Abstract
Leberecht Migge's “Green Manifesto,” published in Germany in 1919, represents one of the most overtly political tracts ever written by a landscape architect. In this document, Migge proposed that all social and economic problems of the German nation could be solved by creating as many gardens as possible, which included parks, but most importantly, small, intensive vegetable gardens where everyone could grow their own food. If “everyman” could be self-sufficient, then they supposedly would enjoy relative freedom from the domination of the capitalist system. Migge's vision was not of a nostalgic return to nature, but a synthesis of garden, dwelling, and communal space that embraced the latest developments in technology. Migge applied the principles of the garden and gardening to the whole country, proposing such forward-looking policies as regional and national resource management. This paper examines the background conditions which led Migge to make such broad claims of economic, political, and social importance for the garden, and considers some negative aspects of his position, specifically in light of colonialist nationalism.
- © 2007 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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