ONLINE: Why have the design and function of English gardens and parks changed so much over the last 500 years? Most accounts of garden history are concerned with what owners, designers and gardeners did, rather than why they did it. In a lecture format, we will examine why they did it: why people garden; what the costs and benefits are, as they have been perceived through the years; and how garden styles mirror the aesthetic, social, technological and political attitudes of the time at least as accurately as any other art form. The gardens we will study range from the purely ornamental to the functional, and include public parks. In this online course, using slides and videos to supplement the lectures, we will learn about the changing aspirations of garden owners, and even try to answer the question, what are gardens for? | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 200.
Class sessions are recorded.
