Politics Ecology and Landscape

Created By: James Evans

Currently Used By: James Evans

Instructions

Aims

• To investigate the idea of landscape in a practical way
• To compare and contrast different ways of understanding a single place
• To understand how perceptions of landscape affect the way in which we manage the environment

Introduction

As we ascend Catbells we will pause periodically to examine the landscape and critically question the political, cultural and economic forces that have both shaped it and our perceptions of it. Through questioning our received assumptions about the landscape we will start to think about the role the Lake District plays in the UK and how that might change in the future. Landscape has forms a central theme in geographical research. Dictionary definitions of the term reveal a continuing dilemma for geographers. One definition might be the commonly accepted idea of landscape as ‘natural scenery, seen in the broad view’. On the other hand we all carry ideas of landscapes around in our heads and understand places in the light of these geographical imaginations: so landscapes are also representations, or constructions: ideal as well as real entities. The way in which we perceive landscapes has real impacts for how we manage our relations with the environment. We are always hearing that the UK is too crowded, and that there are massive pressures on land use. Similarly, environmental and social challenges are prompting us to look anew at how we use our land, for example, in terms of housing, renewable energy, farming and so on. This project aims to show how these debates are framed by dominant perceptions of landscape, and to encourage you to question both received wisdom and your own assumptions concerning how we should plan and manage our landscape. We will aim to get to the top of Cat Bells, and each stage of the ascent will reveal something more about the power of that landscape has over us.

1. At the field centre… exploring your preconceptions Pair up. Find out who your partner is. Where do they come from? Have they been to the Lake District before? How where, when, who with? What other places resemble the Lake District? Why? What is the area used for? Would you like to live in it? Are you able to agree on what makes up the Newlands landscape? What elements are there in it? Come up with 8 words? Combine with another pair and discuss your choices. Consolidate into a single list. Why have you agreed on these nouns? Why do we carry these perceptions around in our heads? How do you see it as a landscape? Friendly/Threatening, Exciting/Boring, Male/Female, Homely/Exotic, English/Alien, Central/Remote, Unique/Common

2. The ascent… experiencing the landscape What do you see? What actions? movements? colours? functions? non-human animals? How do you feel? Discuss your perceptions of this with a different person who you do not know. Are you able to come up with a common description of the view? How might the following factors be relevant to your description? What can you feel under your feet. Take your boots off for a short stretch. How is this different? Tell the group. How might walking make a landscape? How does being alone of with people alter your (e)motions about the place. Who else has been in this place and narrated its landscapes in the past? Is this landscape valuable? Why and to who?

3. First viewpoint… representing the landscape People have represented landscapes since the dawn of human history. Before leaving the viewpoint anyone with a camera should take a photograph that they think represents the qualities you discussed above. Why this photo? Discuss with someone who doesn’t have a camera. Then either sketch the view or write a brief poem about what you see. How have you framed the landscape? What is in the representation and what is not? What scale does it try and capture? Is this landscape coherent? In what way? Is it natural? Or cultural? Or political?

4. Top of the hill… whose landscape is it? Landscape is a way of seeing the space around us in a particular way. Sit down and think about the following questions, which are designed to disrupt the dominant views of landscape. Who owns this landscape? Who lives in it? Who is absent? Why don’t more people live in it? What kinds of tourists come here? Why is it like it is? How much has it / can it be changed? Do you think it should be changed? If so, why? If not, why not? Should hill farming subsidies be redirected to address inner city poverty? What can be done in this landscape? Should it be developed? Should it be redistributed? Should it be covered in wind turbines? What are the main barriers to change?

5. On your way back down… the bigger picture Reflect on how politics, perceptions and experiences are linked together. The cultural preferences that determine how much of the UK’s land is used have massive political implications for the ways in which we live and organise our society and economy, yet they are based in the ways in which we have sensed Cat Bells and the surrounding landscape today through our eyes, ears, and feet. Do your senses convey reality to you as it really is, or are they conditioned by the culture in which you have grown up? What other aspects of life might this apply to? Is reality ever knowable in itself, or is it always mediated by our cultural perceptions? Should we re-programme ourselves? How can society change if the past exerts such a strong influence over the present?

Equipment

Each student should have:

• decent walking shoes
• pen and paper
• waterproofs
• water
• sun cream

Staff require:

• as above

Handouts

• as above