Coal ash and risk: Four social interpretations of a pollution landscape

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how cultural and natural components of landscapes interact in the context of environmental change. The paper looks at an example of a 'pollution landscape' through the lens of four distinct perspectives on the relationship between landscapes and society derived from the literature. The aim is both to develop a holistic understanding of the interaction of landscape and society in the case study and to explore the insights and limitations of each perspective. The case study explored in this paper concerns coal ash pollution in the city of Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Environmental changes due to coal ash pollution in Tuzla have compromised the capacity of the landscape to provide societal needs and generated new meanings associated with the landscape. The case study shows that landscape influences local perceptions of environmental risks and as a result, local inhabitants develop risk management strategies dwelling in a pollution landscape. The paper concludes that the relationship between landscapes and societies may be understood best as an interactive complex, examining the actions performed in and by landscapes.