B 3.1 The perception of landscapes

"One of the main results of landscapes studies during the last fifty years has been a new interest in the way the mind transforms them into images and concepts. The landscape is first an external reality, which is perceived through seeing, listening or smelling. The landscape is divided into elements according to categories which are social constructs: ponds, lakes, brooks, rivers; forests, woods, groves, hedges, meadows, fields, orchards, vineyards, etc.; lots, fences, walls, etc.; cottages, isolated farms, hamlets, villages, towns, cities, etc.; paths, lanes, roads, railroads, motoways, etc. Each language cuts reality into different sets of categories.
Behind the words, perception is shaped by systems of interpretation. People generally oppose wild nature, humanized nature, human settlements. Roman agronoms and lawyers preferred to speak about silva (the wild forested areas), saltus (the secondary woods and clearings which result from the burning of natural vegetation to ensure more palatable grass for flocks or herds) and ager (the cultivated areas). All these zones deeply contrasted with urbs (the city).
Many other interpretative categories are used: profane and sacred; public and private; individual and collective. Landscapes are also perceived in terms of harmony and beauty, bucolic charm and pleasures, peace and quiet, danger, threat, fear and sublimity. Landscape is affected by daily and seasonal rhythms.
As a result, the perceived landscape is a mental reality largely conditioned by the collective categories conveyed through language and passed down from generation to generation through education and imitation."

(This is an excerpt from the text by Professor Paul Claval “THE IDEA OF LANDSCAPE”)