Abstract
Regional identity as a subject of invented tradition is continuously updated in whole Europe; this process is especially regular in cultures of small populations, such as Latvia. It is a multilayered term, which involves a continuously changing main value-focus and numerous disciplines, including architecture. One of the ways to look at it realistically is to analyze the visually represented main hegemonic values and processes in society. Appropriate platform for this is provided by agglomeration expansion – fusion spots of the urban and the rural, thus creating a characteristic local landscape. The aim of this article is to clarify core impacts on the regional identity formation of the landscape of Riga region as observed today. Methodology is based on the case study of Mārupe County, using RES (residential) landscape inventory, urban-morphology, photo-analytical and rhetoric problem-definition methodology. Major findings lead to a conclusion of unbalanced role between the state intervention and free trade system, based on the neoliberal ideology intensified in the transition – economy zone. Thus regional spatial identity has mostly failed following any professional standards, but has rather developed as clusters with residential function, mostly under the strong impact of the market economy and entrepreneurship. Regioninis identitetas kaip naujai išrastos tradicijos samprata yra nuolatos atnaujinama visoje Europoje; šis procesas yra ypač dėsningas tokių nedidelių šalių, kaip Latvija, kultūrose. Tai daugiasluoksnis reiškinys, apimantis besikeičiančias, į vertybes orientuotas disciplinas, taip pat ir architektūrą. Vienas iš būdų į tai žiūrėti realistiškai – analizuoti vizualiai reprezentuotas pagrindines hegemonines vertybes ir procesus visuomenėje. Tam tikrą platformą šiam reiškiniui teikia aglomeracijos plėtra – miestietiškumo ir kaimiškumo sintezė, kurianti charakteringą vietinį kraštovaizdį. Šio straipsnio tikslas – išsiaiškinti nūdienos Rygos regiono kraštovaizdžio esminį poveikį regioninio identiteto formavimui. Metodologija yra pagrįsta Mārupe apygardos tyrimu, kuriam naudotas RES (gyvenamojo) kraštovaizdžio aprašo, miestų morfologijos, fotoanalitinis ir retorinis problemos įvardijimo metodai. Tyrimo rezultatai veda prie išvados, kad valstybės įsikišimo vaidmuo ir laisvoji prekybos sistema, pagrįsta neoliberalia ideologija, nėra subalansuoti ir tai sustiprėja pereinamosios ekonomikos zonoje. Taigi regioninis erdvinis identitetas ne tikslingai grindžiamas profesionaliais standartais, o vystosi daugiau kaip gyvenamosios paskirties zonos, stipriai veikiamos rinkos ekonomikos ir verslo.
Highlights
Concepts of region and regionalism today are being given an increasing attention in the global, national and urban politics1 and policy-making2, as well as in development of the social, economic and political theory (Soja 2009)
Possible descriptions of the foreground characteristics of Riga, the capital of Latvia, could include terrific moments for every taste – a skyline of church towers and Art Nouveau buildings in the historic centre of the city, examples of local modernism in the downtown part or rural ethnographic aesthetics compressed in the Open-Air Museum
If we focus on the case study located in Latvia
Summary
Concepts of region and regionalism today are being given an increasing attention in the global, national and urban politics and policy-making, as well as in development of the social, economic and political theory (Soja 2009). Regional architectural identity is not an exception and its scene has fore-grounded and back-grounded dimensions. The country-specific regional architecture has been analyzed in this paper not through the lens of the aforementioned “selection”, but rather through a mass analysis of more extensive subject body – the custom-made patchwork (MacLeod, Ward 2009) landscape. It consists of private residential clusters, formed on the city outskirts during the last 23 years. Driving to any outskirts of Riga, it is impossible to escape these panoramic views accumulated in the agricultural and forest territories. It becomes a significant topic from the point of regional landscape formation and assessment
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