WHY CULTURAL LANDSCAPES MATTER OUR GLOBAL CULTURE & NATURE COMMONWEALTH

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1 INDIAN SOCIETY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 7TH ISOLA CONFERENCE, AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT, INDIA 10 TO 11 SEPTEMBER 2011 WHY CULTURAL LANDSCAPES MATTER OUR GLOBAL CULTURE & NATURE COMMONWEALTH Patricia M. O Donnell, FASLA, AICP, Principal, Heritage Landscapes Global Chair, IFLA Cultural Landscapes Committee Heritage Landscapes LLC, Preservation Landscape Architects & Planners P.O. Box 321, Charlotte, Vermont, USA ABSTRACT The ISOLA conference theme focuses on Cultural Landscapes, with those of the Indian sub continent prominently featured. This presentation takes a global view on cultural landscapes, presenting the World Heritage definitions, exploring pivotal worldwide trends in relation to our global commonwealth of cultural landscapes and summarizing a diverse tool kit that can be applied to honoring cultural landscapes of value. The presentation addresses three topics: 1. Defining Cultural Landscapes, Globally & within Asia 2. Global Trends that Engage Cultural Landscapes 3. Tools Landscape Architects & Cultural Landscape Stewards Can Use WHY CULTURAL LANDSCAPES MATTER: OUR GLOBAL CULTURE & NATURE COMMONWEALTH While the ISOLA conference theme focuses on Cultural Landscapes, with those of the Indian sub continent prominently featured, this presentation takes a global view on cultural landscapes. The field has advance considerably since the 1970s, with an important benchmark set in 1992 with the inclusion of cultural landscapes as a category for World Heritage nominations. The World Heritage definitions are presented as are variations in Asian concepts of cultural landscapes. Current worldwide trends are explored in relation to our global commonwealth of cultural landscapes. And, in closing, a diverse tool kit that can be applied to honoring cultural landscapes of value is set forth for consideration. The presentation addresses three topics: 1. Defining Cultural Landscapes, Globally & within Asia 2. Global Trends that Engage Cultural Landscapes 3. Tools Landscape Architects & Cultural Landscape Stewards Can Use Defining Cultural Landscapes, Globally & Within Asia Valued cultural landscapes of all ages, types and scales hold interest for landscape architects and allied professionals and can be a focus for respectful as well as innovative professional work. Simply stated, cultural landscapes are the combined works of humanity and nature. UNESCO World Heritage defines cultural landscapes as four types: defined or

2 designed; evolved relic; evolved continuing; and associative. Those of perceived societal value are often preserved or mourned when degraded or lost. Cultural landscapes subject to historic preservation planning and interventions are those we agree as societies are valued for their past and current meanings. Since the 1992 inclusion of cultural landscapes on the World Heritage list, some cultural landscapes are living touchstones of each society and nation. Today India has 23 cultural sites, of great temples, forts, caves, tombs and religious sites of pilgrimage, and 5 natural sites of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, inscribed on the World Heritage list, all of these sites are landscapes or have integral landscape components that contribute to their outstanding universal value. For example, the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, near Ahmadabad, is an Islamic pre-mughal city with ancient Hindu and Muslim architecture and water holding systems is a "concentration of largely unexcavated archeological, historical and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape." 1 This panorama of within the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park provides a sense of the broad cultural landscape of this World Heritage site. Courtesy Aminta Sinha. Landscapes embody, to varying degrees, both nature and culture, in both tangible and intangible forms. Landscape is the vessel of all life on earth, at the level of humans, animals, plants and biota. For humanity the setting of life is the land, whether urban, rural, highly developed or nearly wild. Cultural landscapes are neither entirely cultural nor exclusively natural, rather they express and contain culture and nature as product and process. The intersection of nature and culture in the landscape operates along an unbroken continuum, with nearly pure natural at one extreme and nearly entirely cultural at the other. Most landscapes combine nature and culture to varying degrees as works of humanity and nature, shaped by the native place and peoples over time. In the early 21st century there are no places on the globe that remain unaffected by human activity, meaning that even the most natural of landscapes include cultural components and influences. Likewise, those that appear to be dominantly cultural also contain aspects of nature. Worldwide the everyday cultural landscapes, constantly shaped by the forces of nature and humanity, predominate in places and in our minds. Many of these landscapes are important at local, regional, national or global levels. These also lead the types of cultural landscapes listed as World Heritage, counting 65 inscriptions through 2009, where "the interaction between people and nature is of outstanding value". 2 Ken Taylor focuses on this interaction in considering place identity and the combined aspects of the landscape's physical components, activities and symbols or meanings 3, embracing tangible and intangible, past, present and future. Within the Asian region cultural landscapes are scenic and valued for both the presence of nature and people. As Feng Han states Scenic and Historic Interest Areas, are the places where the natural beauty and cultural elements are at perfect oneness and present the Chinese perceptions of Nature, namely, beautiful, peaceful, full of 1 UNESCO World Heritage website, Brief Description of Champaner-Pavagahd Archeological Park, download 23 August Nora Mitchell, Mechtild Rossler, Pierre-Marie Tricaud, Authors/Editors, World Heritage Cultural Landscapes: A Handbook for Conservation and Management, UNESCO, World Heritage Papers 26, ISBN , December 2009, p Ken Taylor, "Cultural Landscapes & Asia: Reconciling International and Southeast Asian Regional Values", Landscape Research, Vol. 34, No 1, 7-31, February, 2009, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, publishers. 2

3 human spirituality, and embracing human beings 4. In China the naming of the national park system as Scenic and Historic Interest Areas, rather than nature reserve expresses these values. In opposition to this harmonious view of nature and humanity, Americas thinking positions nature as held apart from humanity and the wilderness is revered as a place separate from people. As we move into the second decade of the 21st century these views are evolving with global challenges, world-wide influences and hopefully, more integrated and holistic perceptions. Global Trends That Engage Cultural Landscapes In a world of apparent change, cultural landscapes provide continuity and a sense of place to our planet and inhabitants. Varied, unique cultural landscapes cover our globe. Recognition of the importance of these diverse authentic places, urban, rural, remote and archeological, is increasing worldwide. This lecture provides a global view of trends where cultural landscapes and the values imbedded in them matter today and in the future. Relevant global trends are: Culture-Nature Continuum- Landscapes are cultural and natural heritage combined and intertwined. Nature and culture are present in every landscape to varying degrees. There is a continuum of influence, with some landscapes favoring natural communities and systems and others favoring cultural influences, the seed of each, in the other. For example, IUCN protected area categories range from category Ia Strict Nature Reserves, managed for science and Ib Wilderness Areas, to category V Protected Landscapes/Seascapes for conservation. Category V is used for urban park lands that provide breathing space for city dwellers, and vegetation and habitat for plants and animals. Urban Dwellers- 50% & Growing Global City Populace. The urban landscape contributes to quality of life, landscape architecture work brings urban vegetation, transportation, views, public spaces, renewed historic places and enhanced ecological services to cities. The public green spaces, parks, planted corridors and river banks of cities provide breathing space, places for worship and for recreation for the city inhabitants and pilgrims. Earth Justice- Right to and Rights of Landscape. Public landscapes can encourage broad access for the diversity of people. Landscapes have a related right of respect and use without human degradation. Shared heritage and heritage in conflict, deeply held values of place, desire for broad access and safety. Recently IFLA has made progress on an International Landscape Convention, particularly in the grass roots efforts in the Americas region where Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela has ratified national landscape charters that promote the recognition, evaluation, protection, planning and management of landscapes in every nation. Health & Food- Recognition Agriculture & Food Quality. Food is life. Quality food is healthful. There is a strong trend toward growing, buying and eating local food. Farms that grow organic and ecological crops are gaining in popularity. At the same time, the evolved cultural landscapes of agriculture are in crisis globally, as industrial scale farming gains ground, rural populations shrink, farmers retire, small local farms 4 Patricia M. O Donnell, "Learning from World Heritage: Lessons from International Preservation & Stewardship of Cultural & Ecological Landscapes of Global Significance, 7th US/ICOMOS International Symposium", George Wright Society FORUM, volume 21, number 2, September 2004, quoting Feng Han, Chinese colleague and speaker at the symposium. 3

4 are lost to cultivation and productivity. A related trend is recognition of the need to support regional agriculture and national food sustainability. Climate Change & Green Sustainability- Healthy Landscapes are mitigating landscapes that absorb carbon outputs from human activity. "Green" approaches see preservation as sustainable, with respect for historic and existing landscape resources, incorporated into planning and development strategies and actions. Valuing soils, plants and rainwater as well as incorporating renewable energy adds impacts to cultural landscapes that require landscape architecture sensibilities and skills. Tourism & World Heritage- Authentic, unique landscape of culture and nature are destinations. There is a concern about global influences shaping places that are similar everywhere and that similarity tends to nullify the main objective of travelexperiencing a unique place and culture. The cultural landscapes of India, for example, are vibrant representations of the unique Indian Subcontinent lands and cultures, demonstrating the variations of this unique part of the world. This overview explores these broad contemporary themes, to frame the focus on the relevance of cultural landscapes to global trends. Recent photograph of tourists at the Taj Mahal, shows density of visitation of this internationally renowned historic site. The formal, axial organization, scale, plantings, gardens beds, walks and pools, provide are character-defining features of the cultural landscape. Courtesy Jonathan Bell. Tools Landscape Architects & Cultural Landscape Stewards Can Use From a landscape architecture professional perspective the challenges of preservation work require stepping beyond our personal sense of values, design training, the constructs of our own time and immersing in the values, character, meanings and ongoing purposes of the enduring cultural landscape. Each cultural landscape has a native basis of geology, topography, climate and ecology. The human influence adds layers of interventions, seen in landscape evolution, character, design ideas, and/or accumulated qualities that are unique, 4

5 and valued. The cultural landscapes of western India and Pakistan reveal the earliest cities and their evolution to the present day. There are intertwined linkages between natural landscapes, and the social and cultural forces that played a role in the shaping, through consumption, protection, mobility, attitudes and technological ability, as stated in the conference brief. To bring these vital resources into the future we need to understand and apply a robust set of tools to our work on behalf of cultural landscapes. The central elements of a cultural landscape stewardship tool kit are these four groups: Educational & Community Involvement Tools: Publicity In Local Media Local Tourism Council Oral History Recording Informational Meetings Celebrations, Remembrances Heritage Exhibitions & Lectures Key Person Interviews Skill Development Workshops Community Landscape Tours Volunteering for Cultural Landscape Support Tasks Influencing of Neighbors with Peer Discussion Financial Tools, Public & Private Investments Public Capital Improvements Conservation Easements Revolving Loan Fund Public Maintenance Funding Transfer of Development Rights Taxation Laws Favoring Preservation Funding for Research & Scholarship Long-term Lease of Heritage Properties Outright Purchase of Key Properties Purchase & Resale with Conservation Restrictions Donations of Heritage Property to Reliable Stewards Funding for Urban Heritage Conservation Agencies Advisory Tools, Plans & Guidelines Cultural Landscape Reports: US Capitol Grounds Research, Documentation, Publication Heritage Preservation & Management Plans Conservation Plans Cultural & Natural Resources Viewscape Protection, Contour Map for Building Siting and Height Holistic Planning Processes, Integrating Urban Heritage & Values Plans for Parks, Open Space, Transportation, Trees, Public Facilities Climate Resilience & Disaster Response Plans Valuing Heritage International & Regional Charters, Declarations & Conventions Legal Tools, Laws, Statutes, Regulations Design Review & Historic Commission Heritage Landscape Property Inscriptions Conservation Easement Urban Visual Control 5

6 Overlay Districts Land Use Zoning Tree Protection Legislation These four groups of tools are available to us as landscapes architects and in working collaboratively with community activists and allied professionals. They can be applied individually or in concert with each other. Knowledge to this broad tool kit can aid in our efforts, in collaboration with able colleagues and communities, to secure the values and places, intangible and tangible, that are our commonwealth of cultural landscapes. 6