Douglas Pelenberg: Outside Reading

Of all the sources for my paper Exploring Nonmaterial Qualities in Cultural Landscapes was by far the best. It explored many aspects of the values of cultural landscapes with a focus on nonmaterial qualities. The main focus of the paper is to look at the evolving concept of associative value in landscapes, differing associative values, and implications of recognizing these values for managing cultural landscapes. The article aims to do this because nonmaterial values are key factors in understanding cultural landscapes. These values are clues to substantial changes that could be made about significance, integrity and treatments. The author does a great job at showing how culture and nature go hand in hand. If there was one critique to have about this article, it is that meaning behind natural resources and landscape features is explored to the point of general conclusions only. In an article focusing on symbolism, meaning should be further examined.