Historic landscape management techniques, with an emphasis on the
values of environmental conservation and historic preservation.
Athena Title
Historic Landscape Management
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will have an appreciation of landscapes as evolving historic documents involving natural processes and human activities.
Students will have an understanding of the rubric of cultural landscape preservation based on the concepts of significance and integrity.
Students will have an understanding of the concept of ecosystems and how it can be used to address problems of change and preservation maintenance.
Students will have an awareness of the idea of collage and how it can be applied to address the problems of interpretation in cultural landscapes.
Students will have an ability to articulate and debate issues associated with the concepts of significance, integrity, ecosystem and collage.
Students will have an ability to select an appropriate methodology for the development of treatment recommendations and implementation of management plans.
Students will have an ability to discuss various interpretations of the significance of a cultural landscape.
Students will have an appreciation of overlaps and conflicts between the values which influence the preservation of cultural landscapes.
Topical Outline
The course will be organized around two landscape preservation
projects and a series of readings and seminars plus field
trips; the seminars will address theory while the projects will
illustrate current practice. This course is being offered for
students in the MHP program, a similar course is being offered
in the MLA program. There should be opportunities for joint
discussions involving students in the two programs.
Readings
There is no required text. A wide variety of readings -
including a selection of unpublished research and management
reports - will be recommended as a basis for the seminar
discussions.
TOPIC OUTLINE AND SCHEDULE
Project One – weeks one to ten
Blue Ridge Parkway – Research and Evaluation
The Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the most remarkable and complex designed historic landscapes in America. While its
importance is widely recognized, it has never been nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. That oversight is now being remedied and a Historic Resource Study and National Historic Landmark Nomination are being prepared.
The class is invited to participate in this process. Given the size and complexity of the parkway landscape, one of the most interesting challenges is to develop criteria for identifying which features of the parkway contribute to its historic
significance. Each student will be asked to select a section of the parkway and develop a method for identifying the “contributing resources” along that section.
Seminar Topics
Cultural landscapes as historic documents.
Cultural landscape research methods.
Significance, integrity and authenticity.
Project Two – weeks eleven to fifteen
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site – Treatment and
Interpretation
The MLK NHS embraces the remains of the once dynamic community of Sweet Auburn, but like many inner city neighborhoods this place has undergone dramatic changes and continues to evolve.
We will visit the historic site to determine what has been preserved, what treatment options have been selected and
implemented, and how the multiple stories of the place are being conveyed to visitors. Each student will then be asked to identify the successes and shortcomings of the NPS treatment and interpretation programs.
Seminar Topics
The ecology and sociology of preservation treatments.
Interpretation of multiple stories.
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
