For those whose occupation – or avocation – involves communicating complex information to an audience, be that audience collegial or non-specialist, the ability to create and employ charts, diagrams, illustrations, and other visual images that support what is being presented is perhaps of greater importance now than it has been in centuries.
As a naturalist who travels, I often find myself examining things that might be often overlooked, particularly in places where many people might not give them much thought. Such as case over the past few years has been trees in cities. I began to take greater notice of them a few years ago on a business trip to the U.S. city of Indianapolis, Indiana; an interest that received a significant boost when I discovered that in Nürnberg, Germany all the trees are given identifying numbers to make their care more efficient and effective.
From New York City’s iconic Central Park to the much smaller and now significantly modernized Morton Park in Newport, Rhode Island, Olmsted’s designs for areas of recreation and nature-inspired rejuvenation are still with us in a host of ways beyond our everyday awareness.