At Sausalito Beautiful, we have been talking a lot about trees lately because trees improve the environment while promoting a sense of place and beauty. Trees are also an important part of our “cultural landscapes”, a concept that Sausalito Beautiful introduced to the General Plan Advisory Committee in June. We believe that understanding the cultural significance of a landscape can be a useful guiding principle when improving our public green spaces.

Cultural landscapes are especially important because landscapes often tell more about a culture than its buildings yet they are not protected as historic buildings are. Consequently, when landscapes are lost, they are lost for good. It is critical that we understand the cultural significance of a green space, so it can be preserved appropriately yet evolve for future use.

Categories of cultural landscapes include:

• Designed – landscapes consciously designed or laid out by a landscape architect, master gardener, architect, or horticulturist according to design principles, or by an amateur gardener working in a recognized style or tradition
• Ethnographic – landscapes containing a variety of natural and cultural resources that the associated people define as heritage resources. For example, sacred religious sites or massive geological structures.
• Historic Sites – rare cultural landscapes significant for their association with a historic event, activity, or person.
• Vernacular – landscapes that reflect the physical, biological, and cultural character of everyday lives—typically evolving through use by a people who shaped those landscapes through social or cultural attitudes of an individual, family, or a community

So many examples of cultural landscapes exist in Sausalito. Viña del Mar Plaza is a Designed Landscape, the Houseboats and Marinship are Vernacular Landscapes and sites like Yee Tock Chee Park fall into multiple categories.  All of these need to be considered in the General Plan, in order to provide guidance and priorities for the future improvements. The fishing pier is a great example of how these landscape features and experiences that are a part of our culture can cease to exist.

I hope you enjoy learning about Cultural Landscapes and why Sausalito Beautiful believes they are important. Having a good understanding of these cultural aspects of built and natural spaces will help to preserve and improve them for future generations and avoid losing what makes them important.

Bill Hynes
President, Board of Directors
Sausalito Beautiful