ABSTRACT
We now follow on with an exploration of ideas
relevant to a more integrated concept of human-
environment relations. This presents a world view
different to that characterised by Enlightenment
thinking and supports a more holistic view of the
human-environment relationship that ties together
more closely human behavioural and psychologi-
cal functioning with the settings in which it
occurs. Key elements of this can be traced to
counter-enlightenment movements and found in
the tenets of more recent philosophical and
cultural ideas. The Romantic movement in partic-
ular emerged as a revolt against material changes
in society which accompanied the growth of cities
and industrial expansion during the eighteenth
century. As a discernible cultural movement, the
Romantic challenge to the Enlightenment was
relatively short-lived, lasting until the mid-nine-
teenth century. But vestiges of Romantic thought
remain today particularly within the growth of the
modern environmental movement, and this has
helped fuel challenges to the Enlightenment
concept of civilisation that have gathered pace
over the past two decades (Lincoln and Guba,
1985). In part this is related to increasing aware-
ness of environmental and ecological threats,
argued by some (Schumacher, 1973; Capra, 1982)
to be a direct consequence of the Enlightenment’s
techno-scientific legacy, and by cultural and
scientific developments in the twentieth century
which challenge fundamentally the stability of its
deterministic and dualistic foundations. This has
underpinned interest in a more ecological, holis-
tic view of human-environment relations, elements
of which have been explored in the context of
landscape architectural theory but have not really
taken root. The general characteristics lean
towards a more phenomenological philosophy
which provides foundations for human experi-
ence to be at the heart of the way the concept of
place is understood. The implications of this for
the design of outdoor places will be explored later,
but first we want to focus on some of the broader
philosophical influences on human-environment
holism.
