Landscapes of Retreat
The awarded first edition of Landscapes of Retreat is currently out of stock but the forthcoming second edition is available for preorder. We will fulfill your order as soon as the book becomes available again in a few months so please don't hesitate to get your copy now.
Landscapes of Retreat are portraits of climate adaptation. Retreat is found in the land that is left behind as settlement patterns shift due to a changing climate. The term landscape refers to the earth animated by the aliveness of creatures and organisms, and the term retreat suggests that human patterns are not fixed but might also be enlivened. Featuring in-depth field studies from Nijinomatsubara Forest/Japan, Maule River/Chile, Niugtaq Village/Alaska, Langtang Park/Nepal, and Gaspésie Peninsula/Québec, the stories in Landscapes of Retreat suggest that communities are more likely to adapt to change when the landscape is appreciated, so that retreat can be valued. The results cut across history, fieldwork, citizenship, and geography in order to rethink and rework “change” as a means toward shared climate futures.
Rosetta S. Elkin is Associate Professor and Academic Director of Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute, Principal of Practice Landscape and Research Associate at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. She is author of Plant Life: The Entangled Politics of Afforestation and Tiny Taxonomy: Individual Plants in Landscape Architecture.
We’re thrilled to announce that Landscapes of Retreat by Associate Professor Rosetta S. Elkin has been awarded the prestigious 2024 J.B. Jackson Book Award from the Landscape Studies Initiative at the University of Virginia! The jury, composed of Kenneth Helpland, Sarah Lopez, and Beth Meyer, unanimously praised this “moving book” for its innovative contributions to landscape studies. This award recognizes groundbreaking contributions to landscape studies, and we’re proud to have developed this remarkable book with Rosetta.
The paper edition is accompanied by a free digital publication at LandscapesofRetreat.com.