AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.06.2005, Side 26

uninspiring urban environment found
in many other Western cities.
But what does he mean in regard
to an uninspiring urban environment
and local features? What makes the
city landscape into a cohesive whole
and what values are inherent in this?
To begin with, how do we
define an area of land?
An area of land can be defined
as a territory or domain. The first
settlers marked their domain which
became their farming settlement,
which they altered according to
their needs. A territory can also be
a city, a town, a cultivated plot, or
an untouched piece of land. In other
words, something that defines and
deliniates an area as being differ-
ent from others. In this way land
can be defined in a material way.
Land can also be defined in a
non-material way. This is apparent
in the cultural heritage of nations
and ethnic groups. Hence, on one
hand Scandinavia can be defined as
a certain area in the northern hemi-
sphere connected by similar lan-
guages, fairly similar climates, sea-
sonal changes (except lceland) and
cultures, as well as the fact that they
always give each other 12 points
in the European Song Contest.
On the other hand, these coun-
tries are very different. Denmark is
largely without mountains, while
Norway and lceland have rug-
ged mountains and deep fjords.
Finland is covered with extensive
woodlands and lakes like parts of
Russia, and Sweden has a mix-
ture of all these characteristics.
Non-material territories are there-
fore not limited by borders and
can exist without a connection to
local features or physical areas. In
reality the distance between non-
material and material territories is
constantly increasing. The way that
the borders of free trade areas are
becoming more important than
the borders of individual states
illustrates this point perfectly.
One of the consequences of this
development is that with increased
internationalization the city land-
scape is becoming more and more
homogenous. This can manifest
itself in the architecture and appear-
ance of buildings in many ways,
such as the design and marketing
of individual international firms in
the food sector that want to por-
tray a standardised image. This
leads to shopping centres all over
the world becoming very similar.
Perhaps Ridley Scott’s futuris-
tic vision in the 1982 film “Blade
Runner” is one of the darkest
portrayals of the future city land-
scape. In that reality international
corporations reign supreme. Social
decisions that influence all human-
ity are made by the boards of large
companies and not in the parlia-
ments of individual states. The
city is dark and the environment
ghostly. The distinction between
the natural and the artificial is
disappearing along with all indi-
viduality, merging into chaos.
This does not have to be the
future. The world is in a certain
sense getting smaller and living
standards increasing, while leisure
time, interaction and collaboration
between countries is constantly
on the rise, at least in the West.
The main goals of the Regional
Plan for the Capital Area are to
make Reykjavík an international,
high-technology city, to increase the
population densitiy, and to make a
clear distinction between the man-
made environment, with its sharp
lines, and the landscape with its soft
forms. According to the Regional
Plan, the Capital Area should be
a beautiful city with clearly defined
urban areas and pristine nature
reserves. Properly carried out, this
idea strengthens the features of the
city apparent in the uniqe interplay
between the natural and urban char-
acteristics of the Capital Area. ■
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