Le jardin urbain au XVIIIe siècle

This article examines the resistance of the urban garden to landscaping in the XVIIIth century. Why did public walks, squares, and pleasure gardens retain an increasingly antiquated formality? First the relevance of the modern notion of urban "public garden" is addressed. There was little in common between the various types of open spaces available in towns. Secondly, the notion of public space was far from clear in an age when the definition of "the public" was intensely elitist, and when most urban gardens accessible to visitors were in fact private property. The space occupied by these gardens was eminently marketable, and was often threatened with redevelopment. By contrast the rural, aristocratic, landscaped garden could be associated with the permanence of stable family property protected by strict settlement. The urban garden was in fact part and parcel of a consumer society in which it served as a venue for competitive sociability. Moreover the urban gardens were rarely related to the classical visual culture of the early landscape gardens. The XVIIIth-century urban garden could hardly be perceived as a landscape, but rather as a commodified "arena of display" (P. Bor- say).Carré Jacques. Le jardin urbain au XVIIIe siècle. In: XVII-XVIII. Bulletin de la société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. N°51, 2000. pp. 185-200