Connecticut is progressing through its fifth stage of landscape evolution since the time of the first human settlement. The earlier four stages (primeval forest, Native American landscape, Euro-American agriculture landscape, and American industrial-agricultural landscape), have given way to the stage we are currently experiencing – the American suburban landscape.

Dr. William Berentsen, from the Department of Geography at UConn, will briefly examine the early stages of landscape evolution, the imprints of which are still to some extent evident in today’s landscape. Then his illustrated talk will focus on today’s American suburban landscape, the driving forces behind landscape change, and what it may mean for the future.