North America by Design
LALH films are intended to educate wide audiences about the fine art of landscape architecture and to delve into the cultural histories—many of them previously unexplored—that have shaped the American landscape over the centuries.
The North America by Design film series is grounded in core scholarship distilled from LALH books. Each of these engaging, fifteen-minute films is hosted by a historian or landscape architect who explains design and landscape history in accessible terms. Enhanced by music and thoughtful narrative, transporting landscape footage puts these stories into broad, accessible context. The series includes The Best Planned City in the World, recipient of the Society of Architectural Historians Film Award.
Appropriate for students, practitioners, and scholars as well as the interested general public, the films in the series can be viewed on our website below and on YouTube. Produced in association with Forster Films, Brooklyn, NY.
Special Event, November 4, 2025: Racism and the American Park
An evening of film and conversation with three of America’s leading park historians, featuring the premiere of the new LALH film, Olmsted and Yosemite: Civil War, Abolition, and the National Park Idea.
Screenings of three short documentaries from LALH about the history of racial injustice in urban, state, and national parks followed by conversation with acclaimed park historians Ethan Carr, William O’Brien, and Rolf Diamant and film producer Robin Karson, followed by audience discussion.
6:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 4, 2025, Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA
Free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Space is limited. RESERVE MY SEAT! Co-sponsored by Friends of Fairsted and Library of American Landscape History.