The Countryside Ideal

` ... is to be welcomed, not least of all because it provides the clearest and most comprehensive account yet of ways in which attitudes towards the countryside are embedded in a long history of urban-based gowth and change. The scholarly and authoritative text (enriched by a selection of telling illustrations) will be of immense value to researchers and students alike.' - Planning Perspectives

Auteur
Michael Bunce is Associate Professor of Geography at Scarborough College, University of Toronto, Canada.

Texte du rabat

Draws together diverse images of landscape to explore the historical processes shaping our continuing attachment to the countryside - seen in artistic expression, attitudes to nature, country life and the development of rural and urban land.

Résumé

`God made the country, man made the town.'
William Cowper's words, written two centuries ago, underline an idealisation of rural life and landscape which persists to this day.
What are the main historical processes and ideas underlying the continuing attachment to the countryside? How have these shaped popular values and lifestyles influenced artistic expression, defined attitudes to nature, country life and 8andscape, and affected the development of both rural and urban landscapes? What are the consequences for society and the environment? These are the central questions addressed in this book.
The Countryside Ideal draws together diverse images of landscape to explore this preoccupation with place, culture and representation in the West.

Contenu
INTRODUCTION 1 THE MAKING OF AN IDEAL 2 THE ARMCHAIR COUNTRYSIDE 3 A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY 4 THE PEOPLE'S PLAYGROUND 5 THE COUNTRY IN THE CITY 6 THE COUNTRYSIDE MOVEMENT 7 REFLECTIONS