Thirteenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

J. R. R. Tolkien’s works feature a diverse collection of constructed spaces. The descriptions of these spaces reflect Tolkien’s perspectives on the relationships between the peoples who constructed them and their environment. While Tolkien was famously anti-industrialism, his peoples facilitated substantial changes to their environment in the design of their constructed spaces. Tolkien’s beautifully built spaces include the agrarian landscape of the Shire, the forest city of Calas Galadhon, Minas Tirith in the White Mountains, and the underground Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dum. Tolkien imagines these cities as intentionally situated within their environments contributing to, rather than diminishing, their beauty. But not all of Tolkien’s built spaces are beautiful or permanent. The forest of Mirkwood becomes a dark place due to the corrupting influence of Sauron. Similarly, Saruman destroys the greenspace around Isengard to serve his industrial agenda, and Smaug maintains a devastation around the kingdom of Erebor. These spaces made dangerous by human activity are similarly illustrative–humans can bring about great beauty, but can also cause great destruction. Finally, Tolkien’s post-human spaces are further illustrative of this potential (often missed) to cultivate flourishing in and around our civilizations. Ithilien, the Shire, and Hollin are described as post-human spaces still benefiting from the care they had received by their former inhabitants. Tolkien’s spaces represent a spectrum of human-nature interaction, ranging from good to ill and permanent to transient. By drawing inspiration from these spaces, we can imagine paths forward to reconciling humans and nature within our own built spaces.