The Identity of a Landscape

Week 1 - Landscape as PLACE

Silver, yellow, white, white, blue, grey, red, black, grey, grey, green, silver, and forever continuing in a seemingly random pattern all in two straight vertical lines. This, my friend, is a carpark; a place you and I are most likely both familiar with. Glorious, isn’t it?

A turquoise car rolls into this lane of the carpark, searching for a spot to belong among the other metal beasts awaiting their owners. This particular carpark is situated near Y building, and Y building is part of Federation University Australia which is at Mt Helen, which is in Ballarat, which is in Victoria, which is in Australia, which is in the Southern Hemisphere. At what point do I stop trying to describe what this place is and where it is geographically? It is a smaller place within a larger place and so on.

Trees line the narrow dirt strips of the carpark and beyond is a large, bare hill but for two trees stretching half into the mist above it. The sunlight is struggling to pierce the thick covering of grey clouds. What is that place called? I now dub thee "Two Tree Hill." This hill stoically looms near the carpark yet nobody seems to notice it but I, perched on the top floor of Y building. The hill is insignificant to all the humans enclosed in their cars; all that matters to them in this place is trying to find a park before they go to class. I see several exploring back and forth, hoping for a miracle. It doesn't look promising.

Week 2 - Landscape as IDEOLOGY

Rules reign supreme. The car must go within the lines, people mustn't walk in front of cars, and cars must give way and indicate. Even the trees must stay in their confined spaces, for what good is a carpark with a tree in the way of the road? I see one person slow their car down to give way to another before turning, following the rules like a good little citizen. It is clear that we value mobility, convenience, order, and the adherence to regulations and expectations on how to drive and behave.

I would call this competition. Every day the race starts to occupy the ideal park (or any parking spot for that matter). It is first-in best-dressed, the early bird gets the worm. As the population grows there is higher demand for things such as carparks. Expansion and progress is gradually chipping away at the environment of which there is an appreciation, but no burning passionate love for. I can see we appreciate the trees for their shade in the carpark, but then I see Two Tree Hill and recognise its stark difference being almost bare with paddocks. It seems that the production of food also trumps the importance of the trees. Instrumental value instead of intrinsic value is attributed to this by we humans but I like to think there are both types of value existing in the one thing. Is that wishful thinking?

Week 3 - Landscape as NATURE

Today everyone will be saying 'it is such a nice day today!' because some warmth and sunshine is more than welcome in a Ballarat Winter. The sky is the clearest I have seen in a long time, the trees atop Two Tree Hill look as if they are floating in a blue mass of sky atop a green blanket.

I imagine this to be a place covered in plants was it not for the carpark. I look at Two Tree Hill. Would you be "Many Tree Hill" had mankind not traipsed into this area and made it their habitat? How have you been changed? Are you suffering? This place can be described in many different ways, and could have been an entirely different place had it not been settled by Europeans. I will never see what this place could have been; I only have it as it is in this moment.

Native flora would have dominated the landscape and a plethora of birdlife would have inhabited these trees accompanying an abundance of Australian mammalian wildlife: kangaroos and koalas and echidnas. A comforting quietness would settle upon the area as the breeze gently rustles the leaves. There would be no motor vehicles, no people chattering. It would simply be the land functioning at its own pace in its own way. Among the thick of the forest I would not recognise the hills.

Humans are part of nature so what we create is also a part of the natural order, just as a bird builds a nest, how can that be considered unnatural? So perhaps I should take in what I see and accept that this carpark is a part of nature, as are the cars and this building. There is no divide between the human world and the natural world - they are both one and the same world.

Week 4 - Landscape as HABITAT

I can see an attempt to at least work with the land in the process of using it to our will. The carpark is paved at the certain angle up the hill, most of the slopes seem to be naturally occurring as well as some trees that don't look straight enough to have been planted in a row. I imagine the rabbits and other wildlife may have tried to adapt to their changed habitat but how successful were they? I very rarely see rabbits or kangaroos hopping through the carpark; they know it is safer to keep to what remains of their bushes. By contrast we humans stroll through the carpark like we belong. The truth is, the places we build up around us and the houses we live in are our natural habitat. We adapt just as animals adapt and our resourcefulness has lead to the construction of towns and cities where our populations thrive.

I look at the thin clouds glowing from the light of the hidden sun, the wet pavement, the people walking on their way to class and the absence of wildlife and I know that our constructed habitats have sacrificed the habitats of others to exist. As I look out at the miserable damp outdoors, the soft ground underneath the large trees, I wonder if there a small rabbit perched at the edge of the trees gazing at the giant metal machines and two-legged beings traipsing along the dark, hard surfaces?

Week 5 - Landscape as SYSTEM

Today the weekly schedule has worked against me. I am no longer perched in my regular place, instead I accept a position on the middle level of Y Building gazing out at the expanses of asphalt from a different angle. Two Tree Hill is just out of my vision. The regular working system of the university and its classes has moved me from my place. I hear the footsteps and chatting of students behind me on their way to their tutorials.

It looks toasty outside today, leaving me almost wistful for the overcast rainy days that are behind us. Several cars reverse from their spots and gradually disappear from my view. But they don't just vanish into thin air; I know that more exists outside my small field of vision here. This carpark is but a small blip in the larger network of roads connecting towns, streets, shops and houses. We are all connected by these lines on a map, this smooth surface acting as the strands of a spider's web that links everything. People and cars follow these paths to get places and it reminds me of ants in single-file following some invisible track to get back to their nest. Ours is a lot less subtle or ordered than that. Through the dense coverage of trees and shrubs I glimpse flashes of a shiny car speeding by. They are probably going home. Or maybe to the shops. Or maybe to someone's house. This system does not limit us; we have built our network with endless possibilities for where we may go and what turns we can make.

Week 6 - Landscape as PROBLEM

As far as carparks go, this one is adequate. There is enough room to reverse from a park and a decent amount of spaces so it serves its purpose quite well. There is one thing I notice under the afternoon sun and the shadows cast atop the cars; it would be nice to have more shade. I do not mean constructing shelters or shade cloths to provide shade but perhaps more trees. Most people enjoy the presence of trees as it gives a nice break from the construction and man-made theme and gives a refreshing source of colour. I believe the problem with this site is the lack of shade sometimes.

Many people would consider the natural environment to be degraded, but these are two different natural environments clashing. The built environment is unpleasant in that the surface becomes a branding iron in the heat but it fulfills its purpose. Maybe I have a limited view of this since I do not park here. Perhaps if I interacted more with it rather than staring at it from my perch I would learn what aspects of it are problematic like I am sure other people do.

Everyone would have different ideas as to what about this landscape is a problem, and it is likely that it would become the dichotomy debate of natural environment vs. built environment. Two Tree Hill remains stoic and silent as if observing what I observe.

Week 7 - Landscape as WEALTH

It is a regular day today, nothing exciting except the sun is shining brightly upon the surface of the cars. I look at the other vehicles clustered in the carpark, some look like they are on their last set of tyres on the verge of breaking down, and when that happens they will barely be worth anything as a whole and will only be sold to someone to fix or for spare parts for other projects. Each car is some unknown amount of money waiting to be collected when their owners are sick of them. Money on wheels. It is only a matter of time.

I realise that the carpark is also an important feature of the university as a whole. Who would go to a university if there was no parking? Less enrolment equals less money. The carpark enhances the value of this site.

I watch the people walking back to their cars, performing the daily mundane activities of their lives. They may not see what I see. They may have strong values for the natural environment and believe the carpark detracts from that value. A farmer would look at this and shake his head, gaze up at Two Tree Hill and see the potential for working it for profit. Or maybe there are people who only see something as valuable if it is aesthetically pleasing.

But what about what cannot be seen? I would not be able to landscape this area or construct a carpark. Not many people would be able to! There is wealth and value in knowledge, and what a better place to see that than at a university.