LifePlace is a provocative meditation on bioregionalism and what it means to live, work, eat, and play in relation to naturally, rather than politically, defined areas. Thayer gives a richly textured portrait of his own home, the Putah-Cache watershed in California's Sacramento Valley, demonstrating how bioregionalism can be practiced in everyday life.
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: Bioregional Thinking
1. Grounding: Finding the Physical Place
2. Living: Awakening to a Live Region
3. Reinhabiting: Recovering a Bioregional Culture
4. Fulfilling: Celebrating the Spirit of Place
5. Imagining: Creating Art of the Life-Place
6. Trading: Exchanging Natural Values
7. Planning: Designing a Life-Place
8. Building: Making Bioregions Work
9. Learning: Spreading Local Wisdom
10. Acting: Taking Personal Responsibility
Notes
General Bibliography
Index
Robert L. Thayer, Jr., is Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture in the Department of Environmental Design at the University of California at Davis. He is the author of Gray World, Green Heart: Technology, Nature and the Sustainable Landscape (1994).
"A very important book [...] Eloquently written."
– Hartwell H Welsh, Jr., The Quarterly Review Of Biology
"The author asks three existential questions: Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do? LifePlace is a guide to answering the second question, which, in the end, may help us to better address the remaining two."
– Scott Davis, Landscape Architecture
"A superb blend of thoughtful analysis and delightfully readable prose, LifePlace is both a major contribution to bioregional literature and an excellent guide to sustainable practice."
– Daniel Kemmis, author of This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing the West
"LifePlace offers an inspired approach for creating an alternative, more secure future than presently faces us. Thayer's arguments are convincing; his optimism and sense of wonder are contagious. As we finish the book, we are changed by it, and its influence lingers like a time-release capsule. LifePlace is a profound contribution to landscape architecture literature and beyond."
– Joan Woodward, author of Waterstained Landscapes: Seeing and Shaping Regionally Distinctive Places