ABSTRACT
Finding convincing ways of studying the taken-for-granted features of everyday life is often perplexingly difficult. It is often hard to take the familiar routines of our lives seriously as subjects for sustained analysis without a feeling of drastically overcomplicating simple things. After all, if people deal with something daily without much apparent thought, why is it necessary to be more precise about the elements, relationships and processes involved? For environmental representations, as with many seemingly mundane matters, we would argue that much can be gained from treating them in a more conscious, reflexive and systematic way. With these thoughts in mind, this chapter surveys ideas that assist an understanding of the forms that environmental representations can take and outlines methodological issues arising when studying them. The later sections of the chapter consider how environmental representations are received, or consumed, by their audience, arguing that representations require active participation on the part of the reader or audience if they are to convey their meaning.
