The Aerial Perspective |
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Cultural landscapes can be documented by aerial photography. When aerial images are shot at oblique angles and at relatively low altitudes, the images show land and buildings together, entwining the natural and the constructed elements. Aerial images can capture the preserved parts of a town's cultural landscape, and can also help identify the threatened parts and the shape of land use conflicts, present and potential. Low-level, oblique-angle pictures of many parts of the town can establish a more complete visual inventory than ground-level shots. They can show inaccessible places, such as wetlands or steep terrain. They can reveal usually hidden sites, such as dumps or gated communities. If shot at altitudes from 1000 to 2000 feet, they can show facades as well as site massing. They convey the vast scale typical of twenty-first century development, and can bring up-to-the-minute data on the progress of sprawl. And, best of all, they are understood by people without technical training, in a way that zoning maps, zoning codes, satellite surveys, and traditional site plans are not. While citizens struggle to articulate the historic character of their towns, or the spatial qualities that make them unique, aerial photographs show scale issues in a coherent way.(4) If activist citizens are members of architectural preservation groups, they can move up in scale, from mullions to major roads. If they belong to conservation groups or environmental organizations, they can move toward understanding the combination of natural and built forms, from wildlife habitats to housing typologies. The aerial photograph shows common ground, but it is taken from an unfamiliar angle. It opens discussion and helps sustain it.Page 2 |