Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
People interpret individual cultural productions in very
different ways, depending on the cultural context in which
they view them. What people choose to adopt from popu-
lar culture, how they reterritorialize it, and what they
reject help shape the character and culture of people,
places, and landscapes.
landscape. Human imprint includes everything from
how people have changed and shaped the environment
to the buildings, signs, fences, and statues people erect.
Cultural landscapes reflect the values, norms, and aes-
thetics of a culture. On major roadways in North
American towns and suburbs, the landscape is a series
of big box stores, gas stations, and restaurants that
reflect popular culture (Fig. 4.22). As you drive down
one of these roadways, one place looks like the next.
You drive past TGIFridays, Applebees, Wal-Mart,
Target, and McDonald's. Then, several miles down the
road, you pass another conglomeration (clustering) of
the same stores. Geographer Edward Relph coined the
word
placelessness
to describe the loss of uniqueness
of place in the cultural landscape to the point that one
place looks like the next.
Cultural landscapes begin to blend together, converg-
ing cultural landscapes in three dimensions: (1) particular
architectural forms and planning ideas have diffused
around the world; (2) individual businesses and products
have become so widespread that they now leave a distinc-
tive landscape stamp on far-fl ung places; and (3) the
wholesale borrowing of idealized landscape images,
though not necessarily fostering convergence, promotes a
blurring of place distinctiveness.
The global diffusion of the skyscraper provides a
clear illustration of the fi rst point—particular architectural
Think about your local community (your college campus,
your neighborhood, or your town). Determine how your
local community takes one aspect of popular culture and
makes it your own.
HOW CAN LOCAL AND POPULAR
CULTURES BE SEEN IN THE CULTURAL
LANDSCAPE?
The tension between globalized popular culture
and local culture can be seen in the
cultural land-
scape
, the visible imprint of human activity on the
Figure 4.22
Roseville, Minnesota.
A series of signs advertising national chains creates a nondescript land-
scape on Snelling Avenue in this St. Paul suburb. Across the street from where this photo was
taken is the site of T-1, the fi rst Target store ever built, which was recently torn down and replaced
with the largest Target store in the world.
© Bridget Hogan Hoye.
