ABOUT THIS BOOK

Ian L. McHarg's landmark book Design with Nature changed the face of landscape architecture and planning by promoting the idea that the design of human settlements should be based on ecological principles. McHarg was one of the earliest and most influential proponents of the notion that an understanding of the processes that form landscapes should underlie design decisions.

In To Heal the Earth, McHarg has joined with Frederick Steiner, a noted scholar of landscape architecture and planning, to bring forth a valuable cache of his writings produced between the 1950s and the 1990s. McHarg and Steiner have each provided original material that links the writings together, and places them within the historical context of planning design work and within the larger field of ecological planning as practiced today.

The book moves from the theoretical-beginning with the 1962 essay "Man and Environment" which sets forth the themes of religion, science, and creativity that emerge and reappear throughout McHarg's work--to the practical, including discussions of methods and techniques for ecological planning as well as case studies. Other sections address the link between ecology and design, and the issue of ecological planning at a regional scale, covering topics such as education and training necessary to develop the field of ecological planning, how to organize and arrange biophysical information to reveal landscape patterns, the importance of incorporating social factors into ecological planning, and more.

To Heal the Earth provides a larger framework and a new perspective on McHarg's work that brings to light the growth and development of his key ideas over a forty year period. It is an important contribution to the literature, and will be essential reading for students and scholars of ecological planning, as well as for professional planners and landscape architects.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Ian L. McHarg is professor emeritus and founding chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning in the Graduate School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

Frederick R. Steiner is professor and founding director of the School of Planning and Landscape Architecture in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Arizona State University in Tempe.

REVIEWS

"Ian McHarg's work is seminal; it is an ethical and scientific touchstone for everyone trying to discern humanity's rightful and meaningful place as part of the natural world. He moved ecology from a marginal to a central concern and changed design and planning forever."

— William A. McDonough, William McDonough + Partners

"Beginning almost alone, Ian McHarg has energized-by the wizardry of his language coupled with a new world vision—not only the profession of landscape architecture, but two generations of citizens now able to call themselves environmentalists. Broad is his brush as well as his scope. Fortunate are we to get so much of his breadth compressed into these pages."

— Grady Clay, author, public radio commentator, and former editor of "Landscape Architecture"

"A true visionary and passionate believer in the inter-dependence of man and nature, Ian McHarg has played a major role in the environmental revolution. His selected writings in To Heal the Earth provide a fascinating record of how through theory, practice, and powerful advocacy he has brought an ecological imperative to landscape and urban planning."

— Russell E. Train, Chairman Emeritus, World Wildlife Fund, and former administrator, EPA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword
Preface
Introduction

PART I. Changing The Nature of Design and Planning: Theoretical Writings
References
Chapter 1. Man and Environment (1963)
Chapter 2. The Place of Nature in the City of Man (1964)
Chapter 3. Ecological Determinism (1966)
Chapter 4. Values, Process, and Form (1968)
Chapter 5. Natural Factors in Planning (1997)

PART II. Planning the Ecological Region
References
Chapter 6. Regional Landscape Planning (1963)
Chapter 7. Open Space from Natural Processes (1970)
Chapter 8. Must We Sacrifice the West?(1975)
Chapter 9. Ecological Planning: The Planner as Catalyst (1978)
Chapter 10. Human Ecological Planning at Pennsylvania (1981)

PART III. Form and Function Are Indivisible
References
Chapter 11. The Court House Concept (1957)
Chapter 12. Architecture in an Ecological View of the World (1970)
Chapter 13. Nature Is More than a Garden (1990)
Chapter 14. Landscape Architecture (1997)
Chapter 15. Ecology and Design (1997)

PART IV. Revealing the Genius of the Place: Methods and Techniques for Ecological Planning
References
Chapter 16. An Ecological Method for Landscape Architecture (1967)
Chapter 17. A Comprehensive Highway Route Selection Method (1968)
Chapter 18. Biological Alternatives to Water Pollution (1976)
Chapter 19. A Case Study in Ecological Planning: The Woodlands, Texas (1979)

PART V. Linking Knowledge to Action
References
Chapter 20. Plan for the Valleys vs. Spectre of Uncontrolled Growth (1965)
Chapter 21. An Ecological Planning Study for Wilmington and Dover, Vermont (1972)
Chapter 22. Ecological Plumbing for the Texas Coastal Plain (1975)
Chapter 23. A Strategy for a National Ecological Inventory (1992)

Prospectus (1998)
Acknowledgment of Sources
Index

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