Greenscapes ~ Sense and Meaning

Theme: The Garden in the City

October 18 to 21, 2007

Brock University and Rodman Hall Arts Centre

St. Catharines, Ontario

We welcome submissions for an international and interdisciplinary conference on gardens and designed landscapes. Garden space is increasingly recognized not only for its horticultural interest, but as an expression of ecological and environmental awareness, a venue for social interaction, and a vehicle for communicating and disseminating cultural information.

Greenscapes ~ Sense and Meaning will bring together scholars from all disciplines and a wide range of professional landscape architects, urban planners, activists and artists to discuss the subject of "The Garden in the City." As a living space, the garden is often considered to be the antithesis of the urban, built area, yet increasingly cities seek to incorporate garden space into their infrastructure as part of their urban identity. The conference will explore the ramifications of this development, while examining ways in which urban garden space in contemporary and historical environments acts a focus for social aspirations and anxieties.

We invite proposals on, but not limited to, the following topics:

•cultural history of urban gardens

•representation and meaning (in text and image) of gardens in the city

•aesthetic and psychological impact of the urban garden

•gardens and urban regeneration (ecology and community)

•programmatic and artists' gardens in the city

The conference will take place at Brock University, nestled in the Niagara greenbelt on a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, and Rodman Hall Arts Centre, home of the Walker Botanical Garden. Both institutions are located in the city of St. Catharines, known as 'The Garden City' and situated near Royal Botanical Gardens, the largest in Canada.
Papers will be delivered in English and French. Funds may be available to contribute to the expenses of student participants. Selected papers from the conference will be published in the peer-reviewed journal, The Brock Review.

Please send abstracts (up to 250 words) and a brief biography to greenscapes@brocku.ca by April 30, 2007.

Conference organizers:
Keri Cronin (Visual Arts, Brock University), David Galbraith (Royal Botanical Gardens), Sharilyn J. Ingram (School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University), Leah Knight (English Language and Literature, Brock University), Katharine von Stackelberg (Classics, Brock University)

We acknowledge with gratitude the support of the Humanities Research Institute at Brock University.