Finland

Coordinator: Professor Maunu Häyrynen
mauhay@utu.fi
School of Cultural Production and Landscape Studies, University of Turku, Siltapuistokatu 2, 2nd floor, FIN -28100 Pori, Finland

The Finnish subgroup, with which an Estonian member is also associated, represents the Finnish multidisciplinary field of landscape studies. Finnish landscape studies have formed a network already in 1991. A central figure for Finnish landscape studies has been the geographer J. G. Granö and his "Pure Geography", originally published in 1929. While Granö has laid out the foundations for areal and geographical landscape studies, a number of humanistic disciplines have approached landscape from the points of view of environmental aesthetics, built heritage, landscape representation, environmental history and artistic studies. From the 1980s on, cultural geography has mediated between the humanities and the more scientifically oriented areal / environmental studies. There is also a lot of interaction between academia and sectoral research within administration, which provides strong links between theoretically oriented research and practical application. Since 2001, the interdisciplinary academic subject of Landscape Studies has been taught at the humanistic faculty of the University of Turku. Research fields represented in this subgroup include: Cultural Geography, Tourism Studies, Landscape Studies, Regional Studies, and Art History.