reunamaisemiin

Reunamaisemiin is a coinage used in discussions of landscape perception and design that foreground the margins between built and natural environments. The term is formed from the Finnish words reunaa (edge) and maisema (landscape) and employs the illative suffix -iin to convey movement toward or entry into such landscapes, capturing a sense of orientation rather than a fixed place. In practice, reunamaisemiin denotes attention to transitional spaces—the edges of cities, coastlines, riverbanks, industrial outskirts, and other fringe zones—and to how these spaces are experienced, valued, or repurposed.

Conceptually, reunamaisemiin invites designers and analysts to examine how boundaries shape social life, ecological processes, and aesthetics. It is used in architectural theory, urban design, and contemporary art to discuss projects that illuminate or transform margins rather than central cores. Typical applications include refurbishing abandoned edges into community spaces, reimagining buffers as habitat corridors, and presenting visual works that foreground liminal zones.

Critics note that the term can risk essentializing margins or romanticizing decay, and emphasize the need to avoid fetishizing edge spaces or overlooking power dynamics that govern marginal areas. Proponents, by contrast, argue that focusing on edges can reveal overlooked infrastructures, ecological opportunities, and social potentials.

Reunamaisemiin remains a developing term with limited formal criteria; its exact scope depends on discourse and context, but it functions as a shorthand for a mindset oriented toward the edges of landscapes and their multiplicities.