New landscape spatialities: the changing scales of function and symbolism

Current local-scale changes in the landscape interweave with larger forces of globalization, time-space compression and media proliferation altering the face of landscape, both rural and urban, around the world. These larger forces span all sectors of human activity and inform a new cultural economy of space, creating new landscape spatialities that require a reformulation of landscape definitions, as well as new conceptual models and methodological approaches. This paper aims to contribute towards this objective by investigating such ongoing change and proposing new conceptual tools for the articulation, analysis and planning of the contemporary landscape at new geographical scales. Perhaps the most significant variable in these new landscape spatialities is geographical connectivity. Landscape may no longer be viewed as a segment of the geographical world—real, perceived or imaginary—but rather as a situated image or system at the interface of different scales of contact with an “observer”. In specific, landscapes today appear no longer spatially enclosed, restricted and tied to locality. Both in terms of function and of symbolism, they are increasingly characterized by processes, forms and signs with external, rather than internal, references. Empirical examples are drawn from the rural landscape of Greece.