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rate in feet per year or increase in volume - a reference which could be readily applied to design situations. Prof. Martin has used the standard terms found in most plant-oriented texts rather than translating the information into a meaningful design context.

If you enjoy having a comprehensive collection of books on plant materi- als, you should consider adding this one to your collection, but if you want a book which can make a difference in design process or execution of planting, Landscape Plants in Design will probably not serve a very useful purpose on your library shelf.

J.D. CARPENTER The Ohio State University

Department of Landscape Architecture Columbus, OH 43210

U.S.A.

LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT AND DESIGN

Des Paysages: Pour Qui? Pourquoi ? Comm.ent? By Georges Neuray. Les Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux (Belgique), 1982, 589 pp., 1480 FB, ISBN 2-87016-026-7.

“Landscapes: for whom, why, and how?“. Professor Neuray, who occupies the chair of ornamental plant science in the Faculty of Agronomy at Gem- bloux (Belgium), asks and answers these questions in an interesting and ambitious overview of landscape management and design, viewed from the cultural perspective of northwestern Europe. This four-course-meal of a book is particularly strong in the area of visual analysis, in which it represents a major contribution to the literature available in the French language.

The book is in fact several volumes in one, as the author takes on each of his questions in turn, and discusses them at length. He first answers the question “For whom?“, in an extensive examination of our perception of the landscape as we live and work in it, or pass through it under various means of locomotion. Drawing on much of the classic theory of Appleyard et al. (1971) in “View from the Road”, and of Tunnard and Pushkarev’s (1963) “Man-made America”, he explores our changing perceptions at higher speeds; he studies the cultural factors which influence our perceptions, both individual and collective; and he analyses what we see in the landscape: landform, water, structure, texture, light and colour.

In the second part of the book, the author looks at the “why” of the landscape, this can only be understood by dealing with its historical dimen- sion. Neuray describes the relatively slow transformation of the pre-industrial landscape from neolithic times to the nineteenth century, and shows how the past has been obscured, but not entirely destroyed, by the rapid changes

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of modern times. His focus is on northwestern Europe, but this historical section is nonetheless fascinating for the non-European reader.

In his third section, Neuray studies the “how” of landscape analysis and evaluation. He briefly summarizes a selection of tools and methods from both European and North American sources which are used to quantify the characteristics of a landscape, and our visual reactions to it. He goes on to describe a method of visual analysis of the landscape which he developed and which has been used at the Gembloux school for several site evaluations. This system is relatively straightforward, and could be usefully applied in a number of contexts.

The final section of the book is a detailed study of today’s landscape, broken down into its component “systems”: communication networks (highways, railroads and waterways), farmlands, the urban and “rurban” landscape, industry, recreational and tourist development, and woodlands. In each case, Neuray examines the nature of the system, current impact prob- lems which affect it, and our perception of both; he then suggests some strategies for mitigating these impacts or sounds a call of alarm. Examples are taken primarily from Belgium and France (including dramatic evidence of the impact of tourism on the ~edite~anean coast); some excellent British examples of reclamation of industrial landscape are also included.

In his avant-propos, Professor Neuray informs us of his life-long concern at the destruction of the landscape. This book obviously represents the dist~lation of many years of reflection and teaching, as its considerable breadth and depth make obvious. The author has successfully avoided super- ficiality while covering several very distinct subjects. He writes from a broadly humanist perspective, accepting the need for technological and economic development while insisting on their careful integration into the landscape.

The text is well illustrated with numerous photographs in black-and- white and colour. The use of a variety of examples from a particular context, far from limiting the appeal of the book, makes it more valuable to the reader. One can better understand the principles Neuray espouses by seeing them applied in concrete situations than had they been expressed only as generalities. In addition to the illustrations, many topical “vignettes”, taken from books and newspapers, are distributed throughout the text. These are interesting, but a bit cumbersome, as the reader tends to lose track of the author’s main thrust. The book’s only real weakness is perhaps inevitable in a project with multiple goals: the four sections seem at times to be sep- arate books rather than a coordinated whole. Aside from this, there are a few minor errors such as misspelled proper names and the occasional slightly misleading caption.

Overall, “Les paysages”, is a fine piece of work and is highly recom- mended, particularly as a text in the visual analysis and evaluation of the landscape. It will be a very welcome resource for the French-speaking

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student and professional, and for all those who are concerned for the way the landscape became what it is, and what we should do about it.

PETER JACOBS and RON WILLIAMS Ecole d’Architecture de Puysage

Facult6 de l’Amt%agement Universitk! de Montreal

Montrkal, Quebec, Canada

REFERENCES

Appleyard, D., Lynch, K. and Myer, J.R., 1971. The View from the Road. 3rd edn., M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA.

Tunnard, C. and Pushkarev, B., 1963. Man-made America: Chaos or Control? Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.