What is landscape?
Landscape is the living relationship between people, place and environment. It shapes how we live, work, remember and imagine the future.
Landscape is more than scenery
Landscape includes the everyday and the exceptional, the natural and the human-made. It is shaped by ecology and climate, but also by culture, economy, memory, politics and power. It is something we experience, influence and continually reinterpret.
People and place
Landscapes are lived in, worked, cared for, remembered and changed by people.
Always changing
Natural processes and human decisions continually reshape landscapes.
Many perspectives
Different cultures, communities, disciplines and individuals can understand the same landscape differently.
Power and justice
Landscapes reflect choices about ownership, access, resources, belonging, voice and control.
Explore landscape through LEX
The Landscape Exchange brings together research, insights and stories from around the world. Dive into the themes and discover real examples of landscape in action.
Environment & change
Society, power & place
Landscape types & relationships
Culture, knowledge & practice
The Landscape Exchange
An open library of landscape research
Contributions from researchers and practitioners worldwide: 283 pieces across 12 themes in four families, filterable by region, format and programme.
Teach and learn about landscape
Landscape can be explored at any age and in any place. These free, carefully selected resources help educators and learners investigate the relationships between people, place, culture and environment.
Council of Europe
Landscape education activities for primary schools
Twenty-four practical activities to explore, understand and act for landscapes.
UNESCO
Teaching and learning with living heritage
Connect culture, knowledge and place in the classroom and the community.
Global Oneness Project
Global stories of people and place
Films, photography and lesson plans exploring culture, environment and justice.
FAO · GIAHS
Agricultural landscapes around the world
Real-world examples connecting landscapes, food, biodiversity and communities.
National Geographic
Geo-Inquiry resources
A step-by-step process and classroom materials for investigating real geographic questions in your own community.
UNESCO
UNESCO sites as partners for education for sustainable development
A guide to using World Heritage sites, biosphere reserves and geoparks as places of learning.
Go deeper. Connect with LRG.
Landscape Research journal
Read scholarship in our international, peer-reviewed journal.
Networks and events
Join conversations, webinars and conferences with researchers and practitioners worldwide.
Our community
LRG brings together people who care about landscape, across disciplines and borders.
Have something to share about landscape?
The Landscape Exchange publishes accessible landscape research, ideas, stories, photography, film and creative practice from around the world.
Further reading
A few starting points for a deeper understanding of landscape.
View full references and further reading
Theories of landscape
- Howard, P; Thompson, I; Waterton, E; Atha, M (eds) (2018), "The Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies" Routledge: 2nd Edition
- Fairclough, G., Herlin, I. S. and Swanwick, C. (2018) "Routledge handbook of landscape character assessment: current approaches to characterisation and assessment". Routledge
- Wylie, J. (2007) "Landscape". Routledge
- Meinig, D.W. and Jackson, J.B. (1979) The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays. Oxford University Press
- Daniels, S. & Cosgrove, D. (1988) The Iconography of Landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Ingold, T. (1993) 'The Temporality of the Landscape. The Perception of the Environment', World archaeology, 25(2), pp. 152-174
- Antrop, M. & Van Eetvelde, V. (2017) Landscape Perspectives: The Holistic Nature of Landscapes. Springer
- Olwig, K.R. (2019) "The Meanings of Landscape. Essays on Place, Space, Environment and Justice" Routledge
- Thompson, I. (2009) "Rethinking Landscape. A Critical Reader": Routledge
Interpretations of landscape
- Egoz, S. (2013) 'Landscape and identity: Beyond a geography of one place', in The Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies. Routledge, pp. 272-285
Global landscape
The approach to landscape research can also vary according to different regions and so the discourse can differ. These are just a few suggestions of further reading.
- Olwig, K. (2002) Landscape, nature, and the body politic: from Britain's renaissance to America's new world. University of Wisconsin Press.
- European Landscape Convention, Council of Europe. Council of Europe (2000a) The European Landscape Convention. Available here.
- Makhzoumi, J., & Pungetti, G. (1999) Ecological design and planning: The Mediterranean context. London: Routledge
- Makhzoumi, J. (2002). Landscape in the Middle East: An inquiry. Landscape Research, 27, 213–228.
- Makhzoumi, J. (2015). Borrowed or rooted? The discourse of 'landscape' in the Arab Middle East. In D. Bruns, O. kuhne, A. Schonwald, & S. Theile (Eds.), Landscape culture-culturing landscapes: The differentiated construction of landscapes (pp. 111–126). Wiesbaden: Springer Verlarg
- Makhzoumi, J., & Grose, M. (2016). Landscape practice in the Middle East: Between local and global aspirations. Landscape Research, 3, 265–278
- Makhzoumi, J. (2016) From urban beautification to a holistic approach: the discourses of 'landscape' in the Arab Middle East, Landscape Research, 41:4, 461-470, DOI: 10.1080/01426397.2016.1156068