I’m surprised you haven’t heard the term before Trace – I remember it from school in the late 90’s and still see it used rather frequently. Basically it’s a/the story that is either told by the landscape or experienced by a user. At its most literal, think interpretive walks or parks with timelines etched into the pavers. On a more abstract level one could look at the layout of a pioneer farmstead – things were placed where they were for a reason, and those reasons tell the story of how people lived there. For the experience side, a designer could have in mind a series of experiences approaching a hedge maze, finding one’s way through it, and discovering a hidden garden at its center.
Jamie, it might help if you could be a little more specific in what you’re looking for, as every landscape tells a story. Are you looking for written, documented narratives about particular landscapes, or examples of the more literal parks designed to tell a story kind of thing? No specifics come to mind off the top of my head, but I do recall numerous examples profiled in Landscape Architecture Magazine; both literal and more abstract.
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