ARC 386M/CRP 388
Cultural Landscapes

Instructor: Prof. Jeffrey M. Chusid
Time: TTH 12:30-2:00 pm

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. We will look primarily at landscapes that could be considered historic, or significant examples of cultural practice. However, we are not constrained by traditional designation criteria. Readings will be similarly broad, including JB Jackson, Dolores Hayden, Siegried Giedion, Marc Treib, and numerous others.

Topics
Elements of the Designed Landscape
History of Principal Developments in Garden Design
Greek, Roman and Persian Gardens
Japanese and Chinese Gardens
European Gardens through the 18th century
European and North and South American Gardens up to the present time
Urban and Wilderness Parks in America
Form and Elements of the Rural Landscape
Ethnographic Landscapes: towns and traditional communities
Historic Sites and Battlefields
Transportation Corridors: Streetscapes, Freeways, Canals and Rivers
Landscapes of Texas
Interpretation and Narrative
Environmentalism vs. Historic Preservation
Documenting the Landscape
Ecosystematic Analysis
Treatment and Management of Cultural Landscapes

The Introduction of an Element or Movement in Garden History
5-10 pp, with bibliography and illustrations:

A Description of a Working Landscape:
5-10 pp, with bibliography and illustrations

A Cultural Landscape Study:
20-30 pp, with bibliography and illustrations

There will be at least two Saturday field trips:
A Hill Country Ranch
Formal Gardens in Austin

Students will be evaluated as follows
Participation 10%
Paper 1 25%
Paper 2 25%
Paper 3 40%

The following books are required texts:
Rogers, Elizabeth Barlow: Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History. Harry N Abrams; ISBN: 0810942534
Moore, Charles, et al: The Poetics of Gardens. MIT Press; ISBN: 0262631539
Jackson, JB: Landscape in Sight. Yale Univ Pr; ISBN: 0300080743
Zapatka, Christian: The American Landscape. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1568980930
Birnbaum, Charles et al: The Secretary of the Interiors Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, with Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes. United States Dept of Interior; ISBN: 0160487005
A Reader will be available for purchase with Readings assigned for the lectures.