From city high-rise to southern desert, from urban sprawl to virgin canyons, the American landscape is endless in its variety. On the initiative of the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, a group of landscape architects, architects, urban designers, artists and critics travelled through this imposing landscape, drawing inspiration for their own work from its history and transformations. Their journey is recorded in Reading the American Landscape, which includes essays by the members of the group and a number of American landscape researchers.

From city high-rise to southern desert, from urban sprawl to virgin canyons, the American landscape is endless in its variety. On the initiative of the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, a group of landscape architects, architects, urban designers, artists and critics travelled through this imposing landscape, drawing inspiration for their own work from its history and transformations. Their journey is recorded in Reading the American Landscape, which includes essays by the members of the group and a number of American landscape researchers.

The backbone of the book is a bibliography compiled specially for the study trip, from which the authors each took one title as the starting point for their essays. The result is a remarkable series of reflections on American landscape architecture and public space, with visual essays by the artists and photographers who were part of the group. The bibliography is brought to life in over 6500 photographs, pointing beyond words to a landscape that can only be truly grasped in its infinite expanse.

Texts by Timothy Davis, David Hamers, Erik de Jong and Dirk Sijmons; artists’ contributions by Voebe de Gruyter, Erik Odijk, Frank van der Salm and many others. Design: Irma Boom.