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The Shape of a City: Geomorphological Landscapes, Abiotic Urban Environment, and Geoheritage in the Western World: the Example of Parks and Gardens

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Abstract

Recognition of geodiversity and of its heritage aspects has resulted in new perceptions of abiotic forms and landscapes. While protected natural areas are often the preferred sites for the study of these new forms of heritage, the urban environment appears to be less subject to scientific study, protection, and geoheritage enhancement. And yet, since the building of the very first cities, natural and artificial abiotic nature has constituted an essential component of urban landscapes. A heritage approach to abiotic forms first developed in the 1990s. It involves a reinterpretation of urban forms and of relationships between towns and geomorphological landscapes, which goes beyond the dual constraint/resource view of nature in urban sites: landforms have gradually become viewed as a new form of heritage associated with history, the urban landscape, and contemporary multidisciplinary studies into “nature in the city.” The objective of this article is to analyze the emergence of this heritage dimension in the abiotic city/nature landscape relationship. We will begin by demonstrating that urban sites do in fact display landscape features, which have been taken into account since antiquity, and that the representations of abiotic forms have evolved at the same pace as temporalities inherent in urban change. Secondly, to illustrate these new perceptions, we will undertake an analysis of the geomorphological landscapes of urban parks and gardens which are so emblematic of the Western world. A typology of the geomorphological heritage landscapes which make up abiotic urban nature will then be discussed, locating urban forms at the interface between nature and culture.

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Notes

  1. Daniel H. Burnham was a landscape architect involved in the city beautiful architecture movement that developed in Chicago and Detroit between 1890 and 1900. His objective was to design a social, dignified, and harmonious city in a context of rural-urban migration, urbanization, and increasing industrialization.

  2. The Grenelle I Law (or law no. 2009-967 of 2009, August 3) is a framework legislation for the Grenelle Environment Law. The Grenelle II (or law no. 2010-788 of 2010, July 12) is the part of the Grenelle Environment Law, which applies and extends to territories of the Grenelle I Law.

  3. UNESCO, 2016 (http://www.unesco.org/new/fr/natural-sciences/environment/earth-sciences/global-geoparks/)

  4. monumat.brgm.fr

  5. http://www.torbay.gov.uk/localstudiesgeopark.pdf

  6. The history of urban parks and gardens begins approximately 2000 years bc. We decided to limit our study to nineteenth-century gardens that reflect a staging of landscape in which abiotic forms constitute a major element.

  7. Knobs and lochans topography consists of alternating low hilltops eroded by glaciers and small lakes associated with peat bogs.

  8. http://nysm.nysed.gov/nysgs/experience/sites/nyc/index.html for geology; http://www.landforms.EU/Central%20Park/ for glacial landforms

  9. http://www1.ville.montreal.qc.ca/siteofficieldumontroyal/paysage-montagne

  10. See Pierre Bédard Geological Trip on Mont Royal (http://www.pierrebedard.uqam.ca/mont-Royal/excursion_mt-royal.html)

  11. The large rock, a symbol of the Park, was created between 1931 and 1934. It reaches a height of 65 m with 354 steps.

  12. https://www.parczoologiquedeparis.fr/sites/parczoologiquedeparis.fr/files/documents/20140218_dp_parc_zoologique_de_paris_0.PDF

  13. For another example, see Berlin Zoo (Allen and McQuade, 2011) and Doué-la-Fontaine Biopark, which is in a cave site digging in shelly sand (faluns) in France (http://www.bioparc-zoo.fr/fr/notre-parc/site-troglo).

  14. http://www.atlas-patrimoines-bassin-minier.org/

  15. For the history of this site, go to http://berliner-teufelsberg.com. For current developments, see the news articles at http://www.leparisien.fr/flash-actualite-monde/berlin-que-faire-de-la-station-d-ecoutes-du-teufelsberg-fantome-de-la-guerre-froide-21-11-2014-4311495.php,

    http://www.lejournalinternational.fr/Teufelsberg-sous-la-Montagne-du-Diable-Les-fantomes-de-l-histoire_a1732.html, and http://aberlin.fr/teufelsberg-montagne-diable.php.

  16. http://www.archives.Nantes.fr/pages/HISTOIRE_QUARTIERS/fichiers_pdf/Malakoff/plaquette_malakoff.PDF (p. 60)

  17. http://www.lenouveaumalakoff.com/articles/44-petite-amazonie.html

  18. http://www.the-berg.de

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Acknowledgements

We deeply thank Jeremy Price, lecturer in British Area Studies in the University of Poitiers, for the very interesting discussions that we have during the translation of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EA 2252 Ruralités, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Société, Bâtiment A5, University of Poitiers, 5 rue Théodore-Lefebvre, TSA 21103, 86073, Poitiers Cedex 9, France

    Claire Portal

  2. Geolittomer UMR 6554, Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, University of Nantes, BP 81227, 44322, Nantes Cedex 3, France

    Riwan Kerguillec

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  1. Claire Portal
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  2. Riwan Kerguillec
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Correspondence to Claire Portal.

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Portal, C., Kerguillec, R. The Shape of a City: Geomorphological Landscapes, Abiotic Urban Environment, and Geoheritage in the Western World: the Example of Parks and Gardens. Geoheritage 10, 67–78 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-017-0220-9

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