How can the approach of “reading the landscape” be used to better understand the cultural landscape in your community? How does this help us to better understand decision-making (politics) and community disagreements? What role does power play in how landscapes are created and changed?

Read the short essay, “Axioms for Reading the Landscape,” by Pierce Lewis, posted on HuskyCT. Here is the citation for the essay:

Lewis, P (1979) “Axioms for Reading the Landscape: Some Guides to the American Scene.” In Interpretations of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays, ed. D.W. Meinig. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.11-32.
Your assignment: Using Pierce Lewis’s axioms to inform your analysis, write an essay about the landscapes depicted in the class map. Consider these three questions:

How can the approach of “reading the landscape” be used to better understand the cultural landscape in your community?
How does this help us to better understand decision-making (politics) and community disagreements?
What role does power play in how landscapes are created and changed (e.g., figure out whose perspective “matters” and is built into the landscape, and whose perspective is left out)?