Elegance and Grass Roots: The Neglected Philosophy

Frederick Law Olmsted is best known for his work in landscape architecture, pardcularly his creadon of New York's Central Park. It is not so well known that his park designs were inspired by an ambidous and systemadc philosophy. This essay will trace the development of Olmsted's thought from his early Jeffersonian pastoralism to a new vision of the important role of city parks in a democracy. My aims are to show that: 1) Olmsted was influenced by Udlitarianism and Transcendentalism, but he went beyond them and made an original contribudon to the thought of his dme that in some respects andcipated American Pragmadsm; 2) Olmsted's philosophy of park design and his social philosophy are complementary and inseparable, forming an elegant system in which a few simple aesthedc principles entail profound and wide-ranging effects that he thought would civilize and democradze American society; and 3) an understanding of Olmsted's visionary philosophy cannot only enhance our appreciadon of his landscape architecture but also better enable us to grasp the contemporary relevance of his work