Towards a theory of the landscape: the Aegean landscape as a cultural image

Seeking to contribute to a theoretical and analytical approach to the study of landscape, this essay offers directions for integrated future research that combine quantitative with qualitative methodologies towards the ultimate goal of landscape planning and policy implementation. Towards this goal, this paper represents an attempt to apply concerns about landscape theory and appropriate methodology on landscape form, function and meaning by delineating a framework of analysis for the Aegean landscape of Greece. Such a challenging goal, however, undertaken here through critical geographical perspectives, should rather be approached on a transdisciplinary basis. The plethora of processes of action and interaction among the various components of a landscape dictate that there are almost no methodological frameworks and tools that are irrelevant to in landscape study, planning, use or policy implementation. If one focuses on characteristics distinctive to the landscape context, however, such as the visual–cognitive–experiential interface and biophysical–human interaction in the landscape, the beginnings of a theory of landscape as a stage set for human life may, thus, be established. On this basis, a conceptual framework for contemporary multifunctional landscapes is first proposed to serve as a basis for the development of an analytical framework. The case study that follows focuses on the construction of the Aegean cultural landscape, aiming to illustrate and begin to apply concerns and approaches presented in the theoretical part of this study. Aegeanity is first negotiated in theoretical terms on the basis of its distinctive geography, scale and cultural meaning, encompassing landscape characteristics and relationships as presented above. As concerns Aegean landscape analysis, goals and criteria of assessment are interwoven into appropriate methodological schemata and examples of this work presented accordingly.