Landscape, place, and story: an essay toward phenomenological landscape study

Abstract

Landscape can be considered as place in terms of phenomenological geography. Examines the concept of landscape with reference to that of place, and proposes a concept of "story' in order to prepare a framework for the study of landscape change synchronous with our consciousness change. The results are as follows: landscape is the life-world on which our belief in objective reality is founded, and is a repository of meaning. Therefore, the concept of landscape coincides with that of place as a space with value and meaning; place is not only an object of intentionality but also a process of intentionality. We call this aspect of place a "meaning matrix'; it is "story' that represents the meaning of landscape. The subject and landscape are changing together, influencing each other in parallel with a "story'; the task ahead for landscape study is to understand the self-understanding of a social group by analyzing its "story', and to clarify the structure of the meaning matrix. -from English summary