A methodological proposal to study the urban landscape: Case application in Temuco, Chile

Abstract

SA summarised methodology is explained for analysing, diagnosing and planning the
urban landscape, the fruit of the inductive-deductive research work carried out by the authors
regarding several areas; the city of Temuco, a medium-sized city of Chile, is the last of these. The
development and explanation of the methodology is justified by the deficit existing concerning the
way to study the urban landscape, in contrast with the bibliographical abundance available for the
landscapes of extensive supra-urban territories. It begins with a brief review of the significant
background regarding the concept of urban landscape, which is understood as the interaction of
two components, one objective: the image transmitted by the city; another subjective: the way in
which it is perceived by the citizens and by chance or intentional visitors who visit it. Then a
description is given of the methodology structured in three phases: one analytical concerning the
two components mentioned; another synthetic, interpretational or diagnostic which refers to the
urban landscape units, to its evaluation, problems and evolutionary dynamic; and another projective
phase which includes the objectives of quality and the proposals to progress towards these, that is
to say, for the formation of the future urban landscape. Finally, the application of the methodology
is illustrated and its validity verified as regards the city of Temuco, which has shown the logic of the
process it entails and the interesting results obtained both in diagnostic terms and proposals for
this city. This has been done with the logical restrictions imposed by reducing such a complex and
extensive work to the limits of an article.