From ‘The Factory in a Garden’ to the ‘Connected Garden’: corporate landscapes, citizenship and the model employee.

Chance, Helena (2017) From ‘The Factory in a Garden’ to the ‘Connected Garden’: corporate landscapes, citizenship and the model employee. In: Invited lecture at University of Newcastle, Department of Architecture and Planning, 22 February 2017, University of Newcastle. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

From the 1880s, new types of designed green space appeared in the industrial landscape in Britain and America as progressive industrialists began to enhance factory buildings with planting, provided pleasure gardens for employees, and opened allotment gardens for local children. Gardens and gardening in the workplace were thought to contribute to the recruitment and retention of staff, to employee health and well-being, to corporate identity, public relations and civic improvement. By the early twentieth century, corporate landscapes represented ideals that underpinned a successful, modern industrial and social outlook, much like today’s elite corporate landscapes are constructed in response to the demands and opportunities of the digital age. In the ‘Boys’ Garden’ at the National Cash Register Company (NCR) in Dayton, Ohio, which opened in 1897 as the firm’s flagship project in social engineering through gardening, local boys received horticultural training. This didactic landscape, designed by the Olmsted Brothers, was widely promoted as effective in moral, intellectual and physical improvement, and responsible citizenship. Corporate gardens today, such as those at Google in Mountain View, California and in London, are provided for similar homiletic purposes, but they can also offer valuable recreational opportunities, link employees to local communities and improve biodiversity. How can a comparative study of past and present corporate landscapes contribute to theories and practices of design for corporate clients today? Helena Chance Buckinghamshire New University Author of ‘The Factory in a Garden’. A History of Corporate Landscapes from the Industrial to the Digital Age (Manchester University Press, February 2017)

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Keywords:	Factory garden, corporate landscape, model employee, recreation, citizenship, heterotopia
Divisions:	?? BucksNewUniversity ??
Depositing User:	Dr Helena Chance
Date Deposited:	28 Jun 2017 10:05
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2017 19:28
URI:	https://bnu.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/15897

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