Terence G Young

Terence G Young

Professor Emeritus of Geography, Geography and Anthropology, College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences

About Me

Terence Young earned his Ph.D. in geography at UCLA and was a member of the Department of Geography and Anthropology and the John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His areas of expertise include historical geography, environmental geography, biogeography, and tourism & recreation, particularly of the United States. He has published on nature perception and meaning, recreational environments, tourist landscapes, theme parks, and nature parks and reserves. The Johns Hopkins University Press released his book, Building San Francisco's Parks, 1850-1930, in February 2004. It explores the links between concepts of nature, landscape design, and social order in the struggles over park making in San Francisco. Cornell University Press published his latest book, Heading Out: A History of American Camping, in June 2017. It explores how camping is linked to pilgrimage, modernization, and technology.

 

 

My Current Research & Consulting

 

Essentialism & American urban greenspace advocacy from the 1850s to today

 

The North Americanization of park & protected area administration around the world.  In particular:


  • The U.S. National Park Service's "Short Courses" on Administration of National Parks & Equivalent Reserves that ran from 1965 to 1992

 

"The Four Vagabonds" (John Burroughs, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and Henry Ford) & Camping in post-WWI America

 

In addition to my research, I consult on the history and ideology of firearms regulation in American parks and equivalent spaces. Clients have included: California; Connecticut; Fairfax County, Virginia; Hawaii; New York state; Rhode Island; City of Roanoke, Virginia; Tennessee.