MATT COOLIDGE: LANDSCAPE LITERACY

The Center for Land Use Interpretation
2008, 3 min 56 sec

The Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) is a research organization established in 1994 in Culver City, Los Angeles by Matthew Coolidge, examining the relationships between the physical landscape and its human occupation, taking on the role of the impartial expert relating an ‘objective’ view, a wry stance that allows them to highlight the problematic relationships between the economy and land-use and their impacts on the environment.

This is carried out through an investigation into different land uses, their ownership, and the economic and cultural value associated with parts of the landscape. CLUI raise awareness and stimulate debate about the physical landscape, from vast working factories to abandoned military facilities or sewage treatment works and waste incinerators. Their research uncovers the variety of unusual and often environmentally catastrophic uses that support the lifestyle that we are used to in developed countries.