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Fixed Categories in a Portable Landscape: The Causes and Consequences of Land-Cover Categorization

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  • Paul Robbins

    (Department of Geography, Ohio State University, 1132 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

Abstract

In this paper I explore both the causes and the effects of defining land-cover categories for the mapping of landscapes. Utilizing a participatory remote sensing technique in a case example from Rajasthan, India, I demonstrate that local and expert characterizations of the environment are qualitatively and quantitatively divergent. Satellite imagery, I therefore conclude, is not an impartial tool for the settlement of debates about land cover but is instead the result of prior debates about the character of nature. Moreover, such imagery acts as a force in the transformation of the environment; by fixing certain interpretations of the environment and forcing certain forms of management, technology changes on the land through a process of reverse adaptation. I conclude, therefore, that bureaucratic efforts at mechanical objectivity serve to institutionalize and therefore create measurable, quantifiable, and aggressive land covers through the practice of ecological modernization.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Robbins, 2001. "Fixed Categories in a Portable Landscape: The Causes and Consequences of Land-Cover Categorization," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(1), pages 161-179, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:33:y:2001:i:1:p:161-179
    DOI: 10.1068/a3379
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    Cited by:

    1. Flurina M. Wartmann & Ross S. Purves, 2017. "What’s (Not) on the Map: Landscape Features from Participatory Sketch Mapping Differ from Local Categories Used in Language," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Gregory L Simon, 2010. "Mobilizing Cookstoves for Development: A Dual Adoption Framework Analysis of Collaborative Technology Innovations in Western India," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(8), pages 2011-2030, August.
    3. Eric Nost, 2015. "Performing nature's value: software and the making of Oregon's ecosystem services markets," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(12), pages 2573-2590, December.
    4. Melissa Leach, 2008. "Pathways to Sustainability in the Forest? Misunderstood Dynamics and the Negotiation of Knowledge, Power, and Policy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(8), pages 1783-1795, August.
    5. Mattias Qviström, 2013. "Landscapes with a Heartbeat: Tracing a Portable Landscape for Jogging in Sweden (1958–1971)," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(2), pages 312-328, February.
    6. Amit John Kurien & Sharachchandra Lele & Harini Nagendra, 2019. "Farms or Forests? Understanding and Mapping Shifting Cultivation Using the Case Study of West Garo Hills, India," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-26, August.
    7. Adam Jadhav & Sharolyn Anderson & Michael J. B. Dyer & Paul C. Sutton, 2017. "Revisiting Ecosystem Services: Assessment and Valuation as Starting Points for Environmental Politics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-20, September.
    8. Alexis Comber & Peter Fisher & Richard Wadsworth, 2005. "What is Land Cover?," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 32(2), pages 199-209, April.
    9. Elisabeth Sedano, 2016. "‘Sensor’ship and Spatial Data Quality," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(2), pages 75-87.
    10. Cheyns, Emmanuelle & Silva-Castañeda, Laura & Aubert, Pierre-Marie, 2020. "Missing the forest for the data? Conflicting valuations of the forest and cultivable lands," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    11. Chhotray, Vasudha, 2022. "A supercyclone, landscapes of ‘emptiness’ and shrimp aquaculture: The lesser-known trajectories of disaster recovery in coastal Odisha, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    12. Wil Zonneveld, 2005. "Multiple Visioning: New Ways of Constructing Transnational Spatial Visions," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 23(1), pages 41-62, February.
    13. Baka, Jennifer & Bailis, Robert, 2014. "Wasteland energy-scapes: A comparative energy flow analysis of India's biofuel and biomass economies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 8-17.

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