Tuning In – Qualities of Contemporary Cultural Landscapes in Lower Saxony

Business parks, infrastructure lines, industrial farming, airports,

windfarms – due to extensive processes of modernization, the

landscape of Lower Saxony is being quickly and almost completely

filled with new types of landscapes. These contemporary phenomena

are products of today’s culture and thus necessarily cultural

landscapes, determining to a large extent our immediate environment.

The research project starts with the hypothesis that the people of

Lower Saxony are currently unable to identify with these landscapes

in a positive way. Instead, identification with their country largely

relies on Arcadian images of pre-industrial landscapes – this attitude

is not productive in regard to the spatial importance of these new

cultural landscapes.

This project will explore new possibilities and methods to aesthetically

approach these contemporary cultural landscapes. Is it possible

to initiate positive shifts in appreciation similar to those experienced

in the Lüneburger Heide or the Diepholzer Moorniederung?

By expanding the contemporary theory of cultural landscapes and

through complex mappings of three selected case studies in Lower

Saxony, the qualities of the new cultural landscapes will be tuned in.

Based on this empirical and theoretical foundation, a critical discussion

of the qualities of these new cultural landscapes will be made

and summarized in a catalog. Here, qualities which would allow for

people to positively identify with contemporary cultural landscape

are outlined. Deficits, however, are also identified and critically discussed

in order to explore possibilities for long-term improvement.

  • Title Original : Einblenden – Qualitäten zeitgenössischer Kulturlandschaftstypen in Niedersachsen
  • Website : http://www.ila.uni-hannover.de/en/tala/research/thirdparty_grants/
  • Project start : 0000
  • Project end : 2008
  • Contact Person : Prof. Dr. Martin Prominski
  • Funding Agency : Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony
  • Image Title : Airport Landscape Hannover-Langenhagen