Discovering the Vernacular Landscape

by J.B. Jackson

Discovering the Vernacular Landscape

Genres: Architecture, History, Geography, Nonfiction, Urban Planning, Essays, Art

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

John Brinckerhoff "Brinck" Jackson, J. B. Jackson, (September 25, 1909, Dinard, France - August 28, 1996, La Cienega, NM) was a writer, publisher, instructor, and sketch artist in landscape design. Herbert Muschamp, New York Times architecture critic, stated that J. B. Jackson was “America’s greatest living writer on the forces that have shaped the land this nation occupies.” He was influential in broadening the perspective on the “vernacular” landscape.

Reviews

[Zohar Shvarzberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking book about the vernacular nature of landscape. Although much has been written about vernacular architecture, few has been written about vernacular landscapes. The book is composed of separate lectures, yet there are some overlapping topics. The lectures have a manifest-theoretical character.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy book- it’s a collection of lectures and essays but it’s good and helps you think more deeply about how the built environment forms and shapes culture.

[Perri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of lectures dealing with landscapes provides scattershot insight into J.B. Jackson’s thinking on the concept of landscapes as well as his approach to analysis and understanding. Whether he is dealing with the horizontal landscapes seemingly preferred by modern Americans or Puritan perspectives on scenery in the Northeast, Jackson focuses on the potentialities of the landscape and the possibilities for future development.

If there’s any overarching theory of landscape in this book, it’s the difference between political and inhabited landscapes. He outlines distinctions between ‘political landscapes’—those explicitly created and organized by larger powers—and inhabited landscapes, or those that are preexisting and somehow generative of their populations (42). The inhabited landscape is less impacted by forces outside of a community or small-scale organization and shaped by the daily interaction with the surrounding environment. He uses the words ‘natural world’ in this context, but given the issues with natural/cultural dichotomies I’m loathe to reproduce that here.

In all of his descriptions and musings, Jackson seems to be balancing on the cusp of continuity and change. He is interested in the history of landscapes, the conditions that led to a particular manifestation, but is also invested in judging a landscape beautiful “when it has been or can be the scene of a significant experience in self-awareness and eventual self-knowledge” (64). For him, landscapes seem to have libratory potential, at least when related to the individual.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever think about why strip malls are important or how the house on wheels evolved? How about the modern hotrodder/traveler who experiences the american west at 60+ mph? Funny, ironic and perplexing. Awesome, but not for everyone.

[Howard Mansfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one wrote about America like J.B. Jackson. This book and two earlier volumes, Landscapes and The Necessity for Ruins, are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the way that Americans have chosen to inhabit this continent.

[LandscapeArchitect Books]

Recommended by Peter Monro of Portland Maine as one of the best books in landscape architecture in 1998. Thanks to the Landscape Information Hub UK. http://www.lih.gre.ac.uk/histhe/books...

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels a little dated at this point, but some fascinating ideas- most interesting in terms of linking ancient and medieval architecture and landscape to modern and contemporary trends.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't we have a book on our "read" shelf and our "to read" shelf at the same time? I read this ages ago, forgot all about JB Jackson until recently and now I cannot wait to read him again!