Abstract

The special functions of the symbols and signs have made them to be used as a tool in building a landscape. The mechanism and process of this construction in this study regarding the framework of geopolitical explanation of urban landscape and the investigation of the conceptual aspects in this process include the resources and processes in the formation of the symbols and signs, structure, factors, and the functions of urban symbolic system, the factors and conditions involved in the formation of geopolitical landscape, the criteria and standards governing the urban symbolic system, the role of discourse in the change of signs, the effective factors in the function (advantages and disadvantages) of the symbols and the political functions (philosophy) of urban signs in the framework of the conceptual model. In fact, the inefficient use of the correct urban symbolic system always leads to different political and social anomalies as well as the citizens’ dissatisfaction. Therefore, it is of essential importance to identify and explain its different aspects so as to manage the city and the governing system; this is the objective of this paper. As such, the factors and concepts related to the performance of the power and politics in space and the urban symbolic system were explained with a descriptive-analytic method and logical inference. Furthermore, a model will be presented for the functional mechanism of the concept of the urban geopolitical landscape. The results of this study indicated that geopolitical landscape defines a process based on which the dominant discourse for controlling and managing the urban space in line with its politic and geopolitical order creates landscapes in which the competition for controlling the urban space depends on the relations of power, politics, and space.