The Role of the Landscape in the Identity Generation Process

Landscape science was developed as a way of understanding and interpreting the human being in its relation with nature. Now, the concept of landscape is related to the social and cultural dynamics of daily environment. The present moment is a complex mixture of political, cultural, social relationships, influenced by demographic explosion, urbanization without limits, the extinction of natural resources and the emergence of an ecological mass consciousness.This paper wants to debate the importance of the landscape – natural or anthropogenic, in the process of establishing an identity in the context of globalization and cultural homogeneity.In a time when physical contacts are replaced by virtual contacts, communication is overused until it loses the value of the concept itself, making room for superficiality. In a word of mobility, dematerialization, communication, identity and character are essential. Identity is generated by that quality of a certain space which, through the natural or anthropogenic configuration it has, makes the individual aware of the place where he lives, giving him a sense of belonging. The nature or the urban landscape often offered significant elements that have been assimilated by the community, who frequently identified with them. Currently, the notion of landscape becomes ambiguous, complicated by the overlapping between different structures, images and various features that are often opposing from the point of view of typology. The resulting landscape is characterized by multiplicity, variety and structural and spatial discontinuity. There is a need for significant images, for a spatial identity that may become representative for society. The existing landscape – sometimes lacking form and incoherent - needs to regain its identity by reinventing itself. Spatial coherence is an essential condition for building a local character and an identity in the context of the current informational and communicational era through a “brand” – an internationally recognizable concept in the age of globalization.