Landscapes of Retreat

Landscapes of Retreat are portraits of climate adaptation. Retreat is found in the land that is left behind as settlement patterns shift due to a changing climate. The term landscape refers to the earth animated by the aliveness of creatures and organisms, and the term retreat suggests that human patterns are not fixed but might also be enlivened. Featuring in-depth field studies from Nijinomatsubara Forest/Japan, Maule River/Chile, Niugtaq Village/Alaska, Langtang Park/Nepal, and Gaspésie Peninsula/Québec, the stories in Landscapes of Retreat suggest that communities are more likely to adapt to change when the landscape is appreciated, so that retreat can be valued. The results cut across history, fieldwork, citizenship, and geography in order to rethink and rework "change" as a means toward shared climate futures.

Landscapes of Retreat (K. Verlag, 2022) by Rosetta S. Elkin is the recipient of the 2024 John Brinkerhoff Jackson Book Prize, presented by the UVA Center for Cultural Landscapes' Landscape Studies Initiative.