1st Edition

People, Land and Time An Historical Introduction to the Relations Between Landscape, Culture and Environment

By Brian Roberts, Peter Atkins, Ian Simmons Copyright 1998
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    This major new text provides an introduction to the interaction of culture and society with the landscape and environment. It offers a broad-based view of this theme by drawing upon the varied traditions of landscape interpretation, from the traditional cultural geography of scholars such as Carl Sauer to the 'new' cultural geography which has emerged in the 1990s. The book comprises three major, interwoven strands. First, fundamental factors such as environmental change and population pressure are addressed in order to sketch the contextual variables of landscapes production. Second, the evolution of the humanised landscape is discussed in terms of processes such as clearing wood, the impact of agriculture, the creation of urban-industrial complexes, and is also treated in historical periods such as the pre-industrial, the modern and the post-modern. From this we can see the cultural and economic signatures of human societies at different times and places. Finally, examples of landscape types are selected in order to illustrate the ways in which landscape both represents and participates in social change.



    The authors use a wide range of source material, ranging from place-names and pollen diagrams to literature and heritage monuments. Superbly illustrated throughout, it is essential reading for first-year undergraduates studying historical geography, human geography, cultural geography or landscape history.

    Introduction
    Prehistoric landscapes
    The origins of agriculture
    Early Urbanization and environment
    Resources and population pressure
    Environmental degradation and collapse of civilizations
    Clearing the wood
    Resource Inventories
    Sustainable resource management
    Large scale landscape change
    Fields in the landscape
    Village settlement
    Landscape planning
    The transition from feudalism to capitalism
    Elite landscapes
    The evolution and impact of modern economic systems
    The industrial revolution
    Modern urban landscapes
    The impact of agriculture
    Frontier and wilderness
    Issues of conservation
    The future.

    Biography

    Peter Atkins, Ian Simmons and Brian Roberts are Professors in the Department of Geography at the University of Durham, UK.

    An impressive breadth of vision, knowledge and abundant enthusiasm for seeking to unravel the complexities of people/environment relations collectively underpin this book. Through its careful organisation, comparative approaches and its lively text and varied illustrations, this book should appeal to undergraduates following introductory and cross-disciplinary courses.
    Geographical Journal (RGS)