It is not only buildings that link us to our past. The landscape — especially in a country as immense as Canada — also plays its part in human history. Geographers at the beginning of the 20th century started using the concept of a “cultural landscape.” This idea caught on, nationally and internationally, as a way to help expand the concept of heritage protection beyond buildings and historic sites. Although the concept has been in increasing use in the heritage conservation movement since the 1980s, the actual meaning of the term has been hotly debated. The following definitions are among those most commonly accepted and currently used by federal organizations.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
“Cultural landscapes represent the combined works of nature and of man. They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by the natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal.” UNESCO, 1992

National Capital Commission
“Cultural landscapes are geographical terrains which exhibit characteristics or which represent the values of a society as a result of human interaction with the environment.” NCC and Parks Canada, Workshop, 1993

“A cultural landscape is defined... as a set of ideas and practices, embedded in a place. This definition is used to capture the relationship between the intangible and tangible qualities of these sites.” Definition and Assessment of Cultural Landscapes of Heritage Value on NCC Lands, December 2004

Kinds of Cultural Landscapes

A cultural landscape may describe a group of buildings — along with the spaces between and around them — that, together, make an integrated cultural statement (i.e. a “designed” landscape). Examples: a house in a garden or a landscaped park.
It may refer to a stretch of land where nature and human history (in the form of migrations or settlements) have come together in a significant way (i.e. an “organic” landscape). Examples: an urban district or neighbourhood, a farming settlement or a fishing village.
It may refer to a landscape that, largely unchanged by human activity, is associated with religious, artistic or cultural events (i.e. an “associative” landscape). Examples: a sacred site, the setting of a classic novel or landscapes associated with Group of Seven paintings.

In the Capital Region

The concept of a cultural landscape has special relevance to the NCC, which has a long history of managing landscapes, parks, sites and great expanses of green space with historical importance in the Capital region. In its report on cultural landscapes (December 2004), the NCC defined the concept as "a set of ideas and practices, embedded in a place." The NCC also developed criteria by which to identify cultural landscapes throughout the region, and outlined the following five-step process for assessment of cultural landscapes in Canada’s Capital Region.

Identification of sites at three scales (i.e. large, for the region as a whole; medium, for major river corridors and green areas; and small, for landscapes such as Parliament Hill) and within various categories (designed, evolved or associative, as well as pathway, node or area landscape)
Research (intellectual, through the writings of major planners and politicians, and physical, as expressed in maps and images over time)
Evaluation (i.e. the assignment of heritage value at local, national and capital levels, the latter representing a unique intersection of local and national)
Communication (through dissemination of statements of significance)
Management (application of principles, site selection, research, evaluation and communication).

The Ottawa River Parkway Corridor is the first cultural landscape on NCC land to undergo formal assessment using the five-step process developed in 2004.