Our Whole Country a Park: Community Days and Civic Horticulture in Warren H. Manning's Modern Planning Practice

Boston-based landscape architect Warren H. Manning (1860-1938) forged an innovative approach to city planning that combined modern mapping methods with nineteenth-century ideals of rural life. Believing that connection with natural beauty could improve individuals and society, he conducted "Community Days," where local volunteers gathered to build projects to make the "whole country a park." As landscape architects today strive to engage communities in planning that meets the environmental and social equity challenges of the twenty-first century, Manning's ideas are newly relevant.