Interdisciplinary Approaches to Landscape Planning: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of European and American Land-Use Practices and Policy

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Dean, Erin

Keywords

Sense of Place, Environmental Psychology, Land-Use Planning

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies

Abstract

In this thesis, I examine the meaning of landscape in a cultural context and how important ideas and individuals are to the formation of the physical landscape. I outline historical differences between Europe and America's land-use planning and development, examine contemporary problems they both face, and explore successful and unsuccessful examples of land-use policies in cities I have studied and lived in. I then discuss the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to land-use planning and management across nations that integrates research on place attachment, "sense of place" and quality of life. The European Landscape Convention serves as an example throughout the discussion of a centralized planning system that uses an interdisciplinary approach. Understanding the roots of our cultural perceptions of the natural world as well as how current city planning paradigms came about in both Europe and America is the first step to creating responsible land use policies. All of my research was done using literature and journal articles I have acquired over the past three years when studying in Florence, Italy and at New College of Florida.

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