Italian Renaissance and Japanese Zen Gardens: An Approach for Introducing Cultural Landscapes

Abstract

This paper outlines a method for teaching about cultural landscapes in introductory geography classes by contrasting the Renaissance gardens of Italy with the Zen gardens of Japan. The ordered, symmetrical, formal arrangement of the Renaissance gardens are compared to the Zen gardens where landscape features appear to be completely natural. By contrasting these two garden traditions—their physical characteristics, their paths of diffusion, and the world views they express—it is possible to illustrate how cultural landscapes develop and persist in areas as a result of differing combinations of physical, social, and cultural circumstances.

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