The Venetian City Garden: Place, Typology, and Perception

By John Dixon Hunt

Key issues in garden design today

No city has played a more seminal role in the
development of "landscape" as a concept than has Venice. In a city where
the land and gardens are reclaimed from a lagoon environment whose
ecology is in jeopardy today, they are the very basis of life, dwelling,
and culture. This book develops a typology of gardens distinguished by
their predominantly small scale, all of which work with essential
dimensions of landscape architecture: private and public space,
usefulness and beauty, and open space in a densely built environment
that is permeated with history.

From nearly one hundred city
gardens, squares, and courtyards, public parks and temporary gardens,
this book identifies garden layout and design elements that involve both
material factors - spatial and design-related features - as well as the
social circumstances of their use.

The areas presented include
the Arsenale, where the Paradise Garden was created for the 2008
Biennale by Gustafson Porter, and the giardini and public gardens that -
since their creation two hundred years ago - have served as a
laboratory for making Venice into a modern city with a strong appeal to
the "natural".

The city garden in a densely built, historical environment - a type of garden presented through one of its paradigmatic examples

Analyzes history, typology, and topography as essential elements of landscape design

By one of the world's leading experts on garden history and landscape design

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3764389435
• ISBN13: 9783764389437
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Birkhauser
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.3" x 11.6"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary