Climatic changes: identity and identification

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    Abstract

    According to Cleo Paskal climatic changes are environmental changes. They are global, but their impact is local, and manifests them selves in the landscape, in our cities, in open urban spaces, and in everyday life.

    The landscape and open public spaces will in many cases be the sites where measurements to handle climatic changes will be positioned and enacted.
    Measurements taken are mostly adaptive or aimed to secure and protect existing values, buildings, infrastructure etc., but will in many cases also affects functions, meaning and peoples identification with the landscape and the open urban spaces.

    From Henri LeFebvre’s thinking we learn that the production of space is a feed back loop, where the space is constructed when we attach meaning to it, and when the space offers meaning to us. Spatial identity is thus not the same as identifying with space. Without indentifying with space, space doesn’t become place, and thus not experienced as a common good.

    Many Danish towns are situated by the sea; this has historically supported a strong spatial, functional and economically identity of the cities, with which people have identified. Effects of globalization processes and a rising sea level are now ques-tioning this. Measurements as dykes will changes or cut off the spatial and func-tional coherence between the city structure and the sea.

    Questions regarding the status and the appropriation of these ‘new’ adaptive func-tions in landscapes and open urban spaces by ordinary people must be addressed in order to develop and support social sustainability and identification.

    This paper explore and discuss how the handling of climatic changes in landscape and open urban spaces might hold a potential for them to become common goods.
    Translated title of the contributionKlimatiske forandringsprocesser - identitet og identifikation
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalI Quaderni di Careggi
    Issue number6
    Pages (from-to)108-113
    Number of pages6
    ISSN2281-3195
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Artistic research

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