The studies of landscape and its importance in Mexico, 1970-2010

In this paper we analyze major research concerning the landscape concept in Mexico on the basis of a meta-analysis approach. Landscape is a polysemic concept, and may embrace different meanings depending on the academic arena in which it has been used, whether the social sciences or the natural sciences. Thus some confusion may have arisen concerning its proper use. This paper also contributes to a somewhat neglected area of Mexican geography: the theoretical reflection of our academic practice. The paper encompasses three sections, each with a historical contextualization, for what we consider to be the three major approaches to landscape analysis: the biophysical, the socio-cultural and the integrated.