Cultural landscapes

Patterns on the land have been preserved through the continuation of traditional uses and convey the intimate connection between people and the places they inhabit such as the California wine region in Sonoma.

The term ‘cultural landscape’ links the interaction of man with nature over extended periods of time. No matter the size, from small parcels to vast tracts of land, cultural landscapes provide a layered narrative of our heritage, our sense of place and our links to the past. The concept of the cultural landscape is fairly new to historic preservation and heritage conservation. In 1992 The World Heritage Convention became the first international legal instrument to recognize and protect cultural landscapes.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

UNESCO declared: "Cultural landscapes are cultural properties and represent the combined works of nature and of man. They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by the natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal.”

Three categories were established to identify and qualify for recognition and treatment of cultural landscapes:

• clearly defined landscape designed and created intentionally by man
• organically evolved landscapes
• associative cultural landscape.

Conservation Treatment of Cultural Landscapes per UNESCO

The World Heritage Committee has identified and defined several specific types of cultural and natural properties and has adopted specific guidelines to facilitate the evaluation of such properties when nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List. To date, these cover the following separate categories, although it is likely that others may be added in due course: Cultural Landscapes, Historic Towns and Town Centres, Heritage Canals, and Heritage Routes.

Selection criteria for Cultural landscapes is based on their outstanding universal value and of their representativity in terms of a clearly defined geo-cultural region and also for their capacity to illustrate the essential and distinct cultural elements of such regions.

Cultural landscapes often reflect specific techniques of sustainable land-use, considering the characteristics and limits of the natural environment they are established in, and a specific spiritual relation to nature. Protection of cultural landscapes can contribute to modern techniques of sustainable land-use and can maintain or enhance natural values in the landscape. The continued existence of traditional forms of land-use supports biological diversity in many regions of the world. The protection of traditional cultural landscapes is therefore helpful in maintaining biological diversity.

The United States Secretary of the Interior and the National Park Service (NPS)

Also in 1992, The United States Secretary of Interior revised the Standards and Guidelines for Historic Preservation to include all historic resources that were eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places inclusive of buildings, structures, sites, objects, districts, and cultural landscapes. Cultural landscapes were defined as a “geographic area, including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein, associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values.” There are four general types of cultural landscapes, not mutually exclusive:

• Historic site
• Historic designed landscape
• Historic vernacular landscape
• Ethnographic landscape

Preservation Treatment of Cultural Landscapes per The Secretray of Interior and the National Park Service

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties addresses four treatments: Preservation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, or Reconstruction. The Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes illustrate how to apply these four treatments to cultural landscapes in a way that meets the Standards. The Guidelines suggest an assessment of the organizational elements of the landscape such as spatial organization and land patterns followed by character-defining features such as topography, vegetation, circulation, water features, structures, site furnishings and objects.

Preservation planning for Cultural landscapes generally involves the following steps: historical research; inventory and documentation of existing conditions; historic plant inventory; site analysis and evaluation of integrity and significance; development of a cultural landscape preservation approach and treatment plan; development of a cultural landscape management plan and management philosophy; the development of a strategy for ongoing maintenance; and preparation of a record of treatment and future research recommendations.2

Parks Canada

In 1993, in partnership with The National Capital Commission of Canada (NCC), Parks Canada declared, “Cultural landscapes are geographical terrains which exhibit characteristics or which represent the values of a society as a result of human interaction with the environment.”

Later amended in 2004, the NCC drafted the Definition and Assessment of Cultural Landscapes of Heritage Value on NCC Lands and included: “A cultural landscape is defined... as a set of ideas and practices, embedded in a place. This definition is used to capture the relationship between the intangible and tangible qualities of these sites.”

In 2011 Parks Canada further updated their standards and definitions* (need to include their update)

Parks Canada defines three types of cultural landscapes:

• the designed landscape
• the organic landscape
• the associative landscape

Conservation Treatment of Cultural Landscapes per Parks Canada

The Guidelines for Cultural Landscapes are divided into 11 subsections: evidence of land use; evidence of traditional practices; land patterns; spatial organization; visual relationships; circulation; ecological features; vegetation; landforms; water features; and built features. These guidelines pertain to the elements of a cultural landscape or to the spatial or visual relationships between them. The elements may have been introduced or transformed by people or may be natural with a recognized heritage value. Because these elements are usually interrelated, users should refer to other relevant guidelines when conserving a cultural landscape, to ensure that all character defining elements are protected, and the heritage value of the historic place preserved.

General Standards for Preservation, Rehabilitation and Restoration:

• Conserve the heritage value of an historic place. Do not remove, replace or substantially alter its intact or repairable characterdefining elements. Do not move a part of an historic place if its current location is a character-defining element.
• Conserve changes to an historic place that, over time, have become character-defining elements in their own right.
• Conserve heritage value by adopting an approach calling for minimal intervention.
• Recognize each historic place as a physical record of its time, place and use. Do not create a false sense of historical development by adding elements from other historic places or other properties, or by combining features of the same property that never coexisted.
• Find a use for an historic place that requires minimal or no change to its character-defining elements.
• Protect and, if necessary, stabilize an historic place until any subsequent intervention is undertaken. Protect and preserve

archaeological resources in place. Where there is potential for disturbing archaeological resources, take mitigation measures to limit damage and loss of information.

• Evaluate the existing condition of character-defining elements to determine the appropriate intervention needed. Use the gentlest means possible for any intervention. Respect heritage value when undertaking an intervention.
• Maintain character-defining elements on an ongoing basis. Repair character-defining elements by reinforcing their materials using recognized conservation methods. Replace in kind any extensively deteriorated or missing parts of character-defining elements, where there are surviving prototypes.
• Make any intervention needed to preserve character-defining elements physically and visually compatible with the historic place and identifiable on close inspection. Document any intervention for future reference.

Additional Standards Relating to Rehabilitation

• Repair rather than replace character-defining elements. Where character-defining elements are too severely deteriorated to repair,

and where sufficient physical evidence exists, replace them with new elements that match the forms, materials and detailing of sound versions of the same elements. Where there is insufficient physical evidence, make the form, material and detailing of the new elements compatible with the character of the historic place.

• Conserve the heritage value and character-defining elements when creating any new additions to an historic place or any related new

construction. Make the new work physically and visually compatible with, subordinate to and distinguishable from the historic place.

• Create any new additions or related new construction so that the essential form and integrity of an historic place will not be impaired if the new work is removed in the future.

Additional Standards Relating to Restoration

• Repair rather than replace character-defining elements from the restoration period. Where character-defining elements are too severely deteriorated to repair and where sufficient physical evidence exists, replace them with new elements that match the forms, materials and detailing of sound versions of the same elements.
• Replace missing features from the restoration period with new features whose forms, materials and detailing are based on sufficient

physical, documentary and/or oral evidence.