Norden and the “substantive landscape”: a personal account

Abstract.

This commentary takes its point of departure in the debate provoked by the landscape theory that Denis Cosgrove presented in his seminal book, Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape (1984), in which he defined landscape in terms of scenic, spatial forms of representation. By unpacking the evolution of the concept of landscape the author proposed an alternative interpretation to Cosgrove's, emphasizing differing conceptions of lawfulness, in which the “substantive” platial landscape was introduced as a counterpoint to the scenic spatial concept. Initially, and for two particular reasons, the substantive landscape became theoretically placed in Norden: first, due to the historical and contemporary territorial/platial connotations of the term in the Nordic realm, and second, because the interest in a substantive landscape has been considerable among Nordic scholars. Today, this interest goes well beyond a Nordic context. In commenting on the contributions in this special issue the paper points at how different engagements with a “substantive landscape” might inform present and future scholarly debate concerning the role and meaning of landscape.

Key words:

• substantive landscape
• platial landscape
• landscape scenery
• law
• Norden