De
In {form}ing Landscape
Re

Abstract

The shape of the title of this article is reflective of an emerging concern with the form of landscape. Form is the shape or the particular way of being that gives something its nature (or culture). The prefix de signifies separation, in to give or imbue, and re again or anew. Thus de(form) is to put out of shape or disfigure, in(form) is to inspire with quality or character, and re(form) to form again or to make better. The suffix ing expresses action and is also an Old English term for a pasture or meadow; see landscape. Landscape has been defined for 150 years as “an expanse of natural scenery seen by the eye in one view.” More recently, the author has described landscape as the confluence of our ideas of nature and of culture. Culture is the lens through which we perceive and thus use and manage the landscape. This paper begins an exploration of the cultural matrix of form: how it is modified by, and in turn modifies, landscape.