Finnish landscape studies have long methodological traditions stretching back to the early 20th century. These
are reflected in present-day landscape research, which is practised
within various university disciplines and research institutions,
representing both the sciences and the humanities and also applied
fields. We have categorised Finnish landscape studies under four main
themes: (1) theoretical and methodological, (2) ecological, (3) social
and cultural, and (4) applied. The focus of Finnish landscape research
has been on both physical landscape characteristics and their spatial
and temporal interactions, and also on the diverse social context of
landscapes. Finnish landscapes have been mapped and delineated on
several occasions, the latest landscape map being based on a publication
by the National Land Survey and the Geographical Society of Finland
dating from 1994. This classification recognizes landscape areas defined
hierarchically on three spatial levels using the proportions and
spatial configurations of ground, water, vegetation and man-made forms.
The future of Finnish landscape studies is tied to whether knowledge
about nature-human interactions on the visible surface of the earth will
be able to overcome the fragmentation brought about by specialization.
What is needed is a common world of concepts, a new way of thinking.
This will call for transdisciplinary concepts, intertraditional points
of view, in which quantitative and explicatory methods are complemented
by qualitative approaches and methods which emphasize understanding,
meanings and symbols.