This course is cross-listed between History and Transnational Asian Studies (HIST 320/ ASIA 320).

Just as stone monuments were (and still are) constructed in an effort to awe and impress, the more ephemeral garden came to play a critical role in demonstrations of political identity and displays of cultural prowess. The impulse to create a garden has proven to be nearly universal throughout human history: produced by political and cultural elites who were able to craft an influential aesthetic vision or were wealthy and powerful enough to control large territories, command landscape architects, employ artists and engineers, commit vast sums and demand the labor of untold numbers of humble workmen, as well as patronize gifted landscape architects. Garden history can be understood in many cases as political and imperial history, illustrating the degree to which the culture of designed landscape was used for creating, declaring, and reading social and political claims.

This class, while understanding the garden as both art form and sacred space, focuses closely on the relationship between landscape and power, in a comparative context, emphasizing the complexity and dynamism of the pleasure garden tradition. In this summer semester, we will examine the history, design, and cultural significance of gardens in Paris from the medieval period to the present day. Parisian gardens are explored as evolving expressions of political power, aesthetic ideology, social reform, and environmental practice. Students will engage with urban planning, landscape design, and cultural theory through close readings, site studies, and historical analysis. Students will analyze how gardens functioned as spaces of power, leisure, and artistic expression but are also encouraged to think about gardens as lived spaces. The course covers key Parisian gardens such as the Jardin du Luxembourg, Tuileries, Parc Monceau, and modern interventions like the Coulee Verte, and includes a day trip to what may be the world’s most explicitly political garden, at the palace of Versailles.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• Identify major periods and styles of garden design
• Analyze the relationship between gardens, urban planning, and politics.
• Discuss the evolution of public versus private green spaces in Paris.
• Conduct independent research on historical or contemporary Parisian landscapes.

All students will keep a journal/sketchbook in which they record responses to each garden site. This is where you will record basic notes throughout the class, to help identify key features of various garden types and the social and political role they play. This journal will ultimately be entirely online, but a physical notebook will be needed for and carried on site visits. Those pages can be scanned or photographed and added to the online version which will be submitted in Assignments on Canvas on the final day of the class.

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(Above) Featured video and photograph from the 2026 offering of this course.

This course is 3 Rice credit hours.

No

Yes, students will receive D1 credit for this course.

Priority Deadline: December 9, 2026
Final Application Deadline: February 15, 2027

For details on these two deadlines, please navigate to the How to Apply section of the Program Information & FAQs page.

For questions regarding the course content, please contact the course instructor (see below).

For questions regarding the program (budget, application process, financial aid, global awards), first read through the Rice Global Paris Summer Program Information and FAQs page on our website. If you cannot find the answer to your question, email us at globalowls@rice.edu.