Integrating nature, culture, and society: The concept of landscape field

• Published in: Ekológia Bratislava Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 125 - 138
• Main Authors: Lapka, M, Cudlinova, E, Maxa, J. (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic). Institute of Landscape Ecology)
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Czech Rep; CZECH REPUBLIC; DESARROLLO RURAL INTEGRADO; DEVELOPPEMENT RURAL INTEGRE; ECOLOGIA; ECOLOGIE; ECOLOGY; INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT; LANDSCAPE; PAISAJE; PAYSAGE; REPUBLICA CHECA; REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE
• ISSN: 1335-342X; 1337-947X

The general subject of this paper is research on the dynamic changes that occur within cultural landscapes. One of the central emerging problems in contemporary landscape and ecological research is the development of holistic descriptions and understandings of landscape changes that incorporate natural, social and cultural subsystems. We more or less know how to describe discrete changes in landscape natural patterns, and, to large extent, in social and cultural patterns as well. What we need today in landscape ecology is a way to integrate understanding of all of these kinds of changes. This paper introduces and develops a new concept - that of "landscape field"- for better understanding of the particular character of nature-culture interactions on a landscape scale. We need a dynamic concept that allows us to analyse nature-culture forces working together. We also examine the term "cultural capital" as it links natural and social forces in landscapes. We use the example of Pohori na Sumave's village history to introduce five general significant periods of change in a particular landscape field: genesis, resistance, decomposition, period of survival, and potential regeneration