Cultural Landscapes have been defined by the World Heritage Committee as "cultural properties ... represent[ing] the combined works of nature and of man," including: 1) "a landscape designed and created intentionally by man"; 2) an "organically evolved landscape" which may be a "relict (or fossil) landscape" or a "continuing landscape"; and 3)an "associative cultural landscape" which may be valued because of the "religious, artistic or cultural associations of the natural element."
Many of our national parks and national historic landmarks are such cultural landscapes. The U.S. Government Bookstore has assembled a collection of publications that define, analyze and discuss preservation strategies for these, including the Cultural Landscape Report series by the National Park Service.