Reconsidering the concept of therapeutic landscapes in J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

Researchers usually examine therapeutic landscapes, spaces that have or are felt to have healing properties, in positive terms. We reconsider the therapeutic landscape notion by applying it to J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye . The main character, Holden Caulfield, is sickened by his transition between childhood and adulthood, and he relies on therapeutic landscapes as an imaginary escape. Yet his therapeutic landscapes are oversimplified and unrealistic. Through examples from Holden's experiences, we explore therapeutic landscapes as ambivalent, nuanced spaces. We argue that therapeutic landscapes should be considered beyond exceptional cases, in everyday experience.     

孔子故里文化景观发展的历史层累及其机制效应

曲阜是中国历史文化名城,拥有“孔子故里”“东方圣城”“儒家文化发源地”等多个文化符号。然而,曲阜今日的景观格局是在历史发展过程中逐渐形成的。在这一过程中,为什么有些景观保留了下来,且影响日益扩大,而有的却湮没无闻？其背后的运行机制是什么？这些便是文章要探索的问题。已有关于文化景观的研究对景观的层累特性以及形成原因多有涉及,但较少分析层累过程中景观的筛选问题以及具体的机制效应。采用文献分析法,利用历史文物、历史文献和规划资料,以曲阜为例分析了城市文化景观的历史层累过程及其机制。结论如下：1）国家文化认同需要是造就曲阜文化景观历史层累及演变的主要原因。历史上,国家对儒学正统的不断强化,使曲阜与孔子和儒学有关的景观地位被不断抬高,而其他人文景观则被有意无意地忽略,导致最终消失。2）经济动机是当代曲阜文化景观维护与建设的重要标准。在当代,曲阜人文景观建设以服务旅游经济为目的,儒家文化的物质表征成为招揽游客的招牌和被消费的对象。3）鉴于曲阜在中国传统社会中的特殊地位,其人文景观被贴上了孔子与儒学的标签;但从另一方面看,这也限制了其城市景观多元化发展的可能性。     

广西凤山岩溶国家地质公园典型地质遗迹景观价值

广西凤山岩溶国家地质公园是我国西南喀斯特旅游资源的富集带,岩溶遗迹景观种类多、规模宏大、特色鲜明。园区内的岩溶洞穴、天生桥、天坑和天窗等4类典型地质遗迹景观与国内外同类景观对比,洞穴通道规模世界最大、巨型洞穴厅堂数量多、密度大;形态巨大、景观奇特的地下河三门海天窗、以高大石笋为代表的洞穴沉积物世界罕见,世界上最大的洞内天生桥,均具有很高的美学观赏价值和科学价值,地质遗迹景观资源的典型性、稀有性、自然性均在同类地质遗迹中名列前茅。     

Scaling effects of proximate desertification drivers on soil nutrients in northeastern Tanzania

We tested the scaling effects of proximate desertification drivers (i.e. soil erosion, bush encroachment and grazing pressure) on soil nutrients in northeastern Tanzania. We analyzed nutrient concentrations in the desertified and non-degraded benchmark. For the desertified landscapes we analyzed nutrient concentrations at the coarse (landscape), medium (micro-landscape) and sampling unit (fine scale) levels. Further, for the desertified micro-landscapes, we used the differences in total nutrient concentrations to identify moderately dysfunctional and dysfunctional micro-landscapes. The desertified micro-landscapes had an overall lower soil organic matter, total nitrogen and exchangeable phosphorus, and soil water, but had elevated cation exchange capacity and soluble bases compared with the benchmark. Different intensities of desertification processes, mediated by the three proximate desertification drivers, produced varied amounts of nutrients corresponding with moderately dysfunctional and dysfunctional micro-landscapes. The dysfunctional micro-landscapes had the lowest nutrient availability. The effects of proximate desertification drivers on pooled nutrients were scale-independent. For individual nutrients only pH, soil water and Mg⁺⁺ showed scaling effects at the coarse or medium scales for soil erosion, while for grazing pressure pH, soil water, CEC, Na⁺, Mg²⁺⁺ and Ca²⁺⁺ showed scale dependence. The scaling effects were interlinked with landscape processes that operated simultaneously and interactively with different drivers.     

Fractal Reconstruction with Unorganized Geochemical Data

Fractal geometry is receiving increased attention as a model for many natural phenomena. In this paper, we address two issues in dealing with unorganized 3-D measured data using fractal geometry: extraction of fractal characters and fractal surface (geochemical landscapes) reconstruction. We start from a set of randomly measured 3-D data on a plane. After classification and concentration of the input data, we present methods for estimating the fractal dimension and texture deviation as fractal characters, and then an improved subdivision scheme is developed to reconstruct fractal surface on the basis of the extracted fractal characters. We demonstrate both characterization and reconstruction with irregularly measured geochemical data from 1767 stream sediment samples in the middle district (450km² in area) of Zhejiang, China.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: The City in Cultural Context . John Agnew, John Mercer, David Sopher, eds. Soils and Geomorphology Peter W. Birkeland. Urbanization and Settlement Systems, International Perspectives . L. S. Bourne, R. Sinclair, and K. Dziewoński. eds. An Introduction to Urban Historical Geography . Harold Carter. Overshoot, The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change . William J. Catton, Jr. Rivers of the World . Eberhard Czaya. Jewish Communities in Frontier Societies: Argentina, Australia and South Africa . Daniel J. Elazar with Peter Medding. Color in Public Spaces: Toward a Communication-Based Theory of the Urban Built Environment. Kenneth E. Foote. Spatial Statistics and Models. Gary L. Gaile and Cort J. Willmott, eds. Mega-Geomorphology. Rita Gardner and Helen Scoging, eds. Technological Change and Regional Development. Gillespie, ed. The Arid Lands: Their Use and Abuse. R. L. Heathcote. The Location of Industry in Britain. A. G. Hoare. Groundwater as a Geomorphic Agent . R. G. LaFleur, ed. Rural Public Services: International Comparisons. Richard E. Lonsdale and Gyorgy Enyedi, eds. Saving Water in a Desert City. William E. Martin, Helen M. Ingram, Nancy K. Laney, and Adrian H. Griffin. Water Resources: Distribution, Use and Management. John R. Mather. Transnationals and the Third World: The Struggle for Culture. Armand Mattelart. South Hadley, MA: USGS Digital Cartographic Data Standards. R. B. McEwen, R. E. Witmer, and B. S. Ramey, eds. The Ecosystem Concept in Anthropology. Emilio F. Moran, ed. Boulder, CO: Women, Men, and the International Division of Labor. June Nash and Maria Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, eds. Nuclear Power: Assessing and Managing Hazardous Technology. Martin J. Pasqualetti and K. David Pijawka, eds. Mary Somerville and the Cultivation of Science 1815-1840. Elizabeth Chalmers Patterson. An Introduction to Coastal Geomorphology. John Pethick. Late Quaternary Environments of the United States , Vol. 1, The Late Pleistocene. Stephen C. Porter, ed. Planning and Ecology. R. D. Roberts and T. M. Roberts, eds. Regionalism and the Pacific Northwest. William G. Robbins, Robert J. Frank, and Richard E. Ross, eds. Environment and Health. Anthony J. Rowland and Paul Cooper. Sunbelt/Snowbelt: Urban Development and Regional Restructuring. Larry Sawers and William K. Tabb, eds. The Bad Earth. Environmental Degradation in China. Vaclav Smil. Armonk, NY: Voyage into Substance: Art, Science, Nature, and the Illustrated Travel Account, 1760–1840. Barbara Maria Stafford. The Institute of British Geographers: The First Fifty Years. Robert W. Steel. Visions of the Past. Christopher Taylor and Richard Muir. Glacial Lake Agassiz. J. T. Teller and Lee Clayton, eds. The Tule Breakers: The Story of the California Dredge. John Thompson and Edward A. Dutra. The Balkan City 1400–1900. Nikolai Todorov. Explanation, Prediction and Planning: the Lowry model. Michael J. Webber. Mercedes Reales: Hispanic Land Grants of the Upper Rio Grande Region. Victor Westphall. The World Atlas of Revolutions. Andrew J. M. Wheatcroft. The West European City, A Social Geography. Paul White. Urban Elites and Mass Transportation. J. Allen Whitt. Princeton, NJ: Urban Life In Contemporary China. Martin King Whyte and William L. Parish. The Demand for Energy in the Soviet Union. David Wilson. London and Canberra: Rethinking Geographical Inquiry. J. David Wood, ed.     

Geology and rural landscapes in central Spain (Guadalajara, Castilla—La Mancha)

Methods commonly used in regional geological analysis were employed to study the visual landscapes of the Sigüenza–Molina de Aragón area (Spain). Landscape data were compiled to produce a landscape map and a photograph catalogue. Lithological composition, tectonic structure and recent erosive processes are the main factors controlling the visual landscapes. Territorial properties, such as colours and agricultural capacities, are controlled by these geological characteristics. The landscape map and the photographic catalogue is the main contribution of this paper. The first level of landscape classification distinguishes zones with dominance of either flat, concave or convex areas. Other parts of the territory are, however, composed of concave and convex combinations that originate hybrid orographic structures. In a second level of classification, several subdivisions for each of these types are established.     

Farmer Identity in Multifunctional Landscapes: using a collective identity construct to explore the nature and impact of occupational identity

The use of multifunctionalism to conceptualise contemporary rural landscapes has focused attention on the increased extent and impact of non-farmers in traditionally agriculture-based rural communities. Typologies of rural landholders have been developed as part of that research effort. However, those typologies are not grounded in established theory, including collective identity theory that could provide an important foundation for the study of occupational identity. Indeed, most quantitative studies may be flawed in drawing on only one of the seven elements contributing to collective identity. This paper examines the efficacy of relying on self-declared occupational identity through the analysis of rural landholder survey data in an Australian region. Tests for expected relationships between self-declared identity of farmer/non-farmer and social and farming variables expected to be correlated with occupation, such as property size, profitability, hours worked on- and off-property, enterprise type and membership of farming-related local organisations found that the expected relationships existed. It seems that self-declared occupational identity is a valid and cost-effective way to explore occupational identity amongst rural landholders. Collective identity, however, is complex and it is unlikely that important research questions can be adequately explored without a more holistic approach to the study of farmer identity in multifunctional landscapes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential benefits of moving beyond self-declared occupation to include other elements in the collective identity construct.     

Street networks in relation to landforms：Implications for fast-growing cities

In addition to socio-economic factors,major landforms may affect the city structure and urban form. Here we show that landforms have significant effects on the city shape and street patterns of the fast-growing Iranian cities of Dezful (a river) and Khorramabad (mountains and valleys),but no clear effects on the cities of Yazd and Nain. Also,where the street orientation is peaked,the Gibbs/Shannon entropy (a measure of dispersion or spread) is low,but increases as the distribution becomes more uniform because of landform constraints. The streets in the old inner parts of all the cities are,on average,shorter and denser (more streets per unit area) than the streets of the newer outer parts. The entropies of the outer parts are also greater than those of the inner parts,implying that the street-length distribution gradually becomes more dispersed or spread as the city expands. All these cities have been fast growing in the past decades,with the newer outer parts expanding rapidly. As shown here,the rapidly formed outer parts (with greater dispersion in street patterns) have significantly different textures from those of the older inner parts,indicating different functionality and growth processes. These quantitative methods for street-network analysis can be used worldwide,particularly for analysing the effects of landforms on city shape and texture.