Editing Landscape architecture (section)

== Relation to Indigenous practices ==
Indigenous land management practices create constantly changing landscapes through the use of [[vegetation]] and natural systems, contrasting with western epistemologies of the discipline that separate ornament from function.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781315623412/routledge-companion-criticality-art-architecture-design-chris-brisbin-myra-thiessen |title=The Routledge Companion to Criticality in Art, Architecture, and Design |year=2018 |editor-last=Brisbin |editor-first=Chris |doi=10.4324/9781315623412 |isbn=9781315623412 |s2cid=207824118 |editor-last2=Thiessen |editor-first2=Myra}}</ref> The discipline of landscape architecture favors western designs made from structured materials and geometric forms.<ref name=":1" /> Landscape architecture history books tend to include projects that contain constructed architectural elements that persist over time, excluding many Indigenous landscape-based designs.<ref name=":1" />

Landscape architecture textbooks often place Indigenous peoples as a prefix to the official start of the discipline. The widely read landscape history text ''The Landscape of Man'' (1964) offers a global history of the designed landscape from past to present, featuring [[Indigenous peoples of Africa|African]] and other Indigenous peoples in its discussions of [[Paleolithic]] man between 500,000 and 8,000 BCE in relation to [[Pre-modern human migration|human migration]].<ref name=":1" /> Indigenous land-management practices are described as archaeological rather than a part of contemporary practice. ''Gardens in Time'' (1980) also places Indigenous practice as prehistory at the beginning of the landscape architecture timeline. Authors [[John Oldham (architect)|John]] and Ray Oldham describe [[Aboriginal Australians|Aborigines of Australia]] as “survivors of an ancient way of life” who provide an opportunity to examine western Australia as a “meeting place of a prehistoric man.”<ref name=":1" />

In the late 18th century, the landscapes created by [[Fire-stick farming|aboriginal land and fire management practices]] appealed to English settlers in [[Australia (continent)|Australia]].<ref name=":1" /> Journals from the period of early white settlement note the landscape resembling parks and popular designs in [[English landscape garden|English landscape gardens]] of the same period.<ref name=":1" /> In England, these designs were considered sophisticated and celebrated for the intentional sacrifice of usable land. In Australia, the park-like condition was used to justify British control, citing its emptiness and lack of productive use as a basis for the dispossession of Aboriginal people. <ref name=":1" />