Through history, three distinct configurations of industry have shaped North America; from the concentrated city of the 19th and early 20th century, to the decentralized city in the mid-20th century, and the distributed city at the end of the 20th century. This poses the question, what will influence the 21st century city? Charles Waldheim states in Logistical Landscape, “the industrialized city of the 19th and 20th century has informed the modern day understanding of the urban form”. But with new focus on service, experience, and quality of life, how will cities adapt and change? Will landscape become the model and medium through which the contemporary city and urbanism is viewed; with an urban core that is situated, sustained, and altered by an active and dynamic set of cultural, technological, economical, social and ecological processes? This conceptual framework is the basis for the Urbanism Adjunct course taught at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
