Landscape and Occupance-

Housescape and Occupants:

An introduction to Sequent Occupance


Lesson Title: Landscape and Occupance/Housescape and Occupants: An Introduction to Sequent Occupance

Author: Christopher Hall

Author Info: Woods Cross High School, Woods Cross, Utah

Grade: long version 6-8, short version 9-12

Time needed: 60 minutes-long version/ 10 minutes-short version

Overview: This short lesson was designed to be used as a simple but powerful analogy which could introduce the concept of "sequent occupance." In this activity, students will compare changes made to a house by varying owners with changes in a landscape made by a series of populations. If the short version is used as an introduction, specific examples from the geographic literature and training rooted in the local landscape should follow.

Definition of Key Terms:
Sequent Occupance: successive groups of populations occupy a territory and modify the previous landscape(s)
Landscape: the built environment and natural environment together

Objectives: Students will
a. define the key terms
b. list different types of changes that occur in landscape
c. describe a landscape as a creation of multiple influences by a series of populations with different cultures

Materials: large sheets of paper and markers of five different colors.

Preparation: (Note: Only step 1 is required for the short version.)
  1. The teacher should review background material in sequent occupance and clearly understand the key terms.
  2. Prepare drawings of various simple natural landscapes on enough papers so that groups of 4 students can share one each. The landscapes could all be different; some with trees, some with a steep slope, some with rivers, cliffs, boulders, etc. The scale, however, should be very large so that when students draw a house on the landscape it will utilize a large portion of the paper.

Activities (Long Version):
  1. In a class discussion, the teacher and students generate a list of potential changes which an owner might make to an existing house. Encourage students to consider additions, tearing down part of the house, changes in the landscaping, etc. Be creative.

  2. Divide students into groups of no more than four and provide each group with a large sheet of paper and markers of 4 different colors (different than the one in which the natural landscape has been drawn). Students should number themselves, one through four.

  3. Assign student one to be the "BUILDER" of the house. He should choose a colored marker and draw a simple house on the natural landscape. He can "remove" trees and/or obstacles by drawing over them, even if it is somewhat messy.

  4. Assign student two to be the "SECOND OWNER" of the house. He should make a few modifications. (The brainstormed list on the board may give some ideas.) Student three is the "CURRENT OWNER" of the house and carries out the same activity.

  5. Place all "housescapes" on the wall in front of the class. Ask one group to tell the story of their housescape. As the story unfolds, relate it to the definition of "sequent occupance" and introduce the terms "natural landscape", "first effective settlement", "culture group," and "cultural landscape". The outline below should guide your discussion

I. NATURAL LANDSCAPE and EMPTY LOT
 These are the conditions before the arrival of man.

II. FIRST EFFECTIVE SETTLEMENT and ORIGINAL BUILDER
These are analogous. The original culture makes use of the existing conditions and may or may not, in the long run, leave the most lasting imprint. It depends on how strongly determined to modify will be the following cultures.

III. SECOND DOMINANT CULTURE GROUP and SECOND OWNER OF HOME
Changes in the housescape are made just as a second culture would change elements of the landscape which were found leftover from the first culture.

IV. CONTEMPORARY CULTURE GROUP and CURRENT OCCUPANT OF HOME
The current landscape is the accumulation of imprints from all previous cultures in the same way that a house's appearance is the result of a series of renovations and alterations. Sometimes the original is completely invisible, other times it largely remains, but with only slight modifications. IMPORTANT NOTE: Each of the different colors now represents a different stage in the sequent occupance of the environment, or natural landscape site.

Activities (Short Version):


For an AP level course in Human Geography it would be possible to use this lesson as a 5 minute introduction/discussion to sequent occupance. Simply make the "landscape-housescape" analogy and define sequent occupance. Be certain to stress the following:
  1. an empty, unmodified lot represents the "natural landscape"
  2. the builder represents the "first effective settlement", or initial occupying population/culture
  3. successive owners represent immigrant populations and cultures.
  4. these populations modify the landscape/housescape with a variety of options (you may or may not wish to get into "possiblism" at this point)
    a. "erode" or obliterate
    b. alter or embellish
    c. add to or build over
    d. inhabit without changes in material culture
  5. the current housescape/landscape is an accumulation of past owners/populations


Assessment: Informal evaluation based on participation in the activity and during the discussion based on one group's "housescape" in the final stage of the activity.

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