Undergraduate Course: Landscape Theories: Histories (ARCH08059)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course offers a broad overview to the history of landscape with a focus on European landscape history situated within a global context. Through a mix of lecture-based seminars, field trips to historical sites, and tutorials, students will gain understanding of the relevance of historical movements and their influence on the development of contemporary landscape theory and practice. |
| Course description |
This course offers an introduction to the history of landscape in Europe by highlighting key historical periods, styles, movements, and events. This European focus is supplemented by brief interludes into the practices and histories of landscape in a global range of geographical regions and cultures outside of Europe. Particular attention is placed on the historical, political, social, and cultural relationships generated through moments of interconnection between practices of landscape both within European contexts and with contexts beyond the continent. The time periods covered by this course range from ancient to contemporary.
Using landscape as a contextual frame, students will be introduced to key strands of thought in Western history as a way of understanding how knowledge evolves over time. Particular attention will be paid to how changing patterns of global power relations since the European Renaissance have shaped contemporary approaches to landscape practice and also Western knowledge more broadly.
This course will introduce students to the importance of history and how it influences the contemporary field of landscape architecture. From this broad understanding, each student will choose an area to focus an individual study on, developing this through feedback from formative submissions and tutorials towards a final essay submission.
Running through semester 2, the course is primarily delivered through lecture-based seminars, allowing time for discussion around key theories. The seminars will be 2.5 hours long, delivered one morning per week. Tutorials will support each student in the development of their essay and field sketchbook. Around week 9 there will be a study tour (usually 5 days long) within the UK, allowing students to experience a range of historical sites, which they will record through observational sketches, forming a separate submission component alongside the essay.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | A study tour in mid-semester will require students to meet some costs. Details will be provided in advance. |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a broad and critical understanding of selected historical periods, styles, traditions, and movements in landscape architecture.
- Undertake visual analysis through the medium of sketching, notes, and brief commentary on historical examples of landscape architecture.
- Critically reflect on and evaluate particular historical aspects of landscape architecture using effective written communication skills.
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Reading List
Cosgrove, Denis. Prospect, Perspective and the Evolution of the Landscape Idea. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 1985, 45-62.
Girot, Christophe. The Course of Landscape Architecture: A History of our Designs on the Natural World. WW Norton, 2016.
Jellicoe, Geoffrey, and Susan Jellicoe. The Landscape of Man: Shaping the Environment from Prehistory to the Present Day. Viking Press, 1975.
Way, Thaisa. Why History for Designers? (Parts 1 & 2). Platform, March 2020. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and Enquiry: Knowledge and critical understanding of some of the key features, concepts, and terminologies of histories of landscape architecture.
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy: Ability to research, analyse, explore, and interpret critically the history of landscape architecture through both written and visual methods.
Communication: Develop academic writing skills, including the ability to communicate complex ideas and arguments in an essay format. |
| Keywords | history,landscape,design |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Tiffany Dang
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Chloe Hancock
Tel: (0131 6)50 4124
Email: |
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