eprintid: 4165
rev_number: 4
eprint_status: archive
userid: 1
dir: disk0/00/00/41/65
datestamp: 2023-04-06 07:49:31
lastmod: 2023-04-06 07:49:31
status_changed: 2023-04-06 07:49:31
type: thesis
metadata_visibility: show
sword_depositor: 1
creators_name: Vaessen, Oscar
creators_id: S4883306
creators_email: Oscarvaessen@gmail.com
title: Gardens of Earthly Delights: a comparative analysis of historic and contemporary parks’ realisation of design intentions
ispublished: unpub
full_text_status: public
abstract: This thesis compares two parks in Milan: the Giardini (Gardens) Indro Montanelli, constructed back in 
1784, and the Biblioteca degli Alberi (Library of Trees), opened in 2018. The research is comprised of an 
in-depth qualitative review of both parks along a variety of factors, wherein the parks form the 
comparative material for each other’s respective analyses. For the theoretical framework, theory about 
the production of space and the relationship between design intentions, realised design and user 
experience is outlined, and a historic overview of park design paradigms’ development is developed, 
from the earliest urban parks in formal and picturesque fashion to today’s post-industrial parks. Guided 
by these theories, the parks are analysed regarding designers’ intentions for use and perception, these 
intentions’ translation into design, and the resulting use and perception by users. Hereby, 
manifestations of the stylistic, ideological and aesthetic ideals of the respective historic schools of park 
design are uncovered, and the coherence between the parks’ stated design intentions and the realised 
design and user experience is assessed, serving planners’ and designers’ creation of better future urban 
parks. A mix of methods is used, ranging from discourse analysis of historic texts to interviews with 
designers and surveys among park visitors. The conclusion discusses the degree of ‘success’ achieved by 
the two parks studied, based on the analysis’ results; the discussion, finally, places these results and 
conclusions in the context of the wider themes relevant to this thesis, and offers a critical reflection on 
their implication for the future of urban parks. Both parks studied are concluded to realise their design 
intentions to a large degree, although the contemporary park’s fulfilment of its intentions is hindered by 
a discrepancy between planners’ and designers’ intentions. In the discussion, this discrepancy is argued 
to represent the co-optation of contemporary design ideals regarding sustainability and inclusivity for 
planners’ mobilisation of capital for neoliberal urban development, creating a new park paradigm 
centred around the values of ecomodernism.
date: 2023
pages: 84
thesis_type: master
degree_programme: SP
tutors_name: Dijk, T. van
tutors_organization: Fac. Ruimtelijke wetenschappen, Basiseenheid Planologie
tutors_email: T.van.Dijk@rug.nl
security: public
keywords_local: urban parks
keywords_local: landscape history
keywords_local: landscape architecture
keywords_local: design intentions
keywords_local: user experience
keywords_local: production of space
keywords_local: landscape aesthetics
keywords_local: greenwashing
keywords_local: ecomodernism
keywords_local: urban nature
language_iso: en
date_issued: 2023-04-05
citation:   Vaessen, Oscar  (2023) Gardens of Earthly Delights: a comparative analysis of historic and contemporary parks’ realisation of design intentions.  Master thesis.   
document_url: https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/4165/1/thesis%20final%20final.pdf