Abstract
For thousands of generations, people have modified the landscape to improve their access to resources, security, and comfort (Redman 1999; Diamond 2005; Mann 2011). Over the course of human history, people have increased their ability to shape the landscape to meet their needs and aspirations. But the landscape, having evolved over millions of years, has developed into a complex of interrelationships we have yet to fully comprehend and, as a result, to control. Today we have reached a point at which our power to change the landscape often exceeds our ability to understand and predict all the consequences of those changes. By accident as well as design, human activity has become the primary agent of change in the global landscape (Silver et al. 1990, 50; Union of Concerned Scientists 1992; Suzuki et al. 2004, 71).
Man is a singular creature. He has a set of gifts which make him unique among animals: so that, unlike them, he is not a figure in the landscape—he is a shaper of the landscape.
—Jacob Bronowski
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Ackoff, R. L. 1981. Creating the corporate future. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Albers, J. 1977. Despite straight lines. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Altman, I. 1975. The environment and social behavior: Privacy, personal space, territoriality and crowding. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Ardrey, R. 1966. The territorial imperative. New York: Antheneum.
Beatley, T. 1994. Ethical land use: principles of policy and planning. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Berleant, A. 1992. The aesthetics of environment. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Diamond, J. 2005. Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed. New York: Viking.
Dubos, R. 1968. How we are shaped by surroundings and events. New York: Scribner Books.
Enlow, C. 2006 Living places: The architecture and landscape architecture of Jones & Jones. Washington, DC: Spacemaker Press.
Gintis, H. 2007. “The evolution of private property.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (64) no. 1: 1–16 (September).
Hall, E. T. 1966. The hidden dimension. New York: Doubleday.
Hedfors, P. 2014. “Tropism and tectonics: Fundamental Principles of space formation.” Journal of Landscape Architecture (9): no. 2: 64–71.
Howett, C. 1987. “System, signs, sensibilities: Sources for a new landscape aesthetic,” Landscape Journal (6) no. 1: 1–12 (Spring).
Jackson, J. B. 1984. Discovering the vernacular landscape. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Jensen, J. 1990. Siftings. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Jones, J. C. 1966. “Design methods revisited.” in Gregory, S. A. (Ed.), The design method. New York: Plenum.
Jones, J. C. 1992. Design methods 2nd ed. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Lahde, J. A. 1982. Planning for change: A course of study in ecological planning. New York: Teachers College Press.
Leopold, A. 1966 (1949). A sand county almanac. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mann, C. C. 2005. 1491: New revelations of the Americas before Columbus. New York: Random House.
Mann, C. C. 2011. 1493: Uncovering the new world Columbus created. New York: Random House.
Meinig, D. W., 1976. “The beholding eye: Ten versions of the same scene.” Landscape Architecture (66): 47–54.
Motloch, J. L. 2001. Introduction to landscape design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Ndubisi, F. 1997. “Landscape ecological planning.” [In 1997. Thompson, G. F. and Steiner, F. R. (Eds.), Ecological design and planning. New York: John Wiley & Sons.].
Orr, D. W. 2002. The nature of design. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rapoport, A. 2005. Culture, architecture, and design. Chicago, IL: Locke Scientific Publishing.
Redman, C. L. 1999. Human impact on ancient environments. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. p. 66.
Rokeach, M. 1973. The nature of human values. New York: The Free Press.
Sanderson, E. W., M. Jaiteh, M. A. Levy, K. H. Redfrod, A. V. Wannebo, and G. Woolmer. 2002. “The human footprint and the last of the wild.” Bioscience (52): 891–904.
Schein, E. H. 1972. Professional education: Some new directions. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Schön, D. A. 1983. The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.
Silver, C. S and R. S. DeFries. 1990. One earth one future: Our changing global environment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Simon, H. A. 1969. The sciences of the artificial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Snow, D. L., K. Grady, and M. Goyette-Ewing. 2000. “A perspective in ethical issues in community psychology.” [In Rappoport, J. and E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology (pp. 897–917). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum].
Steinitz, C. 1995. “Design is a verb; Design is a noun.” Landscape Journal (14) no. 2: 188–200.
Suzuki, D. and H. Dressel. 2004. From naked ape to superspecies: Humanity and the global eco-crisis. Vancouver: Greystone Books.
Thompson, I. M. 2000. Ecological community and delight: Sources of value in landscape architecture. London: E. & F. N. Spon.
Twombly, R. (Ed.). 2010. Frederick Law Olmsted: Essential texts. New York: W. W. Norton.
Union of Concerned Scientists. 1992. “World scientists’ open letter of warning to humanity.” November 18, 1992.
Weisbord, M. (Ed.). 1992. “Applied common sense.” Discovering common ground. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
Zeisel, J. 1988. Inquiry by design: Tools for environment-behavior research. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mitroff, I. and H. Linstone. 1993. The unbounded mind. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hedfors, P. 2013. Personal communication.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Michael D. Murphy
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Murphy, M.D. (2016). Introduction. In: Landscape Architecture Theory. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-751-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-751-3_1
Publisher Name: Island Press, Washington, DC
Print ISBN: 978-1-61091-827-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-61091-751-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)