LA 6910

Landscape Design History II

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This is an introductory survey of the history and theory of landscape design, broadly defined to include diverse forms of planned human interventions in built and natural environments. We will consider a wide range of planned human interventions in both formal and informal landscapes of the past, including but not limited to aesthetic, functional, and ecological outcomes. Our primary focus will be on landscape design and planning developments from the 17th to late 20th century, placing North American sites and trends in relation to a hemispheric and global context of social, cultural, economic, political, and scientific forces. Critical concepts, sites, and conditions across time, space, and scale are explored through weekly topical lectures, creative exercises, discussions, readings, and essays.

Enrollment Priority REF-FA25 Enrollment limited to: sophomore, junior, senior or graduate students.

Last 4 terms offered (None)

Outcomes REF-FA25

• Acquire knowledge of foundational approaches to the history and theory of formal and informal landscapes.
• Learn to interpret past and present landscapes as primary records of human values, practices, and institutions.
• Develop skills of theorization and argumentation through written and visual assignments.
• Explore how investigation of past design is part of the trajectory toward innovative future landscapes.

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