Researchers' attempts to provide an objective, analytical basis for understanding observers perceptual preferences for landscapes is the basis of the field of landscape perception research. Within this field a series of paradigms have evolved around which the majority of research has been centered. One of these, the experiential paradigm focuses on the multi-sensory nature of mars relationship with the landscape. This study seeks to define a scope of dynamic variables effecting landscape perception and their impact on landscape preference.A study site in rural Indiana was selected and a loop trail was laid out to provide access to the site. Sixteen sites along the trail were defined as experiential test sites and were field marked and photographed. A test group was guided through the study area and was asked to give a preference rating for each site on a five point scale as well as in an open ended verbal response. Two weeks following the on site testing the same group was asked to provide preference ratings in the laboratory for slides of the same 16 sites experienced in the field.The resulting data was analyzed to determine to what extent dynamic variables were impacting preference for landscape experiences. Multisensory elements of the environment were found to have a direct impact on preference. This was reflected in both verbal and scaled preference data. In addition to this, experiential preference wwas also determined to be associated with the sequence in which experiences occurred. The linkage provided by transitional landscapes encountered as respondents progressed between test sites proved to be an important element of experiential preference. This 'clustering' effect was evident in the laboratory as well as in the field.T he results of this, research illustrate the importance of dynamic variables as essential components of landscape preference. This study further supports the use of verbal response formats as a method for determining the true scope of perceptual variables attributing to preference. In conjunction with this, the importance of transition landscapes and experiential sequencing identified in this research merits additional study in order to more precisely define the structure of the human / landscape interaction. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The source of the pollen preserved within fossil assemblages is one of the most important factors to be considered when attempting to reconstruct fonner vegetation landscapes. Due to its mode of dispersal, at anyone time a pollen assemblage is a spatially aggregated record or pollen from local, extra-local and regional vegetation. Studies of pollen recruitment to lakes with surface inflows have shown that fluvial transport plays a dominant role in the recruitment of pollen to these sites. Pollen assemblage fonnation in lakes is further complicated by lirnnological processes which may affect the stratigraphic 'integrity' of the sediment record. A range of techniques and methodologies have been employed to investigate the influence of recruitment and lirnnological processes on the assemblage characteristics and pollen catchment area of an intennediate sized lake basin with surface inflows. The impact of land-use change OIi sediment yields and sediment sources has also been investigated through the use of mineral magnetic and sediment analytical techniques. The relative importance of aerial and streamborne recruitment has been established by , momtoring of pollen input to the lake from both sources over a 17 month period. Results , confmn the importance of fluvially transported pollen at this site and indicate that between 70-90% Qf the total pollen reaching the lake is derived via inflow streams at the present day. Downstream changes in the composition of streambome pollen caught in Tauber traps submerged within the main inflow stream suggests that at least 35% of the pollen recruited via the inflow is currently derived from 'local' riparian vegetation communities. Spatial and temporal patterns of intra-lake pollen deposition have been assessed by analysis and comparison of 24 surface lake mud samples and the pollen content of two parallel sediment cores. Central surface mud samples exhibit less 'noise' than those from marginal zones. Higher variability in littoral surface sediments, as measured by mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation values of individual pollen types, is thought to reflect high deposition from lake marginal vegetation as well as limnological factors such as water turbulence. A greater diversity of pollen types were found in streamborne assemblages but in other respects percentages of the major pollen types in air, stream and surface lake samples were very similar. Comparison of the pollen, magnetic and sedimentological characteristics of parallel cores taken from the central lake area show close downcore strati graphic correspondence over the topmost 80cm. The shallowness of the lake does not appear to have produced any noticeable discontinuities or non-unifonn patterns of pollen and sediment deposition in central zones. . The effective pollen catchment area of the lake has been established by determining the 'sensitivity' of radiometrically dated lake pollen profiles to vegetation changes at different spatial scales within the landscape, established from documentary records of local and regional land-use and woodland history. From these data it is estimated that c. 70% of the pollen recruited to the lake originates from vegetation growing within c. 2.0 km of the lake. This conclusion contrasts with models of pollen recruitment proposed for similar sized lakes without inflow streams where a significant regional component (>60%) is predicted. Results suggests that the single largest contribution to total influx comes from stream marginal vegetation. A lakewide change in sediment type is recorded after Enclosure in 1789, as the focus of arable activity shifted from outside to inside the lake's drainage catchment. Mineral magnetic properties of lake sediment and catchment soils and sediments also indicate a shift in the source of allochthonous inputs reaching the lake at this time, from subsoil to topsoil derived material. Estimated inorganic sediment yields over the last 50 years are Iow when compared to similar sites with high lake/catchment ratios.

This research is a biography. It follows the creative and working life of Peter Lanyon, an artist born in 1918 in St Ives, as he painted landscapes of his home county, Cornwall, and his travels abroad. Here I open up a dialogue between the biographical and geographical, exploring a path between past and present, using material objects alongside memories and narratives affected by those objects. I explore material, embodied and sensuous relationships between landscape, history and biography and look towards how land, sea and air are animated and animating, forging other forms of geographical knowledge. Lanyon’s work is conceived as ‘creative practice as research’. I work through the connective spaces between land, air and sea as Lanyon describes them in terms of his own movements, as politically expedient in thinking through spaces and times, bodies and places in terms of feminist ideas of sexual difference and elemental philosophies. As such I contribute to the debate on emotional and affectual geographies and explore the relationships between life and earth in a historically and temporally specific way. What is practiced, where it is practiced, can not be separated from how it is shaped, communicated and received. Breaking down notions of solid and fluid, mind and body, implicated in hierarchies of knowledge and practice, masculine and feminine is the over arching theme arising from Lanyon’s work as it is practiced and, taking impetus from Lanyon, within this project too.

No description available.

The popularity of the rock garden is seen as a late nineteenth century phenomenon, which followed the creation of the Backhouse Nursery rock garden in York, England, in 1859, although a few earlier gardens are sometimes mentioned as isolated incidents. This thesis proposes that the rock garden evolved out of efforts to cultivate alpine and rock plants, and traces interest in their collection back to sixteenth century Europe. A terraced garden at le Jardin des Plantes, Montpellier, France, indicates that by 1598 there was interest in simulating specialized plant habitats. The earliest known rock garden was built in Orford, England, about 1767, and by the early nineteenth century, rock gardens were popular garden features, as may be seen from the numbers of articles in the horticultural press. From these published accounts, the design, construction, culture, planting, and maintenance of rock gardens are compared and studied. As proof that rock gardens were created as places to grow alpine and rock plants from the first, lists of alpine and rock plants recommended for gardens between 1789 and 1856 are analyzed. The majority of the plants on these lists were low, spreading, needed the improved drainage offered by the structure of the rock garden, and, to a lesser extent, had alpine origins. Between 1789 and 1856 the reasons for plant choice did not change significantly. This thesis explores the origins of the rock garden, studies its history, and analyzes its structure and plants to place it in context with the rest of landscape history.

<p> Architecture must strike the senses with comprehensibility and lend itself to the performance of the human condition. It is to serve as a stimulus that incites awareness and brings forth a sense of identity of the city and the self. Architecture must encourage the activation of the space and serve as a vivid signifier of place, encourage connectivity, and enable the mapping of humanness in the urban condition. To test these principles, the author proposed a series of installations in Levy Park, green scape that sits on the cusp of the residential and commercial divide of downtown Crowley, Louisiana, with a specific goal: not to result in a utopia of spaces, but to arrive at a better understanding of the people who inhabit the city, the site, and the spaces that influence the two in a most positive and activated manner. </p><p> The work is driven by the speculation that architecture must be both the score &ndash; &ldquo;the process leading to the performance&rdquo; &ndash; and the performance itself (Halprin 1). The bodies moving through space, the performers, must be accounted for, understood, and analyzed in order to measure &ldquo;chance&rdquo; and create yet another score based upon findings (Halprin 3). One proposes the installation should be a living experiment in the hope that the architecture will not only become a signifier of place and a stimulus for the citizens of/visitors to the city to identify with, it will serve as an exercise in &ldquo;active and reactive productivity&rdquo; and provide the opportunity to create an architecture of significance that has been tested &ldquo;&lsquo;in the flesh&rsquo; of the lived world&rdquo; (The Eyes of the Skin 71).</p>

The path through life is filled with light and darkness but light casts shadows and can darken one's life. With this metaphor, I use light to symbolize the positive and shadows to represent the negative things that every one of us encounters. In my landscape paintings, the combination of light and darkness symbolizes my journey through life. There is a predominance of light in my paintings. Therefore, my intention is to portray the positive over the negative. In other words, I want to portray the light at the end of the tunnel.

No description available.

The research investigates visitor and resident place perceptions of Mid Wales and evaluates the potential of such perceptions to shape economic development in the area. A review of literature indicated a need for an holistic approach to place. It was suggested that a starting point towards achieving this is to envisage place as three components - the real, the expected and the perceived. The real place is described using secondary statistical information and maps of the area. the expected place is described using topographical writing and guide books. The perceived place is examined through a combination of questionnaires and interviews with residents and visitors. These investigate perceptions of the landscape and economy of Mid Wales. The 'perceived places' of residents and visitors are described. A number of agencies based in Mid Wales were also interviewed to examine i) their perceptions of Mid Wales' ii) the way in which visitor and resident perceptions are incorporated into the policy development process, and, iii) their responses to some of the preliminary outcomes of the research. The research concluded that both residents and visitors have well defined, but different place perceptions of Mid Wales. Visitor perceptions are more affected by the expected place than the real, whilst resident perceptions are more affected by the real place than the expected. There are currently few mechanisms by which place perceptions are directly incorporated into the development process. However, the place perceptions of agencies were found to be close to those of the groups they represented; it is suggested that place perceptions are fundamental truths shared by groups, which are so strong as to actually subconsciously drive the policy development process. Policy implications are suggested, as are ideas for future research.

The use of heritage as a state tool to construct national identity has been fervently explored (e.g. Daniels 1993 and Kohl 1998). However, the ways in which ethnic minority communities in multicultural societies, respond to the Authorised Heritage Discourse’ (AHD) (Smith 2006) as the product of nationalism is relatively under-researched (Caffyn and Lutz 1999, Waterton 2010). This dissertation focuses on the case study of the Miao ethnic minority’s cultural landscapes in China, which have been altered continuously by both the national and local powers that seek to construct collective identities. The dissertation asserts that ethnic minority heritage practices in multicultural societies need to be understood as being profoundly shaped by nationalist discourses and practices. My ethnographic research, of Langde, a Miao village founded in the 14th century, addresses historical and contemporary identity negotiations between the local and the national, the ethnic minority and the majority, but also the ways in which ethnic minority groups and the state strive to shape their collective identities through concrete heritage practices. Such construction has in turn reinforced the local Miao identity through everyday heritage practices. The AHD in China, which is a technology of nationalism, has been based on the assumption of the ‘superior’ cultural status of Han as the majority. Yet, conversely it is also entwined with how ethnic minority groups have actively shaped their own identities. By employing visual ethnography, this dissertation reveals a Communist vision of multiculturalism, which combines cultural hegemony and community empowerment. The dissertation concludes by proposing an expansion to the framework for understanding how the AHD of ethnic minority heritage is made and perceived. Looking at minority heritage’s entanglement with nationalism provides a window of understanding into how collective identities at national and local levels are negotiated and reconstructed.