A Beginner’s Education in the History and Landscape Design of Central Park: Part Two
When we speak of the meaning of place in human life, how do we describe what we might call “placeness?” Through our five senses we experience the salient characteristics of landscapes; by on-site signage and personal investigation we determine the uses of certain places, and through books we learn how to classify the agents of the sensory experiences of up-close vision, smell, hearing, and touch as well as the historic facts, natural endowments, and design intentions that account for individual place identities. Join me in again approaching Central Park through recently rediscovered books that I have taken off the shelf in my library dedicated to this purpose.