Landscape; a Shifting Concept;The Evolution of the Concept of Landscape from Renaissance

'Landscape' is a contemporary term in the field of urban and environmental studies. A concept which came from Europe to Iran and now is frequently used in various fields in the country. The concept of landscape, as a new kind of reality in the world, emerged in the Renaissance era in Europe, and according to the changes in the western worldviews in these centuries, has gained various aspects and meanings. The multifaceted concept of landscape which is even hard to describe in the philosophic view, had been coined in the field of art, passed through the world of philosophy, and affected by the recent achievements in the field of the relation between human and environment, is wildly considered in the planning and designing the human environs. Still, its multifaceted meaning frequently ignored by the specialist around the world as well as Iran.
By considering the evolution of the concept of ‘landscape’ in Europe in a historic recall, this paper attempts to reveal the fundamental aspects of this concept, its current meaning, and anticipate its future shifts and its field of influence.
By adopting a descriptive method and comparative analysis, the concept of landscape from the Renaissance until now is examining and classified through the historical and existing definitions. At the end, based on this historical review, with the futurological approach, the paper looks into the possible future for this ambiguous.
The results of the classification of the definitions of 'landscape' from the Renaissance until now shows that although the emergence of 'landscape' coined based on the classic dualism between subject and object and the distinction between the world of physics and the world of phenomena as an individualistic regard to the nature, but with by the failure of this dualism and accepting the uncertainty in the world, it evaluated as a subjective-objective phenomenon. In the 21st century, this concept as a new field of science has gained the considerable attention and considered as a savior discipline for our crisis period of mono-dimensionality in the human and its environs relation.