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Visualization of Future Landscapes, Postmodern Cinema and Geographical Education

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Modern Approaches to the Visualization of Landscapes

Part of the book series: RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft ((RFSRL))

Abstract

This study fuses geographical education with film studies, by addressing the question of how might university students of Geography visualize a future urban landscape on the basis of key elements of Riddley Scott’s classic postmodern film “Bladerunner” (1982). Despite the fact that postmodern urbanism is a standard topic in university geography curricula, the literature is still short of studies relating to teaching postmodern geography. This paper contributes with an empirical study in this field, conducted on university students who had been taught postmodern urbanization. The students were asked to rate some of the main characteristics of postmodernity from with respect to their relevance to Athens and to predict the time by which Athens would show signs of the “Bladerunner” city. They identified areas of Athens resembling most to postmodern traits, predicted that Athens will resemble the Bladerunner city sometime before 2040, and that the anticipated changes will first become felt visually, aesthetically and socially and then, gradually, by behavioral/psychological characteristics. A map of future postmodern Athens areas was also produced from their responses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Fivos Papadimitriou

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  1. Fivos Papadimitriou
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Correspondence to Fivos Papadimitriou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Geographisches Institut, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Dennis Edler

  2. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Corinna Jenal

  3. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Olaf Kühne

Appendix

Appendix

Translation of the text given to students, briefly presenting some of the main characteristics of the Bladerunner city (the numbering refers to the codes of characteristics of postmodern, which appear in the tables).

  1. 1.

    The Bladerunner city is a futuristic post-industrial city.

  2. 2.

    Its economic structures are characteristic of late capitalism.

  3. 3.

    It is a city of mainly skyscrapers and ruins.

  4. 4.

    There is a sense of decomposition everywhere.

  5. 5.

    High technology pervades everything and everyone.

  6. 6.

    There is litter and waste scattered all over.

  7. 7.

    The “recyclers” are those who deal specifically with waste recycling.

  8. 8.

    The center of the city is occupied by migrants.

  9. 9.

    The bourgeois live in the suburbs.

  10. 10.

    Population density is higher in older areas of the city.

  11. 11.

    Many abandoned buildings are in the city center, which nevertheless house advanced information and communication technologies.

  12. 12.

    Many oriental traders dwell in the streets.

  13. 13.

    “Impersonal masses” populate the city.

  14. 14.

    People of extreme attitudes or attires are common, such as punks and harekrishnas.

  15. 15.

    People appear to have no sensitivity to their own history of past.

  16. 16.

    The languages spoken are mixtures. One such is a mixture of Japanese and Spanish, with words from other languages. The city appears as a huge market place, dominated by easterners.

  17. 17.

    The center of the city is “monitored” from above by the “Japanese simulacrum” (this being a huge advertisement showing a Japanese face which turns into the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle).

  18. 18.

    The city gives the impression of “third world” emerging from within a “first world” city.

  19. 19.

    A Chinatown in Los Angeles in a “pastiche”-type architectural style.

  20. 20.

    The building interiors display mixtures of styles: Greek columns, Chinese dragons, Egyptian pyramids, elevators made of stone, yet with video screens.

  21. 21.

    The residents of the city are “replicants” (copies/clones).

  22. 22.

    They have only short-term memory.

  23. 23.

    They seem to not know of or not care about their past.

  24. 24.

    They have no strong sense of personal identity.

  25. 25.

    They only “live for the present”.

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Papadimitriou, F. (2020). Visualization of Future Landscapes, Postmodern Cinema and Geographical Education. In: Edler, D., Jenal, C., Kühne, O. (eds) Modern Approaches to the Visualization of Landscapes. RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30956-5_20

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