and just as nature will change even without human intervention, every landscape will always change and develop having both natural and cultural components.
• Ermischer argues that landscape is a process and in order to manage it we have to understand this process by viewing it as a 4 dimensional form (time) rather than 3 dimensional.
• Ermischer argues that the built environment that we place upon the landscape defines the picture of a landscape and how we acknowledge it. As the appearance and character depends on natural resources like local materials, the economic power of the region, social structures and ideas.
• He believes that technology has a great influence on the way we treat the landscape as it defines our ability to change it and influences the way we think and react to it for example someone who is driving a car across the landscape views it quite differently to someone that walks through it.
• He says that the industrialization of transport accelerated the rate of change in the landscape not only by intersecting it but also by powering new industries which exploited the landscape.
• Ermischer argues that it is important to understand history and how a landscape developed to understand the interaction between nature and man, how man reacts to nature, influences his environment and reacts to emerging changes.

How this relates to waiheke

• The character of waihekes landscape in comparison to auckland or the rest of new zealand is what makes it valuable for tourism because it makes it interesting to visit and experience so as talked about in the article it needs to be preserved rather than globalized.
• The key to understanding waihekes landscape may be in understanding the human perception of its landscape for its different users tourists, commutters and longterm residents.
• When we look at waiheke's landscape as a living canvas that is never static we should consider all its changes from before settlement(untouched nature, to maori inhabitation, to agricultural farmland, to the green movement in the 70's, to todays mix bowl of users to help us gain a true insight into the picture of the landscape both natural and cultural.
• By looking at the built environment that we placed upon waiheke's landscape from replanting and re-establishing, farms, to infrastructure and buildings we may be able to define the picture of its landscape and how its been acknowledged by its inhabitants.