Geographic Mapping for Public Health

Frederick Law Olmsted and John Snow

Geographic Mapping for Public Health

 

In the 19^th century it was believed that diseases were transmitted by bad odours in the air, known as ‘miasma,’ a theory which dominated medical and political stances and responses. In 1854, a major cholera outbreak reached Soho in London, following previous outbreaks in 1832 and 1849. At this time in Soho, sanitation was poor, there were no sewage systems in place and there was a high population density.

John Snow, who was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1850, began mapping the deaths from cholera and discovered that they were mainly those whose primary water source was the Broad Street water pump. His research was significant enough to persuade local authorities to disable the pump and is credited as contributing to significantly to containing the disease within the area.

This new way of thinking, intertwining geographic mapping and public health, was furthered by Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted, who was working as an editor and public intellectual, often reporting on health issues, changed career and became the superintendent of Central Park (in planning stages) in 1857. By 1858, he had further won a competition for his plan for the design of Greenswald Park. He argued that the parks would operate as the ‘lungs of the city,’ enabling dwellers to breathe clean air. Furthermore, he put emphasis on the good sanitation of using well-drained land, circulating waterways and well-designed sanitary facilities, demonstrating his knowledge of the connection between polluted water and disease, as popularised by John Snow. Olmsted stated that urban trees provided a ‘soothing and refreshing sanitary influence,’ and that ‘service must precede art.’

Olmsted served as chief architect of Central Park until 1861, before resigning and taking up the role of general secretary of the newly formed American Sanitary Commission at the beginning of the Civil War, created by legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The Commission made recommendations regarding soldier’s exhaustion levels and design issues such as camp locations and the provision of waste and sanitation disposal. Olmsted directed the commission until mid-1863, when he resigned and soon after resumed his career in landscape architecture.

Olmsted continued to connect public health with disease and space. One of his major achievements was the mapping and design of the Emerald Necklace in Massachusetts, an enormous 1,100 acre chain of parks, linked by parks and parkways. It was centered on stagnant and deteriorated marshes which had become disconnected from the tidal flow of the Charles River as Boston grew. Dumping of waste caused the marshes to spread waterborne diseases. Olmsted’s design reconnected the water systems to improve flow and remove and stagnant zones. The Emerald Necklace was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston’s Landmark Commission in 1989.

Olmsted retired in 1895, however his legacy lives on. His sons continued the business as the Olmsted Brothers, a firm which operated until 1980. Frederick Law Olmsted is known as the "father of American Landscape Architecture.”