Photographic Postcards and Visual Urban Landscape

Picture postcards are visual data that have great utility in urban research. This Research Note examines the use and application of photographic postcards to urban landscape analysis through a case study in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico on the U.S. border directly across from Douglas, Arizona. Postcards are especially valuable for visualizing landscape change in cities. Arranged and analyzed systematically, picture postcards permit the researcher to visualize a serial view of people and place, thereby enhancing our understanding of landscape change. Serial visual imagery presents a quality to seeing urban landscape that is difficult to achieve with more conventional historic photographs or from land use data like maps and archival records alone.