ИСТИНА

The industrial transformation of historical coastal landscapes caused wide consequences on local population and the environmental balance. In order to understand their spatial-temporal character different geographical approaches are used. This article examines the discussed representation of human attitude towards environment regarding its content, periods of development and various practices of landscape interpretations. This includes first the political decision-making level, which aims to attain economic goals. Second the role of science and technology in transforming the landscape according to the given scientific paradigm is of high importance. Third the response of the society will be highlighted. In doing so, we consider several landscape actors in relation to a high variety of settings – from anthropocentric approach to nature to so-called delicate (sustainable) nature use. Our study seeks to analyze where these different human-environment-related endeavors flow from, how they influence the quality of human habitation and their identification with the landscape of everyday life. Therefore we focus on two examples of coastal landscapes in Russia (Archangelsk) and Italy (Venice), which have been subject of dramatic alteration in recent years of industrial development. Following this we aim to compare two areas with opposite environmental conditions: on the one hand the relatively undisturbed natural areas and on the other hand the densely populated, heavily industrialized and polluted regions. Due to their changes in function, design and use over the last decades, we consider these landscapes being adequate examples to study the understanding of people’s subjective construction of landscape, its meaning in everyday life and the ways of adaptation to their environment.