Frederick Law Olmsted

Paper Summary:

Towards the end of the 1850s, city beautification became an issue that more and more leaders followed and explored. The theory behind this movement was that the more aesthetically pleasing you make a city, the more people will want to live in that city, and the happier they will be. One of the greatest champions of the City Beautiful movement was Frederick Law Olmsted. The paper explores the life and achievements of Olmsted who was the leading landscape architect of the post-Civil War generation, and has long been acknowledged as the founder of American landscape architecture.

From the Paper:

"Olmsted had high expectations for his design's psychology and visual effects on people. He believed that the perfect antidote to the stress and artificialness of urban life was a nice stroll through a pastoral park. He foresaw places with graceful undulating greensward and scattered growths of trees. He believed and promoted the idea that such an environment would promote a sense of tranquillity. Olmsted's vision was that the sense of calmness that would come from the park by his separation of the different landscape themes and conflicting uses."

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