IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v12y2022i5p122-d899748.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Georg Simmel Goes Virtual: From ‘Philosophy of Landscape’ to the Possibilities of Virtual Reality in Landscape Research

Author

Listed:
  • Olaf Kühne

    (Department of Geosciences, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Rümelinstraße 19-23, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany)

  • Dennis Edler

    (Department of Geography, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44801 Bochum, Germany)

Abstract

With his text “Philosophy of Landscape” (German original: “Philosophie der Landschaft”), the German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel laid a foundation for landscape research that is still significant today. In the text, he equates the creation and perception of landscape with the creation of a painting. In doing so, he provided an essential foundation for landscape research with a constructivist orientation. In order to be able to grasp the differentiated nature of landscape analytically and to apply it to Simmel’s understanding of landscape, we resort to the approach of the three landscapes, which was developed from Karl Popper’s theory of the three worlds. The pictorial metaphor of Simmel’s understanding of landscapes, however, had the effect of limiting landscape to the visual, and often to what he described as ‘natural’. It did not address the power-bound nature of landscape. These aspects, however, are of great importance in current discussions about landscape. Aspects of power, multisensuality, and the incorporation of non-natural elements gain additional currency through the creation of augmented and virtual landscapes. This concerns, on the one hand, the creation of these landscapes, on the other hand, their individual internal consciousness, as well as their social construction. These show, not least, the contingency of landscape construction. They offer possibilities for the investigation of landscape stereotypes, and how innovations can be fed into the social construction of landscape to engage other senses beyond the sense of sight. The aim of our paper is to use conceptual critique to reflect on the conceptual development of social and cultural studies in landscape research since Simmel and to present its potential for framing research on AR and VR landscapes.

Suggested Citation

  • Olaf Kühne & Dennis Edler, 2022. "Georg Simmel Goes Virtual: From ‘Philosophy of Landscape’ to the Possibilities of Virtual Reality in Landscape Research," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:5:p:122-:d:899748
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/5/122/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/5/122/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ludger Gailing & Markus Leibenath, 2015. "The Social Construction of Landscapes: Two Theoretical Lenses and Their Empirical Applications," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 123-138, February.
    2. Xosé M. Santos & María De Los Ángeles Piñeiro-Antelo, 2020. "Landscape and power: the debate around ugliness in Galicia (Spain)," Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(7), pages 841-853, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roßmeier, Albert & Weber, Florian, 2022. "Stormy times. Civic engagement in wind power development: Between support and rejection," Arbeitsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Stefansky, Andreas & Göb, Angelina (ed.), "All change please!": Challenges and opportunities of the energy transition, volume 32, pages 48-74, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    2. Batel, Susana, 2020. "Re-presenting the rural in the UK press: An exploration of the construction, contestation and negotiation of media discourses on the rural within post-carbon energy transitions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Gailing, Ludger & Bues, Andrea & Kern, Kristine & Röhring, Andreas, 2019. "Socio-spatial dimensions in energy transitions: Applying the TPSN framework to case studies in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 52(6), pages 1112-1130.
    4. Patkós Csaba, 2018. "Specialities in the Institutionalisation of Hungarian Leader Local Action Groups," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 10(1), pages 89-106, March.
    5. Wonder Mafuta & Jethro Zuwarimwe & Marizvikuru Mwale, 2021. "WASH Financial and Social Investment Dynamics in a Conflict-Arid District of Jariban in Somalia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Ludger Gailing & Andrea Bues & Kristine Kern & Andreas Röhring, 2020. "Socio-spatial dimensions in energy transitions: Applying the TPSN framework to case studies in Germany," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1112-1130, September.
    7. Weber Florian & Jenal Corinna & Rossmeier Albert & Kühne Olaf, 2017. "Conflicts around Germany’s Energiewende: Discourse patterns of citizens’ initiatives," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 36(4), pages 117-130, December.
    8. Stefansky, Andreas & Göb, Angelina (ed.), 2022. ""All change please!": Challenges and opportunities of the energy transition," Arbeitsberichte der ARL, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, volume 32, number 32.
    9. Edita Tverijonaite & Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir & Rannveig Ólafsdóttir & C. Michael Hall, 2019. "Renewable Energy in Wilderness Landscapes: Visitors’ Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-23, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:12:y:2022:i:5:p:122-:d:899748. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.