Routes, Roads and Landscapes

Brita Brenna, Associate Professor, University of Oslo, Norway, Beate Elvebakk, Senior Researcher, Norwegian Institute of Transport Economics, Norway, Mari Hvattum, Professor, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway and Janike Kampevold Larsen, Post Doc, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway

• Contents: Introduction: routes, roads and landscapes, Mari Hvattum, Brita Brenna, Beate Elvebakk and Janike Kampevold Larsen; Section I Moving Through the Landscape: King of the road: describing Norwegian landscapes in the 18th century, Brita Brenna; Flow: rivers, roads, routes and cartographies of leisure, Vittoria di Palma; 'To lead the curious to points of view': the 18th-century design of Irish routes, roads and landscapes, Finola O'Kane; A road with a view: C.F. Vogt's painting of Krokkleiva, Torild Gjesvik; Landscape's imprint: on the physiognomy of plants around 1800, Charlotte Klonk; Travel, en route writing, and the problems of correspondence, Charles W.J. Withers. Section II The Route as Icon and Occurrence: Redfining the American sublime, from open road to interstate, David E. Nye; The man who loved views: C.A. Pihl and the making of the modern landscape, Mari Hvattum; Staging the driving experience: parkways in Germany and the United States, Thomas Zeller; The concept of flow in regional planning: Benton MacKaye's contribution to the Tennessee Valley Authority, Christine Macy and Sarah Bonnemaison; Aerocabs and skycar cities: utopian landscapes of mobility, Even Smith Wergeland. Section III Landscapes of Mobility: Towards a politics of mobility, Tim Cresswell; Curating views: the Norwegian tourist route project, Janike Kampevold Larsen; Stop, rest and digest: feeding people into nature, Lars Frers; Roadside aesthetics: guidelines from the Norwegian public roads administration, Beate Elvebakk; Enfolding and gathering the landscape: a geography of England's M1 corridor, Peter Merriman. Coda: Landscapes on the road, Gernot Böhme; Index.

'The most immediately obvious aspect about Routes, Roads and Landscapes is its stunning presentation with many incredibly interesting coloured prints of old art, maps and contemporary photographs (in fact more than 90 figures). The text is just as engaging... The multidisciplinary approach to thinking more deeply about canals, railway, the highway, the interstate, the motorway, tunnels, tourist routes and parkways is refreshing and absorbing... scholars from many disciplines will enjoy it.' New Zealand Geographer 'This is an excellent book. It not only introduces the reader to the state-of-the-art in the cultural history of roads, it also opens the field by linking it to art history, geography, philosophy, sociology, literary theory, science and technology studies, and architectural history... this is not only a book that assembles excellent materials for a course reader. It further presents in a stimulating way the potential of a multifaceted history of technology to show the ways in which movement and mobility have for centuries informed people's perception of the world around them.' Technology & Culture '... this thoroughly engaging and meticulously researched text provides a wide ranging and admirably cross-disciplinary understanding of how landscapes have been witnessed, interpreted, and represented by the moving subject.' Journal of Historical Geography '... a fascinating read covering a broad range of topics... It will particularly appeal to those who like to experiment and step outside of their disciplinary comfort zone. The book is wonderfully presented in hard cover and each chapter is beautifully illustrated with figures presumably painstakingly dug out of the archives.' Journal of Transport Geography 'This is a wonderful book! It is richly illustrated with color plates. Its multi-disciplinary approach makes it much more informative than other works dealing with transportation and human experience.' International Social Science Review 'Routes, Roads and Landscapes is a delightfully entertaining and aesthetically pleasing book. It is of a high standard, contributing to the latest ideas and debates in new mobilities and landscape studies literatures, ranging across several disciplines. Above all, its accessible language, sumptuous imagery and extensive, as well as in-depth, coverage of relevant topics will ensure its popular appeal, in addition to academic approval. This book is one that readers of Australian Planner might well want to have popped into a gift pack by friends and colleagues (or, alternatively, delivered by post with a request to review!). Routes, Roads and Landscapes, however it might arrive, will be likely to please on several counts.' Australian Planner ' ... the text is well organised and does flow from one area to the next and provides an eye-opening contribution that widens the single discipline experience. At first sight, using a format of a 'coffee table' book, the book might appear lightweight but it is worthy of serious consideration by all readers interested in the multi-faceted concept of mobility from early days to the present'. Journal of Transport Hitory