ARC 386M
Cultural Landscapes

Instructor: Prof. Jeffrey M. Chusid
Time: TTH 9:30 - 11:00

A cultural landscape is a geographic area (including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein) associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values. There are four general types of cultural landscapes, not mutually exclusive: historic sites, historic designed landscapes, historic vernacular landscapes, and ethnographic landscapes.--US Department of the Interior National Park Service

This course will examine the landscape shaped by human habitation. The four types of landscape described above include virtually every kind of site in which the interaction between man and nature is the critical feature. These range from classical gardens and parks to sacred sites and battlefields; historic farmsteads and vernacular rural settlements to transportation corridors. Readings will be similarly broad, including JB Jackson, Dolores Hayden and numerous others.

The class is intended for students of architecture, planning, geography and cultural studies. It will cover the history, design and preservation of different kinds of landscapes; focusing primarily on the question of how to respond appropriately to landscapes encountered by designers and policy planners.

Topics
Elements of the Designed Landscape
History of Principal Developments in Garden Design
Urban and Wilderness Parks
Landscape and Social Benefit: The Civilian Conservation Corps
Form and Elements of the Rural Landscape
Ethnographic Landscapes
Historic Sites and Battlefields
Transportation Corridors: Streetscapes, Freeways, Canals and Rivers
Landscapes of Texas
Interpretation
Environmentalism vs. Historic Preservation
Documenting the Landscape
Treatment and Management of Cultural Landscapes

Students will research and present three papers, two 5-10 pp; one 20-30 pp.:
Life and Work of a Landscape Designer
A Working Landscape
A Cultural Landscape Study