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Landscape Architecture in Canada |
A groundbreaking history of the development of designed landscapes in Canada.
The largest and most pervasive of human artifacts, landscapes are both cultural expressions and environments that shape our actions. Playgrounds, cemeteries, memorials, historic sites, public squares, gardens, industrial rehabilitation sites, wild national parks, and manicured urban parks provide the settings for work, recreation, commerce, memorialization, and mourning and shape the experience and meaning of these activities in Canada. In the first critical history of designed landscapes in our country, Ron Williams approaches landscape architecture as a social art that creates places for people to use and as an environmental art through which practitioners act as stewards of the natural world.
Landscape Architecture in Canada provides a detailed panorama of the man-made landscapes that vary as widely as the country's geography. The book profiles the projects and people that defined landscape architecture, illuminating the motivations and aspirations that drove landscape architects and explaining the intellectual climate in which they worked. Williams casts a wide net and examines the varied traditions and impacts of Canada’s first peoples, its early colonists, later immigrant communities, the remarkable landscape innovations of nineteenth-century industrial cities as well as agricultural landscapes and the protected natural environments of national parks. He also shows how stimulating new ideas from recent decades have expanded landscape architecture and opened the door to projects that embody a distinctive Canadian approach, reflecting the social and natural diversity of contemporary society and its responses to rapid change.
Thoroughly researched, practically oriented, and grounded in the country's many regions, Landscape Architecture in Canada is a richly illustrated and affecting narrative of the ways in which we have shaped our environment and an inimitable lens through which to view the story of Canada.
Landscape Architecture in Canada provides a detailed panorama of the man-made landscapes that vary as widely as the country's geography. The book profiles the projects and people that defined landscape architecture, illuminating the motivations and aspirations that drove landscape architects and explaining the intellectual climate in which they worked. Williams casts a wide net and examines the varied traditions and impacts of Canada’s first peoples, its early colonists, later immigrant communities, the remarkable landscape innovations of nineteenth-century industrial cities as well as agricultural landscapes and the protected natural environments of national parks. He also shows how stimulating new ideas from recent decades have expanded landscape architecture and opened the door to projects that embody a distinctive Canadian approach, reflecting the social and natural diversity of contemporary society and its responses to rapid change.
Thoroughly researched, practically oriented, and grounded in the country's many regions, Landscape Architecture in Canada is a richly illustrated and affecting narrative of the ways in which we have shaped our environment and an inimitable lens through which to view the story of Canada.
Details
672 Pages
354 images, full colour throughout
ISBN 9780773542068
May 2014
Formats: Cloth
“Beautifully written and organized, Landscape Architecture in Canada makes a major contribution to landscape architecture and its related fields - architecture, planning, geography, art history, environmental history, and environmental studies. A first of its kind, this book is a must for all Canadian landscape architects and their students.” Susan Herrington, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia
“An interdisciplinary masterpiece overflowing with informative diagrams, maps, and most importantly, original photographs enthusiastically rendered by the author during visits to every corner of the country. Natural and human diversity have left their lasting marks on Canada, and the book treats readers to insights into this complicated palimpsest through inspired, well-researched examples of forest and farm, city and town, park and pasture, and church and fort. It expands the boundaries of landscape architecture and provides this already complex discipline with new depth. Highly recommended.” Choice
“A major accomplishment, Williams has successfully achieved a regional balance in bringing forth thematic and elemental examples, proof that ‘going to the ground’ remains all-important for researchers and students of Canadian landscape architecture.” BC Studies
“The author takes us on an amazing journey from pre-colonial times to the present, through Canada's rural and urban landscapes from coast to coast to coast… this well-written and abundantly illustrated publication … at times reads almost like a novel.” Canadian Architect
“To read Ron Williams's new book Landscape Architecture in Canada is a delight, as well as being enlightening on both the design profession and North American history… his narrative … [provides] a strong spine for multiple stories of making, changing, imagining, and reading landscapes over the course of 150 plus years… Williams's approach should serve as a model for future textbooks.” Journal of Landscape Architecture
“This is an essential volume for those with even a modest interest in Canada’s collective and varied landscape history… [Ron Williams] has painstakingly-and lovingly-produced a well- researched, comprehensive history of landscape architecture in Canada.” Landscape Journal
“An interdisciplinary masterpiece overflowing with informative diagrams, maps, and most importantly, original photographs enthusiastically rendered by the author during visits to every corner of the country. Natural and human diversity have left their lasting marks on Canada, and the book treats readers to insights into this complicated palimpsest through inspired, well-researched examples of forest and farm, city and town, park and pasture, and church and fort. It expands the boundaries of landscape architecture and provides this already complex discipline with new depth. Highly recommended.” Choice
“A major accomplishment, Williams has successfully achieved a regional balance in bringing forth thematic and elemental examples, proof that ‘going to the ground’ remains all-important for researchers and students of Canadian landscape architecture.” BC Studies
“The author takes us on an amazing journey from pre-colonial times to the present, through Canada's rural and urban landscapes from coast to coast to coast… this well-written and abundantly illustrated publication … at times reads almost like a novel.” Canadian Architect
“To read Ron Williams's new book Landscape Architecture in Canada is a delight, as well as being enlightening on both the design profession and North American history… his narrative … [provides] a strong spine for multiple stories of making, changing, imagining, and reading landscapes over the course of 150 plus years… Williams's approach should serve as a model for future textbooks.” Journal of Landscape Architecture
“This is an essential volume for those with even a modest interest in Canada’s collective and varied landscape history… [Ron Williams] has painstakingly-and lovingly-produced a well- researched, comprehensive history of landscape architecture in Canada.” Landscape Journal
Ron Williams, a longtime professor and former director of the School of Landscape Architecture at the Université de Montréal, is a practising architect and landscape architect.
Introduction 3
Part I Landscape Heritage of the First Nations and Colonists
1 The Oldest Land in the World: The Natural Landscapes of Canada 13
2 Turtle Island: Landscapes of Canada’s First Nations 23
3 Maritime Approaches: The First Europeans 37
4 Sacred Land in the New World: The Colonial Heritage of New France 49
5 Dreams of Empire: The British Colonial Tradition 77
6 Promised Lands in the West 103
Part II The Nineteenth Century: Challenges of an Urban and Industrial Landscape
7 The Making of Canada’s Rural Landscape 133
8 The Greening of the Urban Landscape 152
9 Public and Private Gardens of the Nineteenth Century 170
10 Taming the Industrial City: City Parks and Rural Cemeteries 195
11 Taming the Industrial City: The Great Public Parks 216
12 Natural Monuments: The Creation of the National and Provincial Parks 236
13 New Ideals in Urban Design: Garden City and City Beautiful 263
14 Landscapes of the “Belle Époque” 292
Part III Years of Challenge, 1914-1945: Landscape Innovations in Times of War and Depression
15 Landscapes of Memory: Memorials
of the First World War 311
16 Private Gardens of the Twenties and Thirties 328
17 “The City Efficient”: Changing Currents of Urban Development 344
18 Embers in the Shadows: Remarkable Landscape Projects of the 1930s 362
Part IV Birth of the Modern Landscape, from 1945 to the Present Day
19 Brave New Landscapes: The Postwar Era 389
20 Urban Renaissance 416
21 Birth of an Environmental Conscience 452
22 Beyond Modernism: New Currents in Landscape, 1975-2000 475
23 Landscapes for a Multicultural Society 503
24 The Twenty-first Century: Canadian Landscapes in a Time of Rapid Change 527
Epilogue: The Conservation of Historic and Significant Landscapes 555
Acknowledgments 561
Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation and Corporate Supporters 567
Illustrations 569
Appendix: Glossary of Plants Mentioned in the Text 579
Notes 585
Bibliography 627
Index 653
Part I Landscape Heritage of the First Nations and Colonists
1 The Oldest Land in the World: The Natural Landscapes of Canada 13
2 Turtle Island: Landscapes of Canada’s First Nations 23
3 Maritime Approaches: The First Europeans 37
4 Sacred Land in the New World: The Colonial Heritage of New France 49
5 Dreams of Empire: The British Colonial Tradition 77
6 Promised Lands in the West 103
Part II The Nineteenth Century: Challenges of an Urban and Industrial Landscape
7 The Making of Canada’s Rural Landscape 133
8 The Greening of the Urban Landscape 152
9 Public and Private Gardens of the Nineteenth Century 170
10 Taming the Industrial City: City Parks and Rural Cemeteries 195
11 Taming the Industrial City: The Great Public Parks 216
12 Natural Monuments: The Creation of the National and Provincial Parks 236
13 New Ideals in Urban Design: Garden City and City Beautiful 263
14 Landscapes of the “Belle Époque” 292
Part III Years of Challenge, 1914-1945: Landscape Innovations in Times of War and Depression
15 Landscapes of Memory: Memorials
of the First World War 311
16 Private Gardens of the Twenties and Thirties 328
17 “The City Efficient”: Changing Currents of Urban Development 344
18 Embers in the Shadows: Remarkable Landscape Projects of the 1930s 362
Part IV Birth of the Modern Landscape, from 1945 to the Present Day
19 Brave New Landscapes: The Postwar Era 389
20 Urban Renaissance 416
21 Birth of an Environmental Conscience 452
22 Beyond Modernism: New Currents in Landscape, 1975-2000 475
23 Landscapes for a Multicultural Society 503
24 The Twenty-first Century: Canadian Landscapes in a Time of Rapid Change 527
Epilogue: The Conservation of Historic and Significant Landscapes 555
Acknowledgments 561
Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation and Corporate Supporters 567
Illustrations 569
Appendix: Glossary of Plants Mentioned in the Text 579
Notes 585
Bibliography 627
Index 653
Winner
Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Award of Excellence
(2015)
Finalist
Canada Prize in the Social Sciences
(2015)
Winner
Foundation for Landscape Studies 2015 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize
(2014)
Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Award of Excellence
(2015)
Finalist
Canada Prize in the Social Sciences
(2015)
Winner
Foundation for Landscape Studies 2015 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize
(2014)
