Teaching Landscape History

Book excerpt: Landscape history is changing in content and style to address the issues of today. Experienced teachers and authors on the history of gardens and landscapes come together in this new volume to share ideas on the future of teaching history in departments of landscape architecture, archaeology, geography and allied subjects. Design history remains important, but this volume brings to the fore the increasing importance of environmental history, economic history, landscape history, cultural landscapes, environmental justice and decolonisation, ideas of sustainability and climate change amelioration, which may all be useful in serving the needs of a widening range of students in an increasingly complex world. The main themes include: what history should we narrate in the education of landscape architects? how can we recognise counter-narratives and our own bias? how should we engage the students in the history of their chosen profession? how can designers and researchers be persuaded of the relevance of history teaching to theory and practice? and what resources do we need to develop teaching of landscape histories? This book will be of interest to anyone teaching courses on landscape architecture, urban design, horticulture, garden design, architectural history, cultural geography and more.