Landscape Architectural Discourses on Restoration

<p dir="ltr">The literature of landscape architecture points to an intensifying interest in “landscape restoration” practices. This literature represents restoration projects as demonstrations of multifaceted societal ambitions achieved through landscape transformation. Through exemplary case studies, we trace the lineages and evolution of restoration and related concepts, situating them against discourses of beautification and civility; integration and functionality; and adaptation and complexity that characterized landscape architectural practice through the Picturesque, Ecohumanist, and Landscape Urbanist periods. Each case study presents a distinct practice employed to transform the landscape in ways that reflect scientific breakthroughs and societal ambitions, as understood through discourses between 1730 and the present. We highlight an apparent conflation in contemporary terminology describing these practices and a lack of critical evaluation of the complex implications of such initiatives.</p>