MILLIGAN, HOLMES & DAVIS Landscape Research Record No. 4 The authors are solely responsible for the content of this technical presentation. The technical presentation does not necessarily reflect the official position of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), and its printing and distribution does not constitute an endorsement of views which may be expressed. Technical presentations are not subject to the formal peer review process by CELA Track Chair System; therefore, they are not to be presented as peer-reviewed publications. Citation of this work should state that it is from a CELA conference paper. EXAMPLE: Author's Last Name, Initials. 2014. Title of Presentation. CELA Paper No. 14-xxxx. Baltimore, Maryland: CELA. For information about securing permission to reprint or reproduce a technical presentation, please contact CELA at dsolco@uta.edu or 817-272-2321. THE FORCE OF THINGS: LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND THE PANAMA CANAL MILLIGAN, BRETT University at California-Davis, bmilligan@ucdavis.edu HOLMES, ROB University of Florida, rob.holmes@ufl.edu DAVIS, BRIAN Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, brd63@cornell.edu 1 ABSTRACT Ports and shipping canals are landscapes of utmost importance—geopolitically, economically, logistically, and ecologically. They are continually evolving landscapes, distributed globally and culturally significant. Despite this, the discipline of landscape architecture does not have a history of deep engagement with this landscape type. The Panama Canal offers an instructive example. This paper provides a historical and theoretical account of the construction of the Panama Canal—including locks, channels, displaced populations, the urbanized Canal Zone, and the instrumentalized watershed—as a landscape. Using Frederick Law Olmsted’s and Daniel French’s 1913 Report to the Fine Arts Commission as a starting point, and drawing from historical accounts, technical literature and contemporary theory, our analysis places cultural and natural forces on inseparable and equal footing. From this historical and theoretical investigation, this paper traces one pervasive characteristic of these maritime infrastructures, “feedback”. We argue that feedback both demonstrates the importance of direct engagement with maritime infrastructures by landscape architects and can be deployed as a conceptual tool to facilitate such engagement. 1.1 Keywords Panama Canal, landscape infrastructure, large technical systems, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., ports, canals