The Greening of the Squares of London: Transformation of Urban landscapes and Ideals

Abstract

The residential squares of London developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries into a unique urban landscape form that introduced rural landscape values into the urban fabric in ways that continue to shape urban landscape ideals today. This study takes the viewpoint of cultural geography to look at the gardens in the squares as symbolic statements expressing social values in a critical period in the history of European cities, as property and social relations were in transition from late feudal to early capitalist modes. The open spaces of the squares were changed from open plazas in the seventeenth century to enclosed private parks at the end of the eighteenth century, based on the social values of the aristocracy, later adopted by the middle classes. Public rights of access were extinguished and the gardens were planted with trees and shrubs reminiscent of rural landscape parks. The squares and their surrounding residential districts represented some of the first expressions of the desire for class segregation, domestic isolation, and privatized open space that later were toform the basis of suburban living. They also were a major arena for playing out the tension between classes over access to open space and they influenced the development of early public parks. The residential squares and their gardens inspired imitation beyond London, including in the U.S. during the first third of the nineteenth century.

Key Words:

• landscape ideals
• urban morphology
• cultural and historical geography
• eighteenth century
• Britain