Landscape and Infrastructure: Reimagining the Pastoral Paradigm for the Twenty-First Century

Description

Landscape and Infrastructure examines the relationships between landscape painting and landscape design from the 17th century to the present, and contemporary infrastructure projects around the globe. These seemingly disparate subjects are united by a shared concern for the pastoral middle ground; a traditionally productive landscape. By focusing an art-historical lens on pre-industrial productive systems and the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the pastoral landscape tradition, we can gain a better understanding of how to weave new approaches to productive infrastructure systems (such as power generation, water filtration and food production) into our contemporary landscapes. With rising demand for clean energy, clean water, and locally-grown food, this study offers a historical perspective on how such systems can be integrated into our suburban and urban areas. Vestigial elements of the pastoral tradition have long held aesthetic sway in our suburbs, cities and national parks, both in Britain and America. Now, as new energy and water related projects encroach on these spaces, remnants of the pastoral play a crucial role in convincing neighborhood residents, municipal leaders, and energy companies or water authorities of the benefits of a neighboring infrastructure. This book investigates the history of that tradition and highlights the advantages it brings as we re-imagine infrastructure in the 21st century.

Margaret Birney Vickery is a lecturer in the History of Art and Architecture Department and the Department of Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Buildings for Bluestockings: The Architecture and Social History of Women's Colleges in Late Victorian England, and (Translations) Architecture/Art Works of Sigrid Miller Pollin.

In this original and timely book, Vickery establishes the continued and vital importance of art history in contemporary landscape and architectural design. Landscape and Infrastructure traces the roots and uncovers the significance of the productive activities and elements of pastoral traditions in art and designed landscapes, clearly documenting the persistent and sometimes difficult relationship of aesthetics and production in Western art. Art history is rarely as engaging for the general public to read, or as important for designers to understand. -- Ethan Carr * Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts Amherst *