Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions.
Combining both their physical origins and the cultural overlay of human presence, often created over millennia, landscapes reflect the living synthesis of people and place vital to local and national identity. Landscapes, their character and quality, help define the self-image of a region, its sense of place that differentiates it from other regions. It is the dynamic backdrop to people’s lives.
The Earth has a vast range of landscapes including the icy landscapes of polar regions, mountainous landscapes, vast arid desert landscapes, islands and coastal landscapes, densely forested or wooded landscapes including past boreal forests and tropical rainforests, and agricultural landscapes of temperate and tropical regions.
Landscape may be further reviewed under the following specific categories: cultural landscape, landscape ecology, landscape planning, landscape assessment and landscape design.
Read more about Landscape: Etymology
Other articles related to "landscape":
... Landscape, first recorded in 1598, was borrowed as a painters' term from Dutch during the 16th century, when Dutch artists were on the verge of becoming masters of the landscape art ... with Harrison's Description of Britain onwards, a new awareness of the aesthetic nature of landscape emerged as a new kind of topographical writing flourished..." ... of the word, gradually to be replaced by landscape ...
... McCahon shows religious undertones to his work by giving the landscape an essentially spiritual element ... One method by which he does this is by stripping the landscape bare, showing influence of Cotton's book Geomorphology of New Zealand, especially in works such as Takaka Night and Day ... maintaining or producing a meaningful spiritual interaction with the landscape ...
... Landscape history studies the form (morphology) of settlements – for example whether they are dispersed or nucleated ... thus be considered a special type of cultural-historical landscape studies ...
... In 1913 the landscape gardener Hugh Linaker was employed to layout the grounds of Mont Park ... As landscape gardener for the State Lunacy Department he commenced a program of landscape improvements and tree plantings at asylums in Victoria ...
... It was transformed in 2011 with a $1.2 million landscape renovation designed by South Florida landscape architect Raymond Jungles ... The new landscape showcases native Florida plants and trees including bromeliads, palms, cycads, orchids and many others ...
Famous quotes containing the word landscape:
“While the focus in the landscape of Old World cities was commonly government structures, churches, or the residences of rulers, the landscape and the skyline of American cities have boasted their hotels, department stores, office buildings, apartments, and skyscrapers. In this grandeur, Americans have expressed their Booster Pride, their hopes for visitors and new settlers, and customers, for thriving commerce and industry.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)