Wilderness by Design

Landscape Architecture and the National Park Service

Author: Ethan Carr

A design history of national parks that places landscape architecture within a larger historical context

Tracing the history of landscape park design from British gardens up through the city park designs of Frederick Law Olmsted, this title places national park landscape architecture within a larger historical context. It examines specific national park policies and the historical contexts that shaped them.

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Summary

A design history of national parks that places landscape architecture within a larger historical context

Description

Tracing the history of landscape park design from British gardens up through the city park designs of Frederick Law Olmsted, Ethan Carr places national park landscape architecture within a larger historical context. Despite the difficulties now confronting the parks, their continued ability to attract millions of visitors suggests that their creators succeeded in presenting a captivating vision of a once-wild America.

Critic Reviews

“"This intelligently crafted book demonstrates that during the 1920s and 30s landscape architects used planning as an effective means of protecting wilderness from the effects of automobile tourism. . . . Highly recommended."-Choice”

"Ethan Carr's Wilderness by Design is a fundamental study of American landscape architecture, from the beginnings in the nineteenth century until its climax during the years of the New Deal. Moreover, it is thus a detailed account of the forming years of the American conservation movement...[This] well-researched, insightful study introduces the key figures in American landscape architecture until World War Two, and documents their importance for the establishment and conservation of the national parks. [It] will prove invaluable for anyone interested in environmental studies."--European Journal of American Culture, Vol 19, issue 1

About the Author

Ethan Carr is a landscape architect and is currently working for the National Park Service. He has taught landscape architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the University of Virginia School of Architecture.