2009-11-03

Settlement & Landscapes III

1. Homestead, Yunnan Province, China
2. Penon de Alhucemas, Morocco
3. Rheris, Morocco
4. Munich, Germany
5. Saulsville Township, South Africa
6. Shibam, Yemen




Editorial: See Settlement & Landscapes I.

Settlement & Landscapes II

1. Kye Monastery, Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh, India
2. Houston, Texas
3. Village, Niger, Africa
4. Markham Suburbs, Ontario
5. Monteriggioni, Siena Province, Italy
6. Las Vegas, Nevada



Editorial: See Settlement & Landscapes I.

2009-11-02

Settlement & Landscapes I

1. Kreuzberg (Berlin), Germany
2. Complexo do Alemão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
3. Village, Farah Province, Afghanistan
4. African Village
5. Ganvié, Benin
6. New York, New York



Editorial: In my work I study the connections between past human events and features of the natural and built environment. Part of this study involves looking at human settlement on diverse landscapes, which is why I collect these aerial images (if you happen to stumble on a fine example please send it along). The theory is quite simple and almost blasé in today’s scholarship: the relationship between human life and physical space is dialectical as the two change and develop through constant interaction (i.e., through a dialogue). If you have any doubt whether the space that contains us (concrete/wooded, flat/inclined, cramped/spacious, etc.) alters or affects our behavior in the same way that our actions (building, farming, digging, moving, etc.) transform landscapes, just take a look at these images. Think how different you would be-- how different your thoughts, beliefs and dreams would be-- if you lived in these places. Clearly I could make the same point about people's social milieu influencing who they are and what they do. In fact, to understand an event and its actors you need to think about both worlds—the material and the social—as well as a few others that I can wrestle with later (ideological and physiological being the big two). In the meantime enjoy these views from around the world.