Reading List
Planning
Birnbaum, Charles A. 1994. Preservation Brief 36: Protecting Cultural Landscapes Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service
The planning, treatment, and maintenance of cultural landscapes requires a multi-disciplinary approach. In landscapes, such as parks and playgrounds, battlefields, cemeteries, village greens, and agricultural land preserves more than any other type of historic resource--communities rightly presume a sense of stewardship. It is often this grass roots commitment that has been a catalyst for current research and planning initiatives. Individual residential properties often do not require the same level of public outreach, yet a systematic planning process will assist in making educated treatment, management and maintenance decisions. Wise stewardship protects the character, and or spirit of a place by recognizing history as change over time. Often, this also involves our own respectful changes through treatment. The potential benefits from the preservation of cultural landscapes are enormous. Landscapes provide scenic, economic, ecological, social, recreational and educational opportunities that help us understand ourselves as individuals, communities and as a nation. Their ongoing preservation can yield an improved quality of life for all, and, above all, a sense of place or identity for future generations.
Coffin Brown, Margie. 2005. “Historic Trails.” Landscape Lines 15. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Trails take us places of nature and history. They lead us through rugged terrain, exceptional scenery, places of contemplation, and cultural sites. Effective treatment and management of these trails requires an understanding of their historic context, design principles, and constrution methods.
Davis, Timothy. 2005. “Historic Roads”. Landscape Lines 16. U.S. Washington, D.C: Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Roads have long played a prominent role in shaping the national park experience. In addition to providing access to natural and cultural resources, park roads are often compelling cultural landscapes in their own right. In many cases, the distinctive characteristics of historic park roads serve as defining elements of the National Park system, creating a sense of continuity from park to park and providing cherished memories of leisurely excursions through America's most beloved lands
National Parks Conservation Association. 1988. Investing in the Park in the Park Futures, The National Park System Plan: A Blueprint for Tomorrow, Executive Summary 9 Vols. Washington, D.C
National Parks for the 21st Century. 1992. U.S. Washington D.C: Department of the Interior, National Park Service
A report to the director on the National Park Service's 75th Anniversary
Nelson, Lee H. 1988. “Architectural Character: Identifying the Visual Aspects of Historic Buildings as an Aid to Preserving Their Character.” Preservation Briefs 17. Washington, D.C. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
The purpose of this Brief is to help the owner or the architect identify those features or elements that give the building its visual character and that should be taken into account in order to preserve them to the maximum extent possible.
Policy
Franklin, John Hope et al. 2001. Rethinking the National Parks for the 21st Century: A Report of the National Park System Advisory Board.Washington D.C. United States Department of the Interior.
Also published in Landscape Architecture magazine (Oct 2008). Sustainable landscape design is generally understood in relation to three principles—ecological health, social justice and economic prosperity. Rarely do aesthetics factor into sustainability discourse outside of negative asides conflating the visible with the aesthetic and rendering both superfluous. This article examines the role of beauty and aesthetics in a sustainability agenda. It argues that for culture to be sustainable it will take more than ecologically regenerative designs. What is needed are designed landscapes that provoke those who experience them to become more aware of how their actions affect the environment, and to care enough to make changes. This requires considering the role of aesthetic environmental experiences, such as beauty, in re-centering human consciousness from an egocentric to a more bio-centric perspective. This argument takes the form of a manifesto is inspired by American landscape architects whose work is not usually understood as contributing to sustainable design.
International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Sites. 1964. “The Venice Charter.” France: ICOMOS
This foundational guidance for the preservation of cultural heritage sites is of late increasingly applicable, as the US transitions into greater participation in the international preservation community. It directly applies to our World Heritage Sites. The document is available on the ICOMOS website.
Management Policies. 2006. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
This volume of Management Policies focuses exclusively on management of ths national park system.
Michael Petzet, Introduction. 2004. “International Charters for Conservation and Restoration.” France: ICOMOS.
This book includes international charters applicable to the preservation of momuments and sites. The contents listing applicable charters is on the ICOMOS website.
Sax, Joseph. 1980. Mountains Without Handrails. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
A classic discussion of the tension between preservation and use of the parks, this book explores wilderness values and their percieved elitism, and the demand for recreation and development in National Parks. Sax also offers a blueprint for the future of the National Park system, as seen from 1980.
Design
Birnbaum, Charles. 1999. Review of The Rebirth of New York City's Bryant Park by J. William Thompson. LandForum. Berkeley, CA: Spacemaker Press
In this review of J. William Thompson's "The Rebirth of New York City's Bryant Park," Charles Birnbaum accuses both Thompson and landscape architect Laurie Olin of trivializing the history of the park, "substituting romantic vision for research and authenticity." Lively debate ensues as Laurie Olin responds within the pages of the same magazine issue.
Burr, Eric. 2008. "Ski Trails and Wildlife: Toward Snow Country Restoration." Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford.com
Bibliography includes references, printed and electronic, that bear on wildlife in both northern and montane boreal forests. Ski trails' direct habitat, and indirect educational, effects are explored with chapters on:avalanches, edge ecology, fire, lifts, huts, rangers, Wilderness, and Mineral King. Olympic National Park and Okanagan National Forest, bordering North Cascades National Park are examples used for the final chapters.
Hale, Jonathan.1994. The Old Way of Seeing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
If a building makes us light up, it is not because we see order; any row of file cabinets is ordered. What we recognise and love is the same kind of pattern we see in every face, the pattern of our own life form. The same principles apply to buildings that apply to mollusks, birds or trees. Architecture is the play of patterns derived from nature and ourselves. Boston architect Jonathan Hale presents a description of a way of seeing and its design implications. In the modern age we have lost our connection to a fundamental understanding of design overall. He looks at structures in terms of light and shadow, walls and space but his intuitive process is applicable to all design.
Meyer, Elizabeth. 2008. Sustaining Beauty: The Performance of Appearance; Can Landscape Architects Insert Aesthetics into our Discussions of Sustainability? Germany: Journal of Landscape Architecture:
Delivered in 2007 as lectures at the Royal Geographic Society, London, and a Peking University conference. Reprinted with permission from the Spring 2008 issue of the Journal of Landscape Architecture.Sustainable landscape design is generally understood in relation to three principles—ecological health, social justice and economic prosperity. Rarely do aesthetics factor into sustainability discourse outside of negative asides conflating the visible with the aesthetic and rendering both superfluous. This article examines the role of beauty and aesthetics in a sustainability agenda. It argues that for culture to be sustainable it will take more than ecologically regenerative designs. What is needed are designed landscapes that provoke those who experience them to become more aware of how their actions affect the environment, and to care enough to make changes. This requires considering the role of aesthetic environmental experiences, such as beauty, in re-centering human consciousness from an egocentric to a more bio-centric perspective. This argument takes the form of a manifesto is inspired by American landscape architects whose work is not usually understood as contributing to sustainable design.
Olin, Laurie. 1999. Rants and Raves: Landscape Transformation. LandForum 03 . Berkeley, CA: Spacemaker Press.
In this editorial, Laurie Olin responds to Charles Birnbaum's critique of his firm's design work at New York City's Bryant Park, making his own critique of the National Park Service, the Secretary of the Interior's Standards, and many State Historic Preservation Offices.
Yosemite National Park. 2005. A Sense of Place - Design Guidelines for Yosemite Valley. Rochester, New York: National Park Service Government Printing Office
Sense of Place is an architectural and landscape design-guidelines book developed by a team of architects, landscape architects and national park staff for Yosemite Valley, a world-class park area undergoing constant change. The intent is to inform building and site development and rehabilitation efforts in order to retain a holistic and natural aesthetic within this cherished national park - an essential aspect of long-term preservation goals and contribution to visitor enjoyment of this national treasure. New or altered facilities should be designed to be compatible and respectful of the park setting, both natural and human-made. The ultimate goal is to enhance the unique sense of place embodied by this extraordinary Valley. Content was distilled from information gathered on field trips over the course of three years. The characteristics that constitute the appropriate design and rustic style of the park's architecture and the built environment were analyzed by the project team. Sketches and photographs illustrate key design points in building and landscape architecture. Content also encompasses natural-setting characteristics, including scenic views, vegetation, and natural systems and features. A historic overview on the park and its importance in the history of national park development, wilderness and scenic protection as well as development of a design ethic in Yosemite precedes the guidelines portion of the book.
Social Science
Winter, P.L., J. Skenderian and W. Crano. 2008. Routes to Communication About Outdoor Recreation with Diverse Publics: What We Know About Media. Gen. Tech. Rep. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. PSW-GTR-210
This paper examines the issue of outreach to diverse publics as a central concern to natural resource recreation management. Increasing diversity across the Nation has been accompanied by an underrepresentation of communities of color among outdoor recreation populations in natural resource settings. Mass media may be an excellent way to conduct outreach, but the current investment in media addressing diverse publics is discouraging. Patterns of media use and variations by different ethnic groups in levels of use, as well as various ethnic groups’ documented preference for ethnic media are presented. Purposes of media use, as well as trust and reliance in various sources of recreation information are also noteworthy considerations in developing an outreach strategy. Finally, we present some suggestions that may be of assistance to natural resource managers for reaching specific subpopulations, including the value of ethnic media, the potential utility of community networks such as churches, and the use of the Internet.
History
Allaback, Sarah. 2000. Mission 66 Visitor Centers, The History of a Building Type. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
Carr, Ethan. 2007. Mission 66, Modernism and the National Park Dilemma. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press in Association with Library of American Landscape History.
In the years following Word War II, Americans visited the national parks in unprecedented numbers, yet Congress held funding at prewar levels and park conditions steadily declined. To address the problem, in 1956 a ten-year, billion-dollar initiative titled "Mission 66" was launched, timed to be completed in 1966, the fiftieth anniversary of the National Park Service.
The Conservation Foundation. 1985. National Parks for a New Generation, Visions, Realities, Prospects. Washington, D.C.
This report addresses three concerns: improved stewardship of park resources, a new assessment of the role of the private sector in the parks, and innovative strategies for creating the park system of the future.
Good, Albert H with foreword by Randall J. Biallas. 1999. Park and Recreation Structures. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.
This classic publication, first published in 1938, details in photographs and measured drawings rustic park structures.
Kaiser, Harvey H. 2008. The National Park Architecture Sourcebook. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.
For more than a century, the National Park Service, private individuals, and small business have constructed a variety of structures on America's national parklands. Some were guided by the architectural style of the day, while others looked to surrounding landscape for inspiration. This book discusses the remarkable variety of man-made structures that dot the landscapes of these spectacular.
Louter, David al. 2006. Windsheild Wilderness; Cars, Roads and Nature in Washington's National Park.s
Seattle: National Park Service
David Louter, a historian with the National Park Service in the Pacific West region, explores the relationship between automobiles and national parks, and how together they have shaped our ideas of wilderness. By presenting very readable histories of three Washington state national parks - Mount Ranier, Olympic, and North Cascades, he illustrates the progession of our nation's thoughts about national parks, development, and wilderness
Masland, Frank. 1959. “Letter to Conrad Wirth.” Shenandoah National Park.
Frank Masland (Chairman of the Advisory Board) to Conrad Wirth, Director, NPS 40th Meeting of the National Park System Advisory Board April 20-22, 1959 Shenandoah National Park. "Dear Connie:" "I'm going to jot down a few of the different subjects we discussed at what was for me a most enjoyable luncheon Saturday as your guest at the Cosmos Club. I would like to repeat that I greatly appreciate you giving me so much of your time." [the letter continues] "In a strictly 'repetorial sense' I mentioned that I had encountered on the part of Superintendents at Williamsburg an almost universal antipathy towards 'modern' architecture and that in attempting to interpret their thinking I concluded that what they want is a form of 'local traditional functionalized' architecture; in other words, that which may be traditional locally, but at the same time, functionalized. They are concerned primarily with the outside appearance."
Meyer, Elizabeth K. 2008, Spring. Lessons from the World War II Memorial: From Urban Prospect to Retrospect. Journal of Architectural Education.
Discussion of the Mall as "complete work of art," and of the intersection of landscape design and landscape history, generally.
Schenker, Heath. 2009 (forthcoming). Melodramatic Landscapes: Urban Parks in the Nineteenth Century. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press
This book is a cultural study of the large, naturalistic urban parks that appeared in cities throughout the world in the nineteenth century. It explains why these parks were so similar around the world and explores a range of cultural meanings embodied in the generic park landscape. Rather than a comprehensive history of urban parks, this is a collection of essays focusing on major parks in Paris, New York and Mexico City in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Principles, Standards and Guidelines
Birnbaum, Charles A with Christine Capella Peters, eds. 1996. The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service
These standards and guidelines provide guidance on treatment of cultural landscapes
Olmsted, Frederick Law and Calvert Vaux, 1858 “Greensward,”
Papers of FLO Vol 3, pp. 117-187
Excerpt: p.119, paragraph on “The Upper Park”
Excerpt: p. 160, first two sentences on “Buildings”
“Greensward,” celebrating its 150th anniversary, launched the public park movement and the profession of landscape architecture in the U.S. While most of the document is concerned with the “improvement” of the southern end of the park site, the description of the proposed treatment of the north end is also of great interest. The north end featured existing woodlands and rock outcrops and it was less disturbed. Olmsted and Vaux suggest “interfering” with the existing “picturesque” scenes as little as possible, while providing drives, paths, and overlooks for public access and enhanced enjoyment. In the second excerpt, the designers make clear that the park as a whole should emphasize the integrity of the experience of the landscape over any new building opportunities.
Olmsted, Frederick Law. 1865. “Preliminary Report upon the Yosemite and Big Tree Grove.” Papers of FLO,Vol 5 pp. 488-516
Excerpt: p. 501, from “The first class of considerations…” to p. 505, “…enforced as a political duty.” Excerpt: p. 506, from “The main duty with which…” to p. 508, “…designed to benefit.”
Written while Olmsted was in California, the report describes the intellectual and political justifications for government involvement in park making. This rhetoric remained essential for the NPS through the Mission 66 era and has continued significance today. The report also includes some of Olmsted’s most compelling descriptions of the personal and societal benefits of preserving scenery for public enjoyment.
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1887. “General Plan for the Improvement of the Niagara Reservation.” Papers of FLO, Supplemental Volume 1, pp. 535-575
Excerpt: pp. , 535-555
This is one of the most extensive and historically significant statements on the means and priorities for “improving” a natural area (repairing environmental damage and creating public access) for public enjoyment
Charles Eliot, 1898. “Vegetation and Scenery in the Metropolitan Reservations of Boston.” Excerpt: pp. 7-8, “The Object of the Investigation.”
Charles Eliot was an Olmsted apprentice who in the 1880s and 1890s extended some of the ideas of large municipal parks to the regional level through the planning and creation of “regional scenic reservations.” These reservations were larger than municipal parks and were sited specifically to preserve existing, representative examples of regional scenic beauty and landscape types. In this report Eliot makes clear that development of the reservations should be as minimal and unobtrusive as possible, while also allowing for pubic access and enjoyment.
The key portions of this document describe the purpose of national parks and the value of preserving scenic and historic places unimpaired for public enjoyment. While many are familiar with this passage, fewer know this statement was written by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and that it was directly inspired, in part, by the elder Olmsted’s writings.
Letter to Secretary Lane on National Park Management, Stephen T. Mather and Horace M. Albright, 1918
Horace Albright wrote most of this most essential policy document, which was re-affirmed during the Mission 66 era, and remains perhaps the most concise and significant statement of NPS planning and design policy.
Park Planning Directive, Horace M. Albright, 1931
Horace Albright was also a champion of Thomas C. Vint’s ideas regarding “comprehensive” or master plans to assure that no park was over developed.
Good, Albert H. 1938. Park & Recreation Structures. Excerpt: pp. 1-4, “Apologia.”
Albert Good was the architect who assembled the work and ideas of many others, especially those of the architect Herbert Maier, who (with other great designers, such as Mary E. J. Colter and Gilbert Stanley Underwood) developed the “rustic” design that the NPS espoused in the 1920s and 1930s. This statement is notable not because of the rustic style, however, but because of the general principles and policy for park design that it describes. National Park Service Rustic architecture, which Good later described simply as design that “achieves sympathy with natural surroundings and with the past,” adapted constantly to its landscape context and yielded a great diversity of individual structures. Good warned against using his publication as a pattern book. “If an existing structure is so admired that it persuades duplication, careful analysis will inevitably demonstrate that admiration springs from a nice perfection of the subject within one circumstantial pattern. As that pattern changes so must the structure change.”
Mission 66, 1956
Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 from Ethan Carr, “Mission 66,” 2007
While the Mission 66 program (1956-1966) produced many in-house memoranda and other documents, there was no publication comparable to Good’s book. Therefore, as a description of the program and its design goals, these chapters from Ethan Carr’s recent book are suggested.
Secretary Udall’s Letter on National Park Management, 1964
National Historic Preservation Act, 1966
National Environmental Policy Act, 1969
National Park Service Sustainability Guidelines, 1994
The Built Environment Image Guide for the National Forests and Grasslands, 2001 (pdf)
A Sense of Place: Design Guidelines for Yosemite, 2004
Weeks, Kay D. and Anne E. Grimmer.1995. The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring & Reconstructing Historic Buildings. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
These standards and guidelines provide guidance on the treatment of historic buildings.
