In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Preface IN 1970, 1 WENT TO ENGLAND for a three-month visit and rest. What I found changed my life. Trained as an architect, but frustrated with the field as I knew it, I was overwhelmed by the English landscape. This was especially so as I came to see it that summer as a built artifact, a mosaic of designs and purpose. This experience launched me into the study oflandscape history and soon led to my pursuit oflandscape architecture instead of that ofthe architecture of buildings. Over the next four years I spent months on end in the field in England, exploring, walking, looking, sketching out-of-doors, alternating with periods in libraries and archives in England, the United States, and Italy, reading and studying the records and accounts of how this landscape came to be. I produced a work of youth but not a book that met my expectations or standards. Worst of all, it didn't in the least resemble the simple thing I had set out to make. This was to have been a modest collection ofdrawings and straightforward text that conveyed several points. First, it was to be an introduction to the English landscape, not an exhaustive or authoritative work. Second, it was merely to be an appreciation of the field of landscape history and design, not an original contribution to its history, theory, or criticism. Third, and probably most important to me, it was to demonstrate the possibility of human society and nature working together in a densely populated, beautiful landscape in a highly productive and rewarding manner, something that is as desirable now as it was then, but is not the experience of a large percentage ofthe population ofthe industrial and developing worlds. An American, I was then and still am alarmed by the environmental crisis as it was·perceived and weary of the ali-or-nothing debates between preservationists and.advocates of ecology versus the entire apparatus of society, commerce, and government. It seemed to me that there had to be ways that urbanization could take place in conjunction with natural processes and systems. There had to be methods one could develop to preserve and expand agriculture while maintaining the health of streams and wildlife habitats. Large portions of the United States had become such a mess and had been made so in such a short period of time that counteraction was called for. We needed alternative models and habits from those we were using. While I didn't then and still don't think we can or should remake America into a landscape resembling England, I did think there was much to learn from it in terms of strategy and values. I still do. Also while studying in England I began to wonder how many people there really understood their own landscape, and ifthey weren't about to tear apart what had so carefully been made over such a long period of time. PREFACE Although I knew there must be other examples and different applicable models for such issues, I felt I should get on with what I'd found and share it. After several years in Europe and England I returned to America to teach and began to practice my newly found vocation. Despite my interest in rural conservation and regional planning, however, my own particular skills and circumstances have led to a career in the design of urban landscapes which I have found to be equally engrossing and deeply rewarding. As my responsibilities and workload grew in professional practice and academia, the slowly developing manuscript entitled "Continuity in the Landscape" ground to a halt and became forgotten. In the spring of 1995, for some reason curiosity regarding the subsequent fate of the places that had so influenced me, and an urge to do something - at least with the drawings that have been sitting around all this time prompted another visit to the countryside of England, to assess the changes, if any, and to test my earlier opinions and conclusions. Having done so, and concluding that my original goals and impressions are still valid, I have winnowed the earlier work down, while adding additional remarks that the privilege of time has allowed me. While much ofthis book is about physical and visual aspects ofthe landscape, more is at stake than aesthetics in our need to understand and be concerned with the health and management of the countryside. First, there is our need to understand the natural world and how agriculture utilizes...

Share