Explaining the Structure of the Narrative in the Urban Landscape as a Narrative Discourse

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M.A. Student of Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Tarbiat Modares, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor of Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Architecture Department of Art and Architecture Faculty, Tarbiat Modares, Tehran, Iran

10.22124/upk.2024.26061.1907

Abstract

Introduction: Throughout history, "Narratives" have always been an integral part of culture and human life, playing a significant role in transmitting the values of human societies. The profound impact of the "narrative" in human life has led many linguists to consider it as an innate linguistic ability specific to humans. This is because our perception of the surrounding world is deeply tied to our understanding of its narratives, and we comprehend the phenomena through understanding their narratives. In fact, the realization that narrative serves as a crucial tool for understanding and conveying concepts has led to the continuous growth of narratology in various fields of study, which is also known as the "narrative turn". The narrative capabilities in urban landscape and urban planning have also become a focus of attention for many scholars and researchers in the past two decades. Indeed, the fact that cities and urban landscapes are like interpretable texts that narrate the memories, events, and citizens' perceptions of the city has underscored the significance of studying the nature and mechanisms of narrative in cities. Understanding the narrative capacities of urban landscapes can significantly affect the way we comprehend, intervene, and interact with cities. Despite the research carried out in the fields of narrative and urban landscape, there is still no precise conceptual framework for the relationship between narrativity and urban landscape as a narrative discourse. In fact, most of them have studied the ways of using landscape narratives in the design process. Therefore, the current research aims to explain the narrative structure in the urban landscape by examining the theoretical foundations in both the narrative and urban landscape domains. This research also tries to investigate the narrative tools and their mechanisms in the urban landscape.
Methodology: The current study has been conducted based on a qualitative approach and a descriptive-analytical method. Data collection has been conducted through library research. The research type is basic, aiming to explain the concept of the urban landscape as a narrative text and identify the tools, methods of storytelling, and how to read the narratives of the urban landscape. To achieve the research objective in the theoretical foundations section, the phenomenon of narrative and related theories have been studied and analyzed and the constituent elements of the narrative and the relationships among them have been extracted. Then, the concept of the urban landscape and its relationship with humans and the city has been studied. Subsequently, by using theoretical foundations and logical reasoning, content analysis, the structure of narration in the urban landscape has been explained as a type of narrative discourse.
Results: The findings obtained from the review of the theoretical basics demonstrate that every narrative includes three elements: story, narrative discourse, and audience. In this structure, the story is a mediating phenomenon, while narrative discourse acts as the connecting link between the story and the audience. On the other hand, the definitions of the urban landscape make it clear that the urban landscape as an objective-subjective phenomenon is the mediator between the city and humans. In fact, it is the urban landscape that provides us with the ability to read the semantic layers of the city (fig.1).
Fig.1. Comparison of the Mediating Role of Landscape and Urban Landscape as a type of Narrative Discourse in place Narratives.
Discussion: According to the literature review, we cannot directly engage with the story because the story doesn't have any manifestation on its own and is always read through the mediation of narrative discourse. Since in every narrative, mediators narrate the story, there must also be a mediator in urban narratives, which makes possible the connection between the stories of the city and people. In fact, "Urban landscape" is the very connecting link that causes people to perceive and read the stories of the city through its subjective-objective quality. As a result, by referencing the concept of the urban landscape, it can be concluded that citizens and the urban environment are known as two constituent factors of the urban landscape, and the urban landscape, as a narrative text, narrates the interaction between them at a certain time and place.
Conclusion: "Narrative" is always considered a part of the nature of the landscape, not something separate from it, and the urban landscape is not exempted from this rule. The urban landscape, as an objective-subjective phenomenon that is the result of the interaction of citizens with the body of the city, serves as a medium of narrative discourse and narrates the story and semantic layers of the city. To explain, the urban landscape, through its narrative tools, namely 1) creating an interactive platform for engaging with the story and 2) objective and subjective signs (such as paths, edges, nodes, districts, and Landmarks), provides the possibility of reading and manifesting the story layers of the city through a sensory-perceptual process (fig.2).

Keywords

References

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Urban Planning Knowledge
Volume 8, Issue 1
March 2024
Pages 77-91

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History

  • Receive Date: 25 November 2023
  • Revise Date: 09 January 2024
  • Accept Date: 01 June 2024

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