Reading Analysis Writing 12 PP

zahahadid

6LANDSCAPEASURBANISM.pdf

Home >Architecture and Design homework help >Reading Analysis Writing 12 PP

.... --

(ROOM USE ONLY)

50 The visionary and yet

pragmatic project "New

Urban Ground' for lower

Manhattan suggests a new

form of urban landscape

infrastructure that reflects the environment more.

Cover: Robert Schafer (photo)

-~-_.. ~ 40 The design strategy for Buckthorn City on the Dutch coast

calls for redalmlnq land from the sea and all accelerated evolu- tion of second nature.

30 Increased numbers of people and cities go hand in hand with a greater

exploitation of the world's limited resources. Ecological urbanism tries to provide

a framework of knowledge, methods and clues for a sustainable urban future.

LANDSCAPE URBANISM I TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHARLES WALDHEIM FREDERICK STEINER, DEAN ALMY

20 On Landscape, Ecology and other 74 Conservation as catalyst: Lady Bird's Modifiers to Urbanism Urbanism Responsesto the challenges of the contemporary Recreational terrain as major driver for densification metropolitan condition in Austin,TX, USA

JAMES CORNER THORBJORN ANDERSSON

25 Landscape Urbanism in the Field 80 Landscape Urbanism versus Landscape The Knowledge Corridor, San Juan, Puerto Rico Design

The potential of design must not be neglected MOHSEN MOSTAFAVI

30 Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now? JAN BUNGE, PHILIPP FELOSCHMID Opportunities to define a new approach to urbanism 84 Back to Go

Clear and obstructed paths in the planning disciplines GARETH DOHERTY

36 How green is Landscape llrbanlsrn? Colours and their relation to the city TOPOS LANDSCAPE AWARD 2010

ADRIAAN GEUZE Award Winner: Stoss Landscape Urbanism 40 Second Nature

New territories of wilderness for unknown future CHRIS RE£D colonisation q( Landscape Urbanism in Practice

Philosophy of the award-winning otltce

FRITS PALM BOOM

43 Landscape Urbanism: Conflation or Selected Projects by Stoss Landscape Coalition? Urbanism Deep connections in the shaping of cities and landscapes

SUSANNAH C. DRAKE 109 New Nordic Landscapes 50 Term- Definition· Identity Landscapeprojects from the Nordic countries

Regenerating landscape architecture in the era of exhibited at EXPO2010 in Shanghai

landscape urbanism

KONGJlAN YU Currents 58 Five Traditions for landscape Urbanism 6 News, Personalities, Projects, Competitions,

Thinking Chile earthquake report Inspiring traditions in urban planning, design history

and related fields 126 Authors

DOUGLAS SpENCER 127 Credits/Imprint 64 Landscape Urbanism at the Architectural

Association Landscapeand urbanism as rnachrnk territories

BRUNO DE MEULDER, KELLY SHANNON

68 Traditions of Landscape Urbanism Roots of a powerful tool for z ist-century cities

68 Heritage of ancient landscape urbanism:

settlements likeVaranasi in India with its urbanized ghats interact with the territory.

89 5toss landscape Urbanism, winner of

the Topes landscape Award 2010, designed

the waterfront in Green Bay, WI, USA.

109 Heltisheidl Geothermal Power Plant in

Iceland: the geometry of the pipelines con-

trasts with the shapes of the soft landscape.

50 The visionary and yet pragmatic project "New Urban Ground" for Lower

Manhattan suggests a new

form of urban landscape

infrastructure that reflects

the environment more.

Cover: Robert Schafer (photo)

40 The design strategy for Buckthom City on the Dutch coast calls for redaiming land from the sea and an accelerated evolu- tion of second nature.

30 Increased numbers of people and cities go hand in hand with a greater exploitation of the world's limited resources. Ecological urbanism tries to provide a framework of knowledge, methods and clues for a sustainable urban future.

68 Heritage of ancient landscape urbanism: settlements like Varanasi in India with its urbanized ghats interact with the territory.

89 Stoss Landscape Urbanism, winner of the Topos Landscape Award 2010, designed

the waterfront in Green Bay, WI, USA.

109 Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant in Iceland: the geometry of the pipelines con- trasts with the shapes of the soft landsupe.

5,,

LANDSCAPE URBANISM I TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHARLES WALDHEIM FREDERICK STEINER, DEAN ALMY

On Landscape, Ecology and other 74 Conservation as Catalyst: Lady Bird's Modifiers to Urbanism Urbanism Responses to the challenges of the contemporary Recreational terrain as major driver for densificalion metropolitan condition in Austin.TX, USA

JAMES CORNER THORBJ0RN ANDERSSON

Landscape Urbanism in the Field 80 Landscape Urbanism versus Landscape The Knowledge Corridor, San Juan, Puerto Rico Design

The potential of design must not be neglected

MOHSEN MOSTAFAVI

Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now? JAN BUNGE, PHILIPP FELDSCHMID Opportunities to define a new approach to urbanism 8• Back to Go

Clear and obstructed paths In the planning disciplines GARETH DOHERTY

How green is Landscape Urbanism? Colours and their relation to the city TOPOS LANDSCAPE AWARD 2010

ADRIAAN GEUZE Award Winner: Stoss Landscape Urbanism Second Nature New territories of wilderness for unknown future

colonisation Landscape Urbanism In Pract1Ce

FRITS PALMBOOM

Landscape Urbanism: Conflation or Selected Projects by Stoss Landscape Coalition? Urbanism Deep connections in the shaping of cities and landscapes

SUSANNAH C. DRAKE 109 New Nordic Landscapes Term • Definition • Identity Landscape projects from the Nordic countries Regenerating landscape architecture in the era of exhibited at EXPO 2010 in Shanghai

landscape urbanism

KONG II AN YU Currents Five Traditions for Landscape Urbanism 6 News, Personalities, Projects, Competitions, Thinking Chile earthquake report Inspiring traditions in urban planning, design history

and related fields 126 Authors

DOUGLAS SPENCER 127 Credits/Imprint Landscape Urbanism at the Architectural Association Landscape and urbanism as machinic territories

BRUNO DE MEULDER, KELLY SHANNON

Traditions of Landscape Urbanism Roots of a powerful tool for 21st-century cities

Charles Waldheim

Over the past year an emergent discourse of "ecological ur-

banism" has been proposed to more precisely describe the

aspirations of an urban practice informed by environmental

issues and imbued with the sensibilities associated with

landscape. This most recent adjectival modifier of urbanism

reveals the ongoing need for re-qualifying urban design as

it attempts to describe the environmental, economic and

social conditions of the contemporary city. Equally, it ac-

knowledges that the now well-established discourse around

landscape urbanism is ripe for middle-aged reasonable-

ness, a midlife crisis, or both.

On Landscape, Ecology and other Modifiers to Urbanism

Landscape urbanism emerged over the past decade as a critique of the disciplinary and professional commitments of traditional urban de- sign and an alternative to "New Urbanism," The critique launched by landscape urbanism has much to do with urban design's perceived in- ability to come to terms with the rapid pace of urban change and the es- sentially horizontal character of contemporary automobile-based ur- banization across North America and much of Western Europe. It equal- ly has to do with the inability of traditional urban design strategies to cope with the environmental conditions left in the wake of deindustri- alization, increased calls for an ecologically informed urbanism, and the ongoing ascendancy of design culture as an aspect of urban develop- ment. The established discourse of landscape urbanism revisited in this issue of Tapas is seemingly enjoying a robust middle-age, at once no longer sufficiently youthful for the avant-gardist appetites of architec- tural culture, yet growing in global significance as its key texts and proj- ects are translated and disseminated globally. One aspect of this middle- agedness is that the discourse on landscape urbanism, while hardly new in architectural circles, is rapidly being absorbed into the global dis- course on cities within urban design and planning.

The established discourse of landscape urbanism as chronicled in this journal and other venues sheds interesting light on the ultimately abandoned proposal that urban design might have originally been housed in landscape architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. One reading of Iosep Lluts Serfs original formulation for urban design at Harvard is that he wanted to provide a transdiscipLinary space within the academy. But urban design has yet to fulfill its potential as an inter- section of the design disciplines engaging with the built environment. In the wake of that unfulfilled potentia!, landscape urbanism proposed a critical and historically informed rereading of the environmental and so- cial aspirations of modernist planning and its most successful models. In so doing, it proposes a potential recuperation of at least one strand of modernist planning, the one in which landscape offered the medium of urban, economic and social order.

With their project "Deep Ground" london based Groundlab

won the competition for the regeneration of 11.8 square

kilometers of urban fabric in the centre of Longgang, China.

Charles Waldheim

On Landscape, Ecology and other Modifiers to Urbanism

Landscape urbanism emerged over the past decade as a critique of

the disciplinary and professional commitments of traditional urban de-

sign and an alternative to "New Urbanism." The critique launched by

landscape urbanism has much to do with urban design's perceived in-

ability to come to terms with the rapid pace of urban change and the es-

sentially horizontal character of contemporary automobile-based ur-

banization across North America and much of Western Europe. It equal-

ly has to do with the inability of traditional urban design strategies to

cope with the environmental conditions left in the wake of deindustri-

alization, increased calls for an ecologically informed urbanism, and the

ongoing ascendancy of design culture as an aspect of urban develop-

ment. The established discourse of landscape urbanism revisited in this

issue of Topos is seemingly enjoying a robust middle-age, at once no longer sufficiently youthful for the avant-gardist appetites of architec-

tural culture, yet growing in global significance as its key texts and proj-

ects are translated and disseminated globally. One aspect of this middle-

agedness is that the discourse on landscape urbanism, while hardly new

in architectural circles, is rapidly being absorbed into the global dis-

course on cities within urban design and planning.

The established discourse of landscape urbanism as chronicled in

this journal and other venues sheds interesting light on the ultimately

abandoned proposal that urban design might have originally been

housed in landscape architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

One reading of Josep Lluis Sert's original formulation for urban design

at Harvard is that he wanted to provide a transdisciplinary space within

the academy. But urban design has yet to fulfill its potential as an inter-

section of the design disciplines engaging with the built environment. In

the wake of that unfulfilled potential, landscape urbanism proposed a

critical and historically informed rereading of the environmental and so-

cial aspirations of modernist planning and its most successful models.

In so doing, it proposes a potential recuperation of at least one strand of

modernist planning, the one in which landscape offered the medium of

urban, economic and social order.

Over the past year an emergent discourse of "ecological ur-

banism" has been proposed to more precisely describe the

aspirations of an urban practice informed by environmental

issues and imbued with the sensibilities associated with

landscape. This most recent adjectival modifier of urbanism

reveals the ongoing need for re-qualifying urban design as

it attempts to describe the environmental, economic and

social conditions of the contemporary city. Equally, it ac-

knowledges that the now well-established discourse around

landscape urbanism is ripe for middle-aged reasonable-

ness, a midlife crisis, or both.

With their project "Deep Ground" London based Groundlab

won the competition for the regeneration of 11.8 square

kilometers of urban fabric in the centre of Longgang, China.

A relational strategy enables the combination of variables

related to density with variables related to typology. This can

be used to produce diverse urban patterns.

16 floors g-

B flOors

4 flOors

One particularly enduring aspect of urban design's formation Over the past quarter century has been the ongoing investment within its dis- course to traditional definitions of well-defended disciplinary bound- aries. This is particularly revealing for contemporary readers, since it con- trasts markedly with recent tendencies toward a cross-disciplinarity with- in design education and professional practice in North America. Several design schools have recently dissolved departmental distinctions between architecture and landscape architecture, while others have launched specifically combined degree offerings or mixed enrollment COurseoffer- ings, This shift toward shared knowledge and collaborative educational experience has Come partly in response to the increasingly complex inter- and multi-disciplinary Context of professional practice. And those prac- tices have undoubtedly been shaped in response to the challenges and opportunities attendant On the contemporary tuetropolitau condition. In this context urbanism has recently been modified by adding the adjective landscape or ecological.

From this perspective, the recent discourse arolUld urban design's his- tories and futures reads as ambivalent toward the project of disciplinary despeeialization found in so many leading schools of design. Cities and

h diti l disciplinarvt e academic subjects they sponsor rarely respect tra moria 1 ,

boundaries. In this respect, the design disciplines should not expect to be an exception, and many leading designers have called recently for a re- newed transdisciplinarity between the design disciplines. Unfortunately, far too much of urban design's relatively modest resources and attention have been directed in recent years toward arguably marginal concerns that read as increasingly vulnerable in contemporary urban culture. Among these, two points are the clearest and most vulnerable.

F" b desi . recentrrst, y far the most problematic aspect of urban esrgn Inyears has been its tendency to be accommodati.ng to the reactionary cultural politics and nostalgic sentiment of "New Urbanism.'WhileI

di d " me dis-ea mg esign schools have tacked smartly in recent years to put so .' tance between themselves and the worst of this 19th-century pattern- making, far too much of urban deSign practice apologizes for it by bless- ··b " .. Thisrng Its ur an tenants at the expense of its architectomc aspITatIons. . most often comes in the form of overstating the environmental and social benefits of urban denSity while acknOWledging the relative antonomy ofh

· I' tratearc Itectura Jorm, I Would argue that urban design ought to cancen

The master plan looks for a mixture of programs, working

towards and open ended spatial result that combines open

space with often isolated infrastructural elements.

.. es of a lost golden age of density and more less attention on mythic una,g, h t of us live and work.

. h ban conditions were mos . attention on t e ur . b d f mainstream urban design

s: h of the mam 0 yo" Second, rar too muc ft. fTook and feel" of envi-

erned with the era mg 0 practice has been cone " b tl wealthy. Many have called ronments for destination consumdP~lOI~ YI' ]~lt.bias in favor of Manhat-

. ve beyon Its Imp IC for urban design to rno d d "t d elitist enclaves explic-

' di ition towar ensi yan , ranism and Its pre ISPOSI lif t I Finally urban design s

f . shi ngs for luxury 1 es y e. , itly understood as urms 1 h d . disciplines and planning

. I t between t e eSlgn . historic role of Inter oeu or . d ess as a surrogate for the

" bli policy an proc has been too invested ill pu IC , b I ning within schools

f n of ur an p an social. While the recent recupera IOdI ' due correction, it has the

. , ortant an ong over . of design has been an Imp h " t that design Will be

The danger ere ISno potential to overcompensate.. h I hi n cities, but that plan-

.. d topical sc 0 ars tP a swamped WIth literate an , h. k f reconstructing them-

d h r.. faculties run tens a ning programs an t ell d ith public policy and urban

. I rises concerne WI selves as msu ar enterp ian and contemporary culture.

h Iusion of design an jurisprudence to t e exc , t nrealized promise and

f b" design s as ye 11 It is in the contexts 0 tlr an d. th past decade. Land-

b . has emerge III epotential that landscape ur amsm

WOSl;Ysrao

.co,oo.c .....OOAAJOOR ''''''''''"'''~.."~• 'OI,>'OOOCA<<:(l",,'OORWl'05"'Ne'oI>ULANO""O~"'-"UTl""5P".

• RI\OE'l\lAl'EVWllll,","""1'10N

.... Mrn_'''' .....,NlTYG~LAH£l • ~~~~=.:-~"f~"sfIEI.OO)

ElO5TINGGREEN"" .....

LANDSCP.P£ STRATEGY

URBAN PLOT

TREE PLANTATION SPINE

PUBUC PlAZAS

GREEN OPEN SPACE

WILD PLANTATION POCKETS

AMENln GRASSLAND POCKETS

, ~ FlEX.IBLE POCKETS

DETENTION PONDS

AMENln PQOl..S

MARGINAl VEGETATION

WETLAND AREA

SWALES

) ~~ --:--""::.- .------- RI\I€R

The infrastructure will include deanslnq strategies, rain-

II cti nd flooding defence while creating greenwater co e Ion a

I . I corridors public spaces and leisure areas.areas, ero Oglca ,

A relational strategy enables the combination of variables related to density with variables related to typology. This can be used lo produce diverse urban patterns.

.., 7 1100,.-s a b0'-' 8 r,d a

16 floors 9-

8 floors

2 floors

One particularly enduring aspect of urban design's formation over the past quarter century has been the ongoing investment within its dis-course to traditional definition of well-defended disciplinary bound-arie . Thi is particularly revealing for contemporary readers, since it con-trasts markedly with recent tendencies toward a cross-disciplinarity with-in design education and professional practice in orth America. Several design school have recently dis olved departmental distinctions between architecture and landscape architecture, while others have launched specifically combined degree offerings or mixed enrollment course offer-ings. Thi shift toward shared knowledge and collaborative educational experience has come partly in respon e to the increasingly complex inter-and multi-disciplinary context of professional practice. And those prac-tices have undoubtedly been shaped in response to the challenges and opportunities attendant on the contemporary metropolitan condition. In this context urbanism has recently been modified by adding the adjective land cape or ecological.

From this perspective, the recent discourse around urban design's his-tories and futures reads a ambivalent toward the project of disciplinary despecialization found in so many leading schools of design. Cities and

the academic subjects they sponsor rarely respect tradition iscip • · aJ d. · linary boundaries. In this respect, the design disciplines should not expect to be an exception, and many leading designers have called recently for a re-newed transdisciplinarity between the design disciplines. Unfortunat~ly, far too much of urban design's relatively modest resources and attentton have been directed in recent years toward arguably marginal concerns that read as increasingly vulnerable in contemporary urban culture. Among these, two points are the clearest and most vulnerable.

F · b d · · recent 1rst, y far the most problematic aspect of urban es1gn m. years has been its tendency to be accommodating to the react:Iona~y cultural politics and nostalgic sentiment of"New Urbanism." Wb ile leading design schools have tacked smartly in recent years to put some dis-tance between themselves and the worst of this 19th-century pattern-aki c h

· fi ·t b)' bless- m ng, 1ar too muc of urban design practice apologizes or 1 . ing its urban tenants at the expense of its architectonic aspirations. This moSt often comes in the form of overstating the environmental and social benefits of urban density while acknowledging the relative autonomy of architectural form. I would argue that urban design ought to concentrate

The master plan looks for a mixture of programs, working towards and open ended spatial result that combines open space with often isolated infrastructural elements.

~CtllltltiOCM ..,,_

. ic ima es of a lost golden age of density and more less attent10n on myth _g_ h st of us live and work. t1 b ond1tions w ere mo . attention on 1e ur an c . b d f mainstream urban design hofthemam o yo . Second, far too muc ft. f"look and feel" of env1-rned with the era mg 0 practice has been conce . b the wealthy. Many have called ronments for destination consump~101~ yl' 't bias in favor of Manhat-. ve beyond its imp ic1 . for urban design to mo d d ·'t d elitist enclaves exphc-. d" 'tion towar ens1 y an , tanism and its pre 1spos1 I 1·c style Finally urban designs · h · . 5 for uxury 11e · ' itly understood as furms mg I d . n disciplines and planning . I t r between t 1e es1g historic role ofmter ocu o . d ess as a surrogate for the • bl" policy an proc has been too invested m pu ic f b Janning within schools ation o ur an P social. While the recent recuper d 1 due correction, it has the . . rtant an ong over . of design has been an rmpo h . ot that de ign will be The danger ere is n potential to overcompensate. . h I h" on cities but that plan-. . d topical sc o ars ip , swamped with hterate an . I . k of reconstructing them-d h . t cult1es run tie ns ning programs an t eu a d . h blic policy and urban . ises concerne wit pu selves as msular enterpr . d contemporary culture. h lusion of design an jurisprudence tot e exc ' t nrealized promise and It is in the contexts of urb~n designs a: :~; the past decade. Land-potential that landscape urbamsm has eme g

.Of'OjPUaJCS~E

• R~\lill\U.fVWll.D\ltOETA,TION

• RI\OtVAU.EY ~GAASSlAHD

• ~~~Srltl.DIS)

EXISTNi~MtAS

LANDSCAP!: STRATEGY

---

euosovs"" ECOI.OGICM.OOIUIIOOfl

""""""-"'"' ECOLOOICM. COMIOOllt "'-DSPM

'NCT\.ANDAAOMNtOINAI.P\>.liffllltQ .... ,

URBAN PLOT

TREE PLANTATION SPINE

PUBLIC PLAZAS

GREEN OPCN SPACE

WILD PLANTATION POCKETS

AMENITY GRASSLAND POCKETS

FLEXIBLE POCKETS

DETENTION PONDS

AMENITY POOlS

MARGINAL VEGETATION

WHLANOAREA

SWALES

INFILTRATION TRENCH

SANO FILTERS

RIVER

WWfP

The infrastructure will include deansing strategies, rain- II ct. and flooding defence while creating green

water co e ion

I ·cal '·orridors public spaces and leisure areas. areas, eco 091 v •

scape urbanism has come to stand for an alternative within the broad base of urban design historically definedIncorporating continuity with the aspirations of an ecologically informed planning practice, landscape urbanism has been equally informed by high design culture, contempo- rary modes of urban development, and the complexity of public-private partnerships. While it may be true as has been recently argued that the urban form proposed by landscape urbanism has not yet fully arrived. It would be equally fair to say that landscape urbanism remains the most promising alternative available to urban design's formation for the com- ing decades. This is in no small part due to the fact that landscape urban- ism offered a culturally leavened, ecologically literate, and economically viable model for contemporary urbanization as an alternative to urban design's ongoing nostalgia for traditional urban forms. One evidence of this is the number of internationally prominent landscape architects who have been retained as lead designers of large-scale urban develop- ment proposals in which landscape offers ecological function, cultural authority. and brand identity. Another would be the fact that the most promising young American landscape architect of his generation, Chris Reed, explicitly named his firm Stoss Landscape Urbanism to signal his commitment to a strategic urban design practice through landscape. His increasingly global recognition reveals landscape urbanism's impact on a generation of professionals shaped by the tenants of an adjectivally modified urbanism, be it landscape urbanism, ecological urbanism, or whatever supersedes those two.

In his introduction to the Ecological Urbanism conference MohsenMostafavi described the subject of the conference as simultaneous-lya critique of and a continuation by other terms of the discourse around landscape urbanism. Ecological urbanism, just as the landscape urbanism discourse did a decade ago, aspires to multiply the available thinking on cities to include environmental and ecological concepts and to expand traditional disciplinary and professional frameworks for de- scribing those urban conditions. As a critique of the landscape urbanist discourse, ecological urbanism promises to render that decade old dis- course more specific to ecological, economic, and social conditions of the contemporary city.

Mostafavi's introduction to the topic suggested that ecological ur- banism "". implied the 'projective' potential of the design disciplines to render alternative future scenarios." He further indicated that those

alternative futures may place us in various "spaces of disagreement," These spaces of disagreement span across a range of disciplinary and professional borders. Any serious attempt to examine those spaces must begin with the acknowledgement that the challenges of the contempo- rary city rarely respect traditional disciplinary boundaries.

In reading the new language proposed by the ecological urbanism initiative, the subtitle of the conference itself "Alternative and Sustain- able Cities of the Future" indicates the linguistic cul-de-sac of contem- porary urbanism, constructed around a false choice between critical cul- tural relevance on the one hand, and environmental survival on the oth- er. The conference title and subtitle further signify disciplinary fault lines between the well-established discourse 011 sustainability and the long tradition of using urban projections as descriptions of the contem- porary conditions for urban culture.

This suggests that ecological urbanism might reanimate discussions of sustainability with political, social, cultural and critical potential. This is particularly apt as contemporary discussions of the city reveal a profound disjunction of realms in which environmental health and de- sign culture are opposed, a condition in which ecological function, so- cial justice, and cultural literacy are perceived as mutually exclusive. This disjunction of concerns has led to a condition in which design culture is depoliticized. distanced from the empirical and objective conditions of urban life, while at the same historical moment, increased calls for envi- ronmental remediation. ecological health, and biodiversity suggest the potential for reimagining urban futures. One result of this disjunction has been that we are forced to choose between environmental health. social justice or cultural relevance.

It is no coincidence that an adjectivally modified form of urbanism (be it landscape. ecological or other) has emerged as the most robust and fully formed critique of urban design over the recent past. The structur- al conditions necessitating an environmentally modified urbanism emerged precisely at the moment when European models of urban den- sity, centrality, and legibility of urban form appear increasingly remote and when most of us live and work in environments more suburban than urban. more vegetal than architectonic, more infrastructural than en- closed. I believe that these structural conditions for urban practice and the disciplinary realignments attendant to them will persist, as our lan- guage morphs and transforms in an uJtimately incomplete, yet complete- ly necessary attempt to describe them.

As erne

provide

experirr

The Sar

comple:

polilica

plannin

lions, SE

broader

LANDSCAPE URI INTHE FIELD The Knowledge Corridor, San Juan, Puerto F

scape urbanism has come to stand for an alternative within the broad

base of urban design historically defined. incorporating continuity with

the aspirations of an ecologically informed planning practice, landscape

urbanism has been equally informed by high design culture, contempo-

rary modes of urban development, and the complexity of public-private

partnerships. While it may be true as has been recently argued that the

urban form proposed by landscape urbanism has not yet fully arrived. It

would be equally fair to say that landscape urbanism remains the most

promising alternative available to urban design's formation for the com-

ing decades. This is in no small part due to the fact that landscape urban-

ism offered a culturally leavened, ecologically literate, and economically

viable model for contemporary urbanization as an alternative to urban

design's ongoing nostalgia for traditional urban forms. One evidence of

this is the number of internationally prominent landscape architects

who have been retained as lead designers of large-scale urban develop-

ment proposals in which landscape offers ecological function, cultural

authority, and brand identity. Another would be the fact that the most

promising young American landscape architect of his generation, Chris

Reed, explicitly named his firm Stoss Landscape Urbanism to signal his

commitment to a strategic urban design practice through landscape. His

increasingly global recognition reveals landscape urbanism's impact on

a generation of professionals shaped by the tenants of an adjectivally

modified urbanism, be it landscape urbanism, ecological urbanism, or

whatever supersedes those two.

I n his introduction to the Ecological Urbanism conference Mohsen

Mostafavi described the subject of the conference as simultaneous-

ly a critique of and a continuation by other terms of the discourse

around landscape urbanism. Ecological urbanism, just as the landscape

urbanism discourse did a decade ago, aspires to multiply the available

thinking on cities to include environ mental and ecological concepts and

to expand traditional disciplinary and professional frameworks for de-

scribing those urban conditions. As a critique of the landscape urbanist

discourse, ecological urbanism promises to render that decade old dis-

course more specific to ecological, economic, and social conditions of the

contemporary city.

Mostafavi's introduction to the topic suggested that ecological ur-

banism" ... implied the 'projective' potential of the design disciplines to

render alternative future scenarios." He further indicated that those

alternative futures may place us in various "spaces of disagreement."

These spaces of disagreement span across a range of disciplinary and

professional borders. Any serious attempt to examine those spaces must

begin with the acknowledgement that the challenges of the contempo-

rary city rarely respect traditional disciplinary boundaries.

In reading the new language proposed by the ecological urbanism

initiative, the subtitle of the conference itself "Alternative and Sustain-

able Cities of the Future" indicates the linguistic cul-de-sac of contem-

porary urbanism, constructed around a false choice between critical cul-

tural relevance on the one hand, and environmental survival on the oth-

er. The conference title and subtitle further signify disciplinary fault

lines between the well-established discourse on sustainability and the

long tradition of using urban projections as descriptions of the contem-

porary conditions for urban culture.

This suggests that ecological urbanism might reanimate discussions

of sustainability with political, social, cultural and critical potential.

This is particularly apt as contemporar}' discussions of the city reveal a

profound disjunction of realms in which environmental health and de-

sign culture are opposed, a condition in which ecological function, so-

cial justice, and cultural literacy are perceived as mutually exclusive. This

disjunction of concerns has Jed to a condition in which design culture is

depoliticized, distanced from the empirical and objective conditions of

urban life, while at the same historical moment, increased calls for envi-

ronmental remediation, ecological health, and biodiversity suggest the

potential for reimagining urban futures. One result of this disjunction

has been that we are forced to choose benveen environmental health, social justice or cultural relevance.

It is no coincidence that an adjectivally modified form of urbanism

(be it landscape, ecological or other) has emerged as the most robust and

fully formed critique of urban design over the recent past. The structur-

al conditions necessitating an environmentally modified urbanism

emerged precisely at the moment when European models of urban den-

sity, centrality, and legibility of urban form appear increasingly remote

and when most of us live and work in environments more suburban than

urban, more vegetal than architectonic, more infrastructural than en-

closed. I believe that these structural conditions for urban practice and

the disciplinary realignments attendant to them will persist, as our lan-

guage morphs and transforms in an ultimately incomplete, yet complete- ly necessary attempt to describe them.

Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now?

Mohsen Mostafavi The world's population continues to g 0 It" r w, resu mg m a steady migration from rural to urban areas,

Increased numbers of people and 'I' h d i , , CI res go an m hand with a greater exploitation of the world's limited

resources, Every year more cities f I' h ' are ee mg t e devastating impacts of this situation. What are we to do?

What means do we have as designers to address this challenging reaiity?

For decades now, reminders have come from many sources about the

difficulties that face us and our environment. The Brundtland Report of

1987, scientific studies on the impact of global warming, and former U.S.

Vice President AI Gore's passionate pleas have all made their mark. But a

growing concern for the environment is matched by a great deal of skep- ticism and resistance. The United States has not only failed to ratify the

Kyoto Protocol, it is also, along with Canada and many of the Gulf States, among the largest per capita users of energy resources. The failure of the Copenhagen Summit to produce a legal1ybinding agreement further con- firms the scale of the challenges that lie ahead. The concept of "one plan- et living" can only be a distant dream - and not just for the worst offend- ers, but for everyone else as well.

Architects have been aware of the issues for some time, of course, but the proportion of those committed to sustainable and ecological practices has remained small. And until recently, much of the work produced as sus- tainable architecture has been of poor quality. Early examples were focused mainly around the capacities of simple technologies to produce energy and recycle waste. Sustainable architecture, itself rudimentary, often also meant an alternative lifestyle of renunciation, stripped of much pleasure. This has changed, and is changing still. Sustainable design practices are entering the mainstream of the profession. In the United States, LEED certification - the national standard for the evaluation of sustainable buildings - is be- ing more widely applied. But there remains the problem that the moral imperative of sustainability and, by implication, of sustainable design, tends to supplant disciplinary contribution. Thus sustainable design is not

Chuck Hoberman's "Adaptive Fritting~ installation at the

Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2009 consisted of six

motorized panels programmed to form a dynamic field

where light transmission, views, and endosure would con-

tinuously adapt and change. It was winner of the Wyss Prize

for Blclnsplred Adaptive Architecture.

Mohsen Mostafavi

Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now? The world's population continues to gro It' . w, resu mg in a steady migration from rural to urban areas. Increased numbers of people and citie h d . h . • . . s go an in and with a greater exploitation of the world s limited resources. Every year more cities a f r h . • re ee mg t e devastating impacts of this situation. What are we to do? What means do we have as designers to address th'1s ch II . a engmg reality?

For decades now, reminders have come from many sources about the difficulties that face us and our environment. The Brundtland Report of 1987, scientific studies on the impact of global warming, and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's passionate pleas have all made their mark. But a growing concern for the environment is matched by a great deal of skep- ticism and resistance. The United States has not only failed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, it is also, along with Canada and many of the Gulf States, among the largest per capita users of energy resources. The failure of the Copenhagen Summit to produce a legally binding agreement further con- firms the scale of the challenges that lie ahead. The concept of"one plan- et living" can only be a distant dream - and not just for the worst offend- ers, but for everyone else as well.

Architects have been aware of the issues for some time, of course, but the proportion of those committed to sustainable and ecological practices has remained small. And until recently, much of the work produced as sus- tainable architecture has been of poor quality. Early examples were focused mainly around the capacities of simple technologies to produce energy and recycle waste. Sustainable architecture, itself rudimentary, often also meant an alternative lifestyle of renunciation, stripped of much pleasure. This has changed, and is changing still. Sustainable design practices are entering the mainstream of the profession. In the United States, LEED certification - the national standard for the evaluation of sustainable buildings - is be- ing more widely applied. But there remains the problem that the moral imperative of sustainability and, by implication, of sustainable design, tends 10 supplant disciplinary contribution. Thus sustainable design is not

Chuck Hoberman's "Adaptive Frilling" installation at the

Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2009 consisted of six

motorized panels programmed to form a dynamic field

where light transmission, views, and endosure would con-

tinuously adapt and change. It was winner of the Wyss Prize

for Bioinsplred Adaptive Architecture.

9 ~ Ji1:llllg111;':;jfililnl1lfm C~III"Olc--.~ .....~

8111>"U--cu"...., ........"---EIl.~~.--

Taiwan Strait Climate Change Incubator iniliated by Choral

Raoul Bunschoten maps the complex. web of economic,

cultural, and ecological connections across the Taiwan Strait

and exploits these ecologies in developing sustainable pro-

totypes at the urban scale,

T lI1lli;tllllUI GeO\IIe"".1 C<>O~"9 Pl'"' • IIIJla'lUl ,"'." """"'1 I WI"" "",~ (200.000"0) II iIIinl'!;l!I'~ Gen"""loo Pori<

.... "1'*_~1'Ill.. p Wll.r 0.>01(1 0><>1I11Q5y".m iT"- *iI!//llllJllII P~"owl,"k: ArTIl" Il IHII'HF;r;ff!ldo<tt ~~lll<Jlb<5witr!1 • ~_,f:Notural ~.Q.

J!L ,u:alll "'0""1 ~flertly G....... ,"'" • :1nr."'l1l: llJom ... GaslncoUon

... IUI!\Jl!If'.OOCItS,~I ~.'u'.1 s.wo;I(6.00~",)

o .1l!&'.!l:!II,""'rlNlwl~'.l~~l>om.'l ...2- 1:~,o 1-illlltJ<.''''nl\,orsl" (p ... un~ tom"",,,,,1 ~ildl"9) ...!!.. I"'Il.,,"'.I ~,f·\l.,'~lri.Il B<tIldI"913S000qrn) ..!..... Ii.il"'tt"'t~""""·~1" ljLow epot H<l\n1"9(~&.OOOoqml .-!..- 'l'litll..+:IAi_ILl/JI eM'_lIQ I .1iIt",tt:.tLu."..,. tIoY"l19

- l!IlI'IlI'I"'oSm""Gnd(l'I

--,,;;- 1~.,4'""t>'I" Uu.!Il,EaHtiw"(per-1OO olfon:r"Dle hom.. ) • .ilUjlf~lilli:"+;\'l>~'fIIgh Speed A,~ ferminol OiSUlct (5 ... krn)

--- IIIt!1!:<:llihl''''Jtli. !l!X. "IIU'I8. i'lA:l:Il9'JJlJf\\.e\~':.~'toot;::~,~:,;,:::Cpnne<'J(ltl. 5001 .. C.. 'u ..... I.Ong"o~. ~ ~:="1II11l0!'llij'o;.llU!..ti!lIl),*I'iJJ:1'1~.e:",, !il1li'il, 'Ii!U;J!l

Ifew J'ro\O\,,,,, """""" CPf1nocu"ll jw<to Aaoss ttl< Tiliw<1n 5tr.~ tIl""'V/1 .~.,ect'e<I>no'OllI." In ,,,, •• "",Don ~UCliOO$

~ll!.ll<tl61*,;'!!U:1II ~ I1nonC'lIQ M ... nonl"",,,,,,,, ~.lfn" .... wOtlt

always seen as representing design excellence or design innovation. This situation will continue to provoke skepticism and cause tension between those who promote disciplinary knowledge and those who push for sus- tainability unless we are able to develop novel ways of design thinking that can contribute to both domains.

The second issue concerns scale. Much of the work undertaken bysus- tainable architects has been relatively limited in scope. LEED certification) for example, deals primarily with the architectural object, and not with the larger infrastructure of the territory of our cities and towns. Because the challenges of rapid urbanization and Limited global resources have become much more pressing, there is a need to find alternative design approaches that will enable us to consider the large scale differently than we have done in the past. The urban, as the site of complex relations (eco- nomic, political, social, and cultural), requires an equally complex range of perspectives and responses that can address both current conditions and future possibilities. The aim of the book Ecological Urbanism is to provide that framework - a framework that through the conjoining of ecology and urbanism can provide the knowledge, methods, and clues of what the urban can be in the years to come.

Ecological urbanism. Is that not an oxymoron in the same waythatahy· brid SUV is an oxymoron? How can the city, with all its mechanisms of con- sumption -its devouring of energy) its insatiable demand for food - everbe ecological?In one sense the "project of urbanism," if we can call it such, nU1S counter to that of ecology)with its emphasis on the interrelationship of or- ganisms and the environment _ an emphasis that invariably excludes hu- man intervention. And yet it is relatively easy to imagine a city that is more careful in its use of resources than is currently the norm, more energy-effi- cient in its daily operations _ like a hybrid car. But is that enough? Is it enough for architects, landscape architects, and urbanists to simplyconceive of the future of their various disciplines in terms of engineering and con- s~ructing a more energy-efficient environment? As important as the ques- tton of energy is today, the emphasis on quantity _ on energy reduction - obscures its relationship with the qualitative value of things.

In other words, we need to view the fragility of the planet and its re- sources as an opportunity for speculative design innovations rather than asaform ft h - 11 . - . --o ec mea egrtunation for promoting conventional solut.1Ons. By extension, the problems confronting our cities and regions would then become oppo t .. d f .. an ur-. r uruues to e me a new approach. Imaguung banism that is other than the status quo requires a new sensibility - one that has the cap a it t - . n-. ci Y 0 incorporate and accommodate the mherent co f1ictual di .con mons between ecology and urbanism. This is the territory of ecological urbanism.

Three narratives. There is ample evidence all around us of the scope of the challenge we face. A while ago, a single issue of The Guardian news- paper in the United Kingdom by chance carried three articles that ad- dressed fundamental questions of susrainability Such stories are now typical of what one reads on a daily basis and constitute the norm rather than an exception.

The first, by Canadian political journalist Naomi Klein, explored the connections between the invasion ofIraq and the oil boom in Alberta. "For four years now, Alberta and Iraq have been connected to each other through a kind of invisible see-saw,"says Klein. "AsBaghdad burns, destabilizing the entire region and sending oil prices soaring, Calgary booms." Klein's arti- cle gives a glimpse of a large territory being laid to waste in the search for oil. Alberta has "vast deposits of bitumen - black, tarlike goo that is mixed lip with sand, clay,water and oil ... approximately 2.5 trillion barrels of the stuff, the largest hydrocarbon deposits in the world." The processes involved in turning these tar sands into crude are both complex and costly. One method involves open-cast mining. For this) great forests have to be leveled and the topsoil removed before huge, specially designed machines dig out the bitumen and place it in the world's largest two-story dump trucks. The tar is then chemically diluted and spun around until the oil rises to the top. The waste products, the tailings, are dumped in ponds that according to Klein are larger than the region's natural lakes. A second method involves the drilling of large pipes that push steam deep underground to melt the tar before a second pipe transfers it through various stages of refining. Both of these processes are much more expensive than conventional oil drilling; they also produce three to four times the amount of greenhouse gases. Despite this, they became financially viable after the invasion of Iraq, and resulted in Canada overtaking Saudi Arabia as the leading supplier of oil to the United States. The «success" of this enterprise has led the Pembina Institute, a nonprofit think-tank that advances sustainable energy solutions) to warn of the threat to an area of boreal forest as large as the state of flori- da. More recently the Institute, together with Ecojustice, has presented evidence documenting the damaging effects of oil-sands development on Alberta's fresh-water resources. The extent of this environmental devasta- tion, encompassing land, air, and water - all in aid of relatively cheap oil for the consumer and hefty profits for the oil companies - is a vivid reminder of the urgent need for future conurbations to discover and design alterna- tive and efficient ways of using energy resources.

The second story involved the construction of a high-rise residence in Mumbai for one of India's richest tycoons, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the country's largest private-sector company) the Reliance Group. The building, called Antilla after a mythical island) is equivalent in height to a sixty-story tower block. Besides providing accommodation for Arnbani,

Hydroqenlc City, a proposal by aershop (architecture!

environment/research), adresses the impacts of climate

change and depleting water supplies in los Angeles with

a responsive and scalable solution - imagined through a

trans-disciplinary lens which considers the influence of

design across the massive and minute.

Taiwan Strait Cllmat.e Change Incubator initiated by Chara/

Raoul Bunschoten maps the complex web of economic,

cultural, and ecological connections across the Taiwan Strait

and exploits these ecologies in developing sustainable pro-

totypes at the urban scale.

.£ u.;t •• Gt,otM•'TUI: Cooltng "'-nt

.JI_ •llaU 1 :!IJU IIOOIJ-'" 1 Y/IN/J ,.,_ (200,00011.a) I •-'ll•ftna.tC.,_ai;,onPn

• • >t-fll~UI Dffp Wlll« 0t,tn(t COOllf'IQ s,s2T\ i::- 'tll--tl Pr-otovo,U~ Nnl'fl ~ '!!CfJ-,lfJi Efrd«II: l.,g"'l &.rltlil Sw tel\ ■ ~:AAt Pu:ur.i Snt•94r ==-A.dUl ~ ....... Et\lltVY e,.,....uon a ,:,q.-,t:t liorNH GffifoUon

• Ullt.l'l1•DP"lt 1",- P'i1lt..r• S«Yq;1(6.00~M)

0 ••-.a• ... -w .. , NIW lntr.-trvo,re (p,et 50 homu) ~ 1'.~Qt-Ull,t..;.1Unlver,.,r, (poi,unt.mnsri,w~ ba,Mldm;) _!!... .X:t tt ,m1 ► f ,-Jl"ldustnll l!l""'1.Jn9f3500tqrn) _!,_ U$tt l*L(.(lrl ► 11.1UIWCasi;tb,s"9{>8,000sqff1) _!_ ,:t:·••tt~Mecf-um ((Kt Hcldlng _j_ &R•tt~Ul•lrt' Hclu&lnf

■••~11".SINl"!:Gnd(l'"J

UIO ,.~ •• 4 111ft .~ ~ •ll U.1Ec.o-<owr1( ~ 100 atfotdaolrt nom-.} ■ • UltUQi:1 1+rQ-.X1H,ghSPNdftallTc:rrT1MJDl&tn«(Ssqkm)

~~z••~~~. ~•·~•~• Ma4M~..-..• ~,~ ~_!~r~ Con"ffi-otlS Svcr. u Ca.II: .. ~. L,ngu~,

._.,, -....., =~u•11110~~11~,i,r;ia11~,1t~ 12R•• aillU;a New f'rol:ot'fPII Pl'Ulatls ~•"9 Pro)K1s Aero$$ tl'M T■ rw.en Str•IC. ~ &hll,_, tKhnc>'0',1 fl. l""Hlort,, Uffl0!'1190~

---:d r.!~(~!:~ ~ ~M Fntrnen:n _,,, 8 E J.t.•n11111;1,•11A:fllhff

C :-:~ Ind~ l'fi:t'I~~ --c l,lll.~.I.. ...... !Iii """'--[ :n:.,..• -- 32

always seen as representing design excellence or de ign innovation. This situation will continue to provoke skeptici m and cau e tension between those who promote disciplinary knowledge and tho e who push for sus- tainability, unless we are able to develop novel way of de ign thinking that can contribute to both domains.

The second issue concerns scale. Much of the work undertaken by sus- tainable architects has been relatively limited in scope. LEED certification, for example, deals primarily with the architectural object, and not with the larger infrastructure of the territory of our citie and town . Because the challenges of rapid urbanization and limited global re ources have become much more pressing, there is a need to find alternative design approaches that will enable us to consider the large cale differently than we have done in the past. The urban, a the site of complex relations (eco- nomic, political, social, and cultural), require an equally complex range of perspectives and responses that can addres both current condition and future possibilities. The aim of the book Ecological Urbanism is to provide that framework - a framework that through the conjoining of ecology and urbanism can provide the knowledge, methods, and due of what the urban can be in the years to come.

Ecological ·rban·sm. Isthatnotanoxymoroninthe arnewaythatahy- brid SUV is an oxymoron? How can the city, with all its mechanisms of con- sumption -its devouring of energy, its insatiable demand for food- ever be ecological? In one sense the "project of urbanism;' if we can call it such, runs counter to that of ecology, with its emphasis on the interrelation hip of or- gani ms and the environment- an emphasis that invariably excludes hu· man intervention. And yet it is relatively easy to imagine a city that is more careful in its use of resources than is currently the norm, more energy-effi- cient in its daily operations - like a hybrid car. But is that enough? Is it enough for architects, landscape architects, and urbanists to simply conceive of th e future of their various disciplines in terms of engineering and con· s~ructing a more energy-efficient environment? As important as the ques- tlon of energy is today, the emphasis on quantity- on energy reduction - obscures its relationship with the qualitative value of things.

In °ther words, we need to view the fragility of the planet and its re- sources as an opportunity for speculative design innovations rather tban as a form of technical legitimation for promoting conventional solutions. By extension, the problems confronting our cities and regions would then become oppo t · · d fi · · an ur· , r urut1es to e ne a new approach. lmaginU1g bamsm that is otbe th th 'b'J" one r an e status quo requires a new sens1 1 1ty- ~at has th e capacity to incorporate and accommodate the inherent con· flictual d' · con itions between ecology and urbanism. This is the territory of ecological urbanism,

Thre r arrat Vb. There is ample evidence all around us of the scope of the challenge we face. A while ago, a single issue of The Guardian news- paper in the United Kingdom by chance carried three articles that ad- dressed fundamental questions of sustainability. Such stories are now typical of what one reads on a daily basis and constitute the norm rather than an exception.

The first, by Canadian political journalist Naomi Klein, explored the connections between the invasion of Iraq and the oil boom in Alberta. "For four years now, Alberta and Iraq have been connected to each other through a kind of invisible see-saw;' says Klein. ''As Baghdad burns, destabilizing the entire region and sending oil prices soaring, Calgary booms." Klein's arti- cle gives a glin-1pse of a large territory being laid to waste in the search for oil. Alberta has "vast deposits of bitumen - black, tarlike goo that is mixed up with sand, clay, water and oil ... approximately 2.5 trillion barrels of the stuff, the largest hydrocarbon deposits in the world." The processes involved in turning these tar sands into crude are both complex and costly. One method involves open-cast mining. For this, great forests have to be leveled and the topsoil removed before huge, specially designed machines dig out the bitumen and place it in the world's largest two-story dump trucks. The tar is then chemically diluted and spun around w1til the oil rises to the top. The waste products, the tailings, are dumped in ponds that according to Klein are larger than the region's natural lakes. A second method involves the drilling of large pipes that push steam deep underground to melt the tar before a second pipe transfers it through various stages of refining. Both of these processes are much more expensive than conventional oil drilling; they also produce three to four times the amount of greenhouse gases. Despite this, they became financially viable after the invasion of Iraq, and resulted in Canada overtaking Saudi Arabia as the leading supplier of oil to the United States. The "success" of this enterprise has led the Pembina Institute, a nonprofit think-tank that advances sustainable energy solutions, to warn of the threat to an area ofboreal forest as large as the state of Flori- da. More recently the Institute, together with Ecojustice, has presented evidence documenting the damaging effects of oil-sands development on Alberta's fresh-water resources. The extent of this environmental devasta- tion, encompassing land, air, and water - all in aid of relatively cheap oil for the consumer and hefty profits for the oil companies - is a vivid reminder of the urgent need for future conurbations to discover and design alterna- tive and efficient ways of using energy resources .

The second story involved the construction of a high-rise residence in Mumbai for one of India's richest tycoons, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the country's largest private-sector company, the Reliance Group. The building, called Antilla after a mythical island, is equivalent in height to a sixty-story tower block. Besides providing accommodation for Ambani,

Hydrogenic City, a proposal by aershop (architecture/

environmenVresearch), adresses the impacts of climate

change and depleting water supplies in Los Angeles with

a responsive and scalable solution - imagined through a

trans-disciplinary lens which considers the influence of

design across the massive and minute.

~ndrea Branzl's 2007 project"Pineta di Architettura" high-

lights a discontinuous architecture with. t . , u Pertmeter and

without function.

his mother, his wife, three children and 600 full ri ff . . • I - une sta ,It comes Wlth Its own helipad, health club, and six floors of parking. The family's pro. posed ~ove fr~J~its current residence, a mere fourteen stories high)has been given additional impetu b th id'. s y e rap. growth of the/ndian economy and the sunmenng rivalry between Mukesh Ambani and his brother. Ac. cording to Praful Bidwai, a local newspaper columnist quoted in the arti- cle "there i .

, ere IS growing anger about such absurd spending" as the divide be- tween rich and po . b . '

or IS ecommg obscene. Even the name of this "house» suggests the idea of sep t' d h .ara IOn an t e desire for autonomy from the rest of Mumbai But i th h .. s ere sue a thing as Our "individual share" of the re- Sources that our cities h a _ ave to otter! 'What are the guidelines for evaluat- mg the impact of a b ildi the ciu ng on _e CIty,Dot just in terms of its aesthetic appearance but also in relation to its ethical performance?

The third story was about th aki f .. em ng 0 a film, Grow Your Own, which chromcles the progress f

. . 0 a group of traumatized asylum-seekers as they work their mner-cityall t dens ib 0 ment gar ens In Liverpool. The film was inspired y the research of a ps h th .

yc 0 eraplst, Margrit Ruegg, who runs a refugee SUpport center Her expe . h d h . . nence a shown the therapeutic as well as the

p ySlcal benefits ofg. d . "M li r enmg. any [refugees] had left such places as So-

mana, Angola and the B lk . h . . a ans in orrific circumstances "says Carl Hunter,

One of the p d ' th

. c ro ucers of the film. "War had robbed them of their homes, eir families and, in man " ..

th . Ycases, then identincs. Margrit's experience was at, III the confinement f .

loa room WIth a desk and a chair the refugees c ammed up. But once sh 'd h d h . • of Ide ate Idea of giving them each a little plot

an , they were able . all t· ' over tune, to open up to her." The story of these

o rnents ISnot simpl Ii . d . t I Y mute to the lives of the refugees but is in turn

en ang ed with the local c . . t\v ormnuruty - WJth the tensions and conflicts be-

een people of diverse It I' . th ' cu ura and ethnIC backgrounds. In tendmg to

elrvegetableson the plot I . . abl . s, a ongSlde theIr neighbors, the participants are

e, m a modest and unsenti prod f mental way, to construct a collaborative and

uc Iveground for com .. Th .murucatlOn and integration.

ese three stories are all t: f' . . vidual d . acets 0 the multIple realities that our Il1dl-

an group actIOns shap' h doma" 'T'~I. e In t e context of the contemporary urban

lll. '""en together th "11 " in C0nt d·" ' ey I umrnate Gregory Bateson's argument that,

ra IstrnctlOnto the D ". , of SUn" I· . arwlman theory of natural selection, "the untt

IVa ISorgamsm plus th . Bateson' 'd e enVIronment." A broader articulation of

Sl eascanbefoundi FT found. n e IX Guattari's The Three Ecologies, a pro-

yet conCIsernanifestati f " our u d" on 0 a relatlonal and holistic approach to

n erstandlllg of ecolo . al . of "ecos h"" glC ISSues.Guattari's ethico-political concept

op y 15 developed in th £ " vironment . I ". e arm of three ecological ((registers (en-

,SOCIa relatIons a d h . tari places e h' ' n lim an subjectivity). Like Bateson, Guat-

Illp aS1SOn the role tho t h . al practices Ad' a umans play in relation to ecologIC

. n accordlllg to h' h l11l, t e appropriate response to the ecologi-

, ,

cal crisis can only be achieved on a global scale, "provided that it brings about an authentic political, social and cultural revolution, reshaping the objectives of the production of both material and immaterial assets."

One of the most important aspects of Guartari's argument concerns the interrelations between individual responsibilities and group actions. An emphasis on the role of the "ecosophic problematic;' as a way to shape human existence within new historical contexts, leads to a proposed refor- mulation of the "subject." In place of the Cartesian subject, whose being is solely defined by its thinking, Guattari has (components of subjectifica- rioni" who eng8ge with real "territories of existence," that is, with the everyday domains of their lives and actions. These alternative processes of subjectification are not rooted in science but instead embrace a new "erhico-aesthetic" paradigm as their primary source of inspiration.

Cuattan's position, developed at the end of the 1980s, is as much a crit- icism of a depoliticized structuralism/post-modernism that "has accus- tomed us to a vision of the world drained of the significance of human inter- vention" as it is an ethical and aesthetic project that promotes the "reshap- ing of the objectives of the production of both material and immaterial assets." Such a radical approach, if applied to the urban domain, would re- sult in a form of ecological design practice that does not simply take account of the fragility of the ecosystem and the limits on resources but considers such conditions the essential basis for a new form of creative imagining.

Extending Guattari's suggestion that the "ecosophic problematic" has the capacity to define a new form of human existence, we might consider the impact of the ecological paradigm not only on ourselves and our so- cial actions in relation to the environment, but also on the very methods of thinking that we apply to the development of tbe disciplines that pro-

vide the frameworks for shaping those environments. Every discipline has the responsibility to constantly create its own conditions of progress - its own instabilities - and today it is valuable to recognize that we have a unique opportunity to reconsider the core of the disciplines that help us think about the phenomenon of the urban: urban planning and design.

The prevailing conventions of design practice have demonstrated a limited capacity both to respond to the scale of the ecological crisis and to adapt their established ways of thinking. Tnthis context, ecological urban- ism can be seen as a means of providing a set of sensibilities and practices that can help enhance our approaches to urban development. This is not to imply that ecological urbanism is a totally new and singular mode of de- sign practice. Rather, it utilizes a multiplicity of old and new methods, tools, and techniques in a cross-disciplinary and collaborative approach toward urbanism developed through the lens of ecology, These practices must address the retrofitting of existing urban conditions as well as our plans for the cities of the future.

Toward developing more sustainable urban futures

The 656-page pnblication builds upon.

2009 conference and exhibit jon at Har- vard's Graduate School of Design, but goes

mnch further. The carefully-designed book

brings together the multifaceted views of design practitioners, theorists, scientists, economists, engineers, artists, public health specialists and policymakers. Con-

tributors include Rem Koolhaas, Kongjian Yu, Martha Schwartz, Nina-Marie Lister, Andrea Branzi, Sanford Kwinter, Stefano Boeri, Niall Kirkwood and Charles Wald-

heim - to name just a few of the 150 or so authors. The essays are collected in ten sec- tions based on verbs including anticipate, curate, collaborate, interact and mobilize; the section on collaboration appears three tiJnes as if to reinforce a poiJ1l. The varied viewpoints provide a diverse and nuanced understanding of the evolving field of"eco-

logical urbanism': The book is one aspect

of an ongoing project at the GSD to re-

search the possibilities for more ecological and sustainable urban futures,

Ecological Urbanism Edited by Mohsen Mostafavi with

Gareth Doherty

Harvard University Graduate School

of Design, Lars Millier Publishers

ISBN 978-3-03778-189-0

Andrea Branzi's 2007 project •p· ·t di A me a rchitettura" high- lights a discontinuous architecture, without perimeter and without function.

~smother, hi wife, three children, and 600 full-time raff, it comes with

Its own helipad, h~alth club, and ix floor of parking. The family's pro-

posed ~ove fr~~ Its current re idence, a mere fourteen tories high, has been given additional impetu by the rapid growth of the Indian economy and the simm · · 1 b . enng nva ry etween Muke h Ambani and his brother. Ac- cordmg to Praful Bid, ai, a local new paper olumnist quoted in the arti- cle "th · · , ere I growmg anger about uch ab urd pending" as the divide be- tween rich and poo · b • ' r 1 ecommg ob cene. Even the name of this "house" suggests the idea of sepa at' d th . r mn an e de ire for autonomy from the rest of Mumbai. But is there such a thing as our "individual hare" of the re- sources that our cities have t " ? Wh . o OHer. at are the guidelines for evaluat- mg the impact of a build' th . . mg on e city, not JU tin terms of it aesthetic appearance but also in relation to it ethical performance?

The third story was ab t th akin . ou em g of a film, Grow Your Own, which chronicles the prog f . . ress o a group of traumatized a ylum-seekers as they worktheumner-cityall t d . . b O ment gar ens m Liverpool. The film was inspired Y the research of a ps h th . ye O erap1st, Margrit Ruegg, who run a refugee

support center Her ex · h h . · penence ad shown the therapeutic as weU as the

P ysICal benefits ofga d · "M . r enmg. any [ refugees J had left uch places a So- malia, Angola and th Balk ·

f e ans m horrific circumstances," says Carl Hunter, one O the producers of th fil " th . c . . e m. War had robbed them of their homes,

e1r tamilies and in m h . . th . ' any cases, t eir identities. Margrit's experience was

at, m the confinement f . cl O a room v,1th a de k and a chair, the refugees

ammed up. But once sh 'd h d h . f 1 d e a t e idea of giving them each a little plot 0 an , they were ab) · all . e, over time, to open up to her." The story of these

otments is not simpl Ii . d .. Y ffilte to the lives of the refugees but is in turn

entangled with the local . . tw commumty- with the tensions and conflicts be-

een people of diverse It l . th . cu ura and ethmc backgrounds. In tendfrig to

e1r vegetables on the l t al . . ab) . P O s, ongside theJI neighbors, the participants are

e, m a modest and uns · produ t' enhmental way, to construct a collaborative and

c ive ground for com • . Th murucation and integration.

ese three stories are 11 f; . vidua] d . a acets of the multiple realities that our ind1-

an group actions sha . h dom · "' k pe m t e context of the contemporary urban

am. ia en together th ill . in cont d' . . ' ey ummate Gregory Bateson's argument that,

ra tstJnct1on to the Da . . . of surviv 1 . . rwiruan theory of natural selection, "the urut

a is organism plus th · f Bateson' 'd e environment." A broader articulation o

s L eas can be found in Fel' G found yet . IX uattari's The Three Ecologies, a pro-

concise manifestatio f 1 . our und . n ° a re at1onal and holistic approach to

erstandmg of ecolog· al . of"ecoso hy''. d ic tsSues. Cuattari's ethico-political concept

p is eveloped in th fi f " vironrnent . 1 . e orm o three ecological "registers (en-' soc1a relations and h . . . tari places e h . ' uman subJectIVIty). Like Bateson, Guat-

mp as1s on the role th t h . al practices A d d' a umans play in relation to ecologic

· n accor mg to him th • e appropriate response to the ecologi-

cal crisis can only be achieved on a global scale, "provided that it brings

about an authentic political, social and cultural revolution, reshaping the

objectives of the production of both material and immaterial a sets:'

One of the most important aspects of Guattari's argument concerns

the interrelations between individual responsibilities and group actions.

An emphasis on the role of the "ecosophic problematic;' as a way to shape

human existence within new historical contexts, leads to a proposed refor-

mulation of the "subject." In place of the Cartesian subject, whose being is

solely defined by its thinking, Guattari has "components of subjectifica-

tion?" who engage with real "territories of existence," that is, with the

everyday domains of their lives and actions. These alternative processes of

subjectification are not rooted in science but instead embrace a new

"ethico-aesthetic" paradigm as their primary source of in piration.

Guattari's position, developed at the end of the 1980s, is as much a crit-

icism of a depoliticized strucluralism/post-moclernism that "has accus-

tomed us to a vision of the world drained of the significance of human inter-

vention" as it is an ethical and ae thetic project that promotes the "reshap-

ing of the objectives of the production of both material and immaterial

a sets." Such a radical approach, if applied to the urban domain, would re-

sult in a form of ecological design practice that doe not simply take account

of the fragility of the ecosystem and the limits on resource but considers

such conditions the essential basis for a new form of creative imagining.

Extending Guattari's suggestion that the "ecosophic problematic" has

the capacity to define a new form of human existence, we might consider

the impact of the ecological paradigm not only on ourselves and our o-

cial actions in relation to the environment, but also on the very methods

of thinking that we apply to the development of the disciplines that pro-

vide the frameworks for shaping those environments. Every discipline has

the responsibility to constantly create its own conditions of progre s - its

own instabilities - and today it is valuable to recognize that we have a

unique opportunity to reconsider the core of the disciplines that help us

think about the phenomenon of the urban: urban planning and design.

The prevailing conventions of design practice have demonstrated a

limited capacity both to respond to the scale of the ecological crisis and to

adapt their established ways of thinking. In this context, ecological urban-

ism can be seen as a means of providing a set of ensibilities and practices

that can help enhance our approaches to urban development. This is not

to imply that ecological urbanism is a totally new and singular mode of de-

sign practice. Rather, it utilizes a multiplicity of old and new methods,

tools, and techniques in a cross-disciplinary and collaborative approach

toward urbanism developed through the lens of ecology. The e practices

must address the retrofitting of existing urban condition as weU as our

plans for the cities of the future.

Toward developing more sustainable urban futures

The 656-page publication builds upon a

2009 conference and exhibition at Har-

vard's Graduate chool of Design, but goe

much further. ThecarefuDy-de igned book

brings together the multifaceted views of

design practitioner , theorists, scientists,

economists, engineer , arti t , public

health specialists and policymaker . Con-

tributors include Rem Koolhaas, Kongjian

Yu, Martha Schwartz, ina-Marie Lister,

Andrea Branzi, anford Kwinter, Stefano

Boeri, Niall Kirkwood and hades Wald-

heim - to name just a few of the 150 or so

authors. Thee ays are collected in ten sec-

tions based on verb including anticipate,

curate, collaborate, interact and mobilize;

the section on collaboration appears three

times a if to reinforce a point. The varied

viewpoint provide a diver e and nuanced

understanding of the evolving field of"eco-

logical urbani m". The book is one a pect

of an ongoing proje t at the G D to re-

search the po sibilitie for more ecological

and sustainable urban future .

Ecological Urbanism

Edited by Moh en Mostafavi with

Gareth Doherty

Harvard University Graduate chool

of De ign, Lars Muller Publishers

ISBN 978-3-03778-189-0

The principle of Second Nature creates

territories of wilderness, Clever design

with nature and unknown future coloni-

sation will generate a new kind of urban

design which is based on sustainability,

Adriaan Geuze The design strategy tOT Buckthorn City (Ouindoornstad) by West 8 is a study of the optimal sites for development on

the Dutch coastline between Rotterdam and The Hague. The

scenario for the new city calls for redaiming land from the

sea and an accelerated evolution of Second Nature.

SECOND NATURE It is a fact that homo sapiens has, to all

intents and purposes, colonised the earth. Man-

kind's presence is not a modest one. Every cor-

ner of the earth has been occupied, laid out or been marked in some way. The idea of virgin

nature is more metaphor than reality. Despite

the fact that every urban development location

or building site borders on an existing city or infrastructure, and that billboards or industry

are visible in every panorama, planning and

modern architecture have continued to cherish

the illusion of nature which is authentic. It is in-

teresting that landscape urbanism seeks to define

a new theoretical framework for the relation be-

tween city and nature in an increasingly ur-

banised world. An obvious new contribution to

this set of ideas is the concept of Second Nature.

Unlike the grand boulevards with which

Ha ussmann literally carved monumental green

arteries into the existing urban fabric, and the

earl)' city parks that park designers fitted into the

structure, later parks actually determine the un-

built city, The large Paris parks of the late 19th

century such as Bois de Boulogne and Bois Vin-

cennes, and Olmsted's big North American

parks, are the original models of the principle

through which landscape guides urban develop-

merit. Long before the layout of the metropolis

had been defined these parks formed a basis for

development of the urban expansion which was

to follow. Greenery defined the new edges of the

neighbourhoods to be built and the green invest-

ment was immediately repaid by the high land

value thus created. Planning, real estate develop-

ment and the poetic decor of nature worked to-

gether. Properly regarded, this is the purest form

oflandscape urbanism. This urban design prin-

ciple is a proven and extremely easily applicable

concept, also of great significance for contempo-

rary urban design, in which ecological relations,

water management and microclimate have be- come part of the engineering of the city.

The principle has been generally accepted al- though hardly any attention is paid to some

weaker aspects. The steadily increasing area of

suburban green structures is of a dubiously

hybrid character: they are often loud statements

of over-designed park architecture expressing a desire for liveliness and the cultural sl'gn'fi

1 cance of the 19th century city parks, but On the other hand, they try to create an idealistic wild

erness. Realisation of these plans seems to result in a strange non-world of cultivated inno -e TI

c nee. ie essential characteristics a park needs to .

survive,

The principle of Second Nature creates

territories of wilderness. Clever design

with nature and unknown future coloni-

sation will generate a new kind of urban

design which is based on sustainability.

Adriaan Geuze

SECOND NATURE It is a fact that homo sapiens has, to all

intents and purposes, colonised the earth. Man- kind's presence is not a modest one. Every cor- ner of the earth has been occupied, laid out or been marked in some way. The idea of virgin nature is more metaphor than reality. Despite the fact that every urban development location or building site borders on an existing city or infrastructure, and that billboards or industry are visible in every panorama, planning and modern architecture have continued to cherish the illusion of nature which is authentic. it is in- teresting that landscape urbanism seeks to define a new theoretical framework for the relation be- tween city and nature in an increasingly ur- banised world. An obvious new contribution to this set of ideas is the concept of Second Nature.

Unlike the grand boulevards with which Haussmann literally carved monumental green arteries into the existing urban fabric, and the early city parks that park designers fitted into the structure, later parks actually determine the un- built city. The large Paris parks of the late 19th century such as Bois de Boulogne and Bois Vin- cennes, and Olmsted's big North American parks, arc the original models of the principle through which landscape guides urban develop-

ment. Long before the layout of the metropolis had been defined these parks formed a basis for development of the urban expansion which was to follow. Greenery defined the new edges of the neighbourhoods to be built and the green invest- ment was immediately repaid by the high land value thus created. Planning, real estate develop- ment and the poetic decor of nature worked to- gether. Properly regarded, this is the purest form of landscape urbanism. This urban design prin- ciple is a proven and extremely easily applicable concept, also of great significance for contempo- rary urban design, in which ecological relations, water management and microclimate have be- come part of the engineering of the city.

The principle has been generally accepted al- though hardly any attention is paid to some weaker aspects. The steadily increasing area of suburban green structures is of a dubiously hybrid character: they are often loud statements of over-designed park architecture expressing a desire for liveliness and the cultural significance of the 19th century city parks, but on the other hand, they try to create an idealistic ""'de »u rness. Realisation of these plans seems to result in a strange non-world of cultivated innocence. The essential characteristics a park needs to

5 •

urv1ve,

The design strategy for Buckthorn City (Duindoornstad) by

West 8 is a study of the optimal sites for development on the Dutch coastline between Rotterdam and The Hague. The scenario for the new city calls for reclaiming land from the sea and an accelerated evolution of Second Nature.

so exhaustively described by Jane Jacobs, are al- most always lacking. In her analysis, for parks and greenery to succeed a good context is funda- mental. Many city dwellers see peripheral green zones as valuable green background, but also as dangerous and to be avoided. There is simply too little activity and no mixing of user groups, Park designers have not succeeded in giving these parks the allure of nature and wilderness.

The contemporary metropolis is a large or- ganism with an extremely complex metabolism. Apart from infrastructure, the urban jungle is hardly amenable to planning. Transformations are based mainly on small local interventions, and the recycling of old industrial and harbour sites is the important trend in urban innovation. Can large-scale expansion be given direction by implementing green structures to begin with, as was done with the regional parks Olmsted helped to realise? Is it a viable strategy to build the landscape in advance of the city, even if the layout and functions of the city have not been defined? The answer is yes. Large-scale renewal of disused sites and decayed landscapes into new nature is the obvious thing to do. It is possible, by anticipating local biotopes, water manage- ment and the larger contexts of the ecology, to reintroduce, without mega investment, a condi- tion of tabula rasa, a Second Nature. With inter- esting features like topography, water or vegeta- tion this re-created nature can even surpass the originaL Imagine abandoned military bases, air- ports or raiJway sites, polluted industrial coastal areas being converted into a new wilderness. Not by laissez faire, but by clever design that drama-

tises the new nature. After a short period of groundwork, planting and new cultivation, irre- pressible pioneer vegetation will lay the basis for an ecological structure which will then slowly grow into a climax of vegetation with different biotopes and microclimates.

In principle, the city dweller, who is a perma- nent hostage to the 100 percent predetermined use of the space, craves such undefined sites which have no function, but yet are accessible. Woods, wild open areas, swamps or dune-style landscapes are the ideal textures close to the city. In 25 years' time or more, the potential will be there to once again reclaim this Second Nature. As in an historic process of colonisation, urban- isation will once again be rolled out across this Second Nature. The special landscape features and the ecological characteristics will be ab- sorbed directly into the city. The principle of Second Nature is not based, as in Olmsted's time, on an expensive and hermetic green structure, but on nature having outgrown human hands, being full of character and forming a magnetic field for an as yet unknown colonisation. Unlike the historic pioneers and clear fellers who could indulge in the habit of expropriating or erasing the nature they encounters.j a diff I

.. ' ueren oppcr- tU111smwill prevail. Topography I d

' wa er an veg- etation will be utilised in all sorts of •

ways lor ur- ban ambience with high real estate v I ill

a ues, v a construction, stom1water managem t I .

en, ersure, etc. In particular, on the long occupi dsi f

re SItes 0 most metropolises, the principle f S

o econd Nature will lead to the creation of a n kind

ew of urban design, based on sustainabilit y.

L~ _

Conflation or Coalition?

I I I I I I I I I I I I

'" I 1.'1, • ..,.f--., I I I I I

I I I I I I I I

Frits Palmboom

Urbanism and landscape architecture as separate

disciplines are products of the 20th century. But the

development of the landscape and the shaping of

the cities, the defensive systems and the infrastruc-

ture have for centuries been deeply interconnected.

I Sft..utr I I I I I I I I I I I

" (eJl ...p.;Jit.,ir... 1- ./4.pe.--i ....pDJ"~ ft:..'rrJ .

,..;Vc,rj

...

' i ..

so exhaustively described by Jane Jacobs, are al- most always lacking. In her analysis, for parks and greenery to succeed a good conte).1 is funda- mental. Many city dwellers see peripheral green zones as valuable green background, but also as dangerous and to be avoided. There is simply too little activity and no mixing of user groups. Park designers have not succeeded in giving these parks the allure of nature and wilderness.

The contemporary metropolis is a large or- ganism with an extremely complex metabolism. Apart from infrastructure, the urban jungle is hardly amenable to planning. Transformations are based mainly on small local interventions, and the recycling of old industrial and harbour sites is the important trend in urban innovation. Can large-scale expansion be given dfrection by implementing green structures to begin with, as was done with the regional parks Olmsted helped to realise? Is it a viable strategy to build the landscape in advance of the city, even if the layout and functions of the city have not been defined? The answer is yes. Large-scale renewal of disused sites and decayed landscapes into new nature is the obvious thing to do. It is possible, by anticipating local biotopes, water manage- ment and the larger contexts of the ecology, to reintroduce, without mega investment, a condi- tion of tabula rasa, a Second Nature. With inter- esting features like topography, water or vegeta- tion this re-created nature can even surpass the original. Imagine abandoned military bases, air- ports or railway sites, polluted industrial coastal areas being converted into a new wilderness. Not by laissez faire, but by clever design that drama-

ways 1or ur- ban ambience with high real estate values, villa construction, stormwater managem t

1 .

en , e1sure etc. In particular, on the long occupied sites

0 ~

most metropolises, the principle of Second Nature will lead to the creation of a new kind of urban design, based on sustainability.

I S-h-uH I

(Q,..,,~i;/. ... 1- .fl<p~i-po l«J.. lr..y~" .

Conflation or Coalition? Frits Palmboom

Urbanism and landscape architecture as separate

disciplines are products of the 20th century. But the development of the landscape and the shaping of

the cities, the defensive systems and the infrastruc- ture have for centuries been deeply interconnected.

I I

Preparing the ground: In 1948 the polder landscape was pre-

pared for the construction of the Sloterplas, Amsterdam West.

In 2004 the Sloterplas was a mature point of anchorage in

the landscape for the urbanisation in Amsterdam West.

Page 43:The urbanised landscape of the city of Rotterdam

is composed of the superimposition of different layers: the

delta landscape, agrarian parcellatlcn and/or the urban

street pattern, and the frame of infrastructurallines.

The term landscape urbanism has been used

in the profession since the mid-1990s. In his

"Reference Manifesto" Charles Waldhelm char-

acterises landscape urbanism as a "disciplinary

realignment in which landscape replaces archi-

tecture as the basic building block of contempo ,

rary urbanism. Landscape has become both the

lens through which the contemporary city is rep-

resented and the medium through which it is

constructed". In this same connection James

Corner speaks of "a proposition of disciplinary conflation and unity, albeit a unity that contains, or holds together, difference",

Waldheim's characterisation could be a p- plied retroactively to a practice that has been subject to extensive development in the Nether-

lands since the early 19805, and which, on fur-

ther consideration, can be seen to have a much

longer history yet, Therefore the monograph on

our oeuvre of the past 20 years (the work of

Palmbour Urban Landscapes), which will appear

this summer from Birkhauser Verlag, is entitled

Drawing the Ground - Landscape Urbanism Today. In it we not only specify om position in the debate about landscape urbanism at the theoretical lev-

el, but test it out on the basis of 16 highly diverse projects. Many of these projects involve coalitions

with architects and landscape architects.

Our proposition is that the concept of "land-

scape" indeed has a paradigmatic significance

for the designing disciplines, The contemporary

city is a phenomenon of landscape. It can no

longer be conceived as an architectonic entity

that stands apart from the landscape. In essence,

our environment is an "urbanised landscape":

extensive and fluid, layered, marked by time, un-

polished, arising out of a discordant interplay of natural and cultural forces) driven forward by

the pragmatism of survival, with occasional

flashes of aesthetic aspirations. Every interven-

tion has to take its complex layering into consid-

eration, to deal with its conflicts and use its po-

tential of unexpected combinations and con-

trasts.In this perspective) landscape is no longer

the innocent and idyllic antithesis of the city. Landscape is the arena in which natural and cul- tural forces of all sorts enter into confrontation. Designers are faced with the challenge of inter-

vening in this confrontation, in order to arrive at a solution for often still elusive problems, and

raising it to a visual experience.

Preparing the ground

The ground level in Our cities and landscapes is

no superficial, two-dimensional given. It has a material depth, determined by the amalgam of its geological layers. It is subject to the natural

dynamic in which land, water and wind affect

one another. Human occupation and urbanisa-

tion are accompanied by digging away or by lev- elling up sites, by pollution, by erosion, etc. The

ground level has a three-dimensional relief) even

in the apparently flat delta landscape. It has a

physical and historicallayeredness) an econom-

ic value and a cultural significance. The subsoil

of the Dutch delta and bog landscape is by na- ture unstable. The regulation of the relationship

between the land and Water laid the foundation for a stable spatial structure Th t bl b. e uns a e su _ stratum brings with it the techn: I "&

, rca necessity lor prepanng the ground prior to t: f

. . ' any rorm 0 building Or use. Our proposition I' th h

5 at t e art of preparing the ground has an arcb't t "eli

1 ec OnIc _ mension of its own, quite apart fTO I

'. In t ie appear- ance of physical butldings. As fa b k

r ac as the ] 980s Bernardo Secchi called this "i]

,," progetto del suolo , the design of the ground th "

, e -Patial ar-ticulation of the site.

Preparing the ground is a part of a cOlUplex

and protracted process that precedes b ildi ill lngThere are many actors involved in thi .

'. IS process who must negotiate with One another" ,

, it IS a process involving considerable uncerta' ,

, llUy, In which all seems to be fluid, The art is to id

1 enti_ fy the proper moments for things to solid'fy'

I In

•.~

• ..... '.~'.- .. .'J VJI!" 1

v, l

...

Preparing the ground: In 1948 the polder landscape was pre- pared for the construction of the Sloterplas, Amsterdam West.

In 2004 the Sloterplas was a mature point of anchorage in

the landscape for the urbanisation in Amsterdam West.

Page 43: The urbanised landscape of the city of Rotterdam is composed of the superimposition of different layers: the

delta landscape, agrarian parcellation and/or the urban

street pattern, and the frame of infrastructural lines.

The term landscape urbani m has been used in the profession since the mid-1990s. In his "Reference Manifesto" Charles Waldheim char- acterises landscape urbanism as a "disciplinary realignment in which landscape replaces archi- tecture as the basic building block of contempo- rary urbanism. Landscape has become both the lens through which the contemporary city is rep- resented and the medium through which it is constructed". In this same connection James Corner speaks of "a proposition of disciplinary conflation and unity, albeit a unity that contains, or holds together, difference''.

Waldheim's characterisation could be ap- plied retroactively to a practice that has been subject to extensive development in the ether- lands since the early l 980s, and which, on fur- ther consideration, can be seen to have a much longer history yet. Therefore the monograph on our oeuvre of the past 20 years (the work of Palmbout Urban Landscapes), which will appear this summer from Birkhauser Verlag, is entitled Drawing the Ground-Landscape Urbanism Today. In it we not only specify our position in the debate about landscape urbanism at the theoretical lev- el, but test it out on the basis of 16 highly diverse projects. Many of these projects involve coalitions with architects and landscape architects.

Our proposition is that the concept of"land- scape" indeed has a paradigmatic significance for the designing disciplines. The contemporary city is a phenomenon of landscape. It can no longer be conceived as an architectonic entity that stands apart from the landscape. In essence, our environment is an "urbanised landscape": extensive and fluid, layered, marked by time, un- polished, arising out of a discordant interplay of natural and cultural forces, driven forward by the pragmatism of survival, with occasional flashes of aesthetic aspirations. Every interven- tion has to take its complex layering into consid- eration, to deal with its conflicts and use its po- tential of unexpected combinations and con-

trasts. ln this per pective, landscape i no longer the innocent and idyllic antithesi of the city. Landscape is the arena in which natural and cul- tural forces of aU sorts enter into confrontation. Designers are faced with the challenge of inter- vening in this confrontation, in order to arrive at a solution for often still elusive problems, and raising it to a visual experience.

Preparing the ground

The ground level in our cities and landscapes is no superficial, two-dimensional given. lt has a material depth, determined by the amalgam of its geological layers. It is subject to the natural dynamic in which land, water and wind affect one another. Human occupation and urbanisa- tion are accompanied by digging away or by lev- elling up sites, by pollution, by erosion, et . The ground level has a three-dimensional relief, even in the apparently flat delta land cape. Jt has a physical and historical layeredness, an econom- ic value and a cultural significance. The subsoil of the Dutch delta and bog landscape is by na- ture unstable. The regulation of the relationship between the land and water laid the foundation for a stable spatial structure Th bl b • e unsta e su - stratumbringswithitthetechn· 1 . c . 1ca necessity 1or prepanng the ground prior to c f . . ' any 1orrn o buddmg or use. Our proposition is that the art of preparing the ground has a11 arch. . .

1tectomc di- mension of its own, quite apart from tl

. le appear-ance of physICal buildings. As , b k iar ac as the

1980s Bernardo Secchi called this "il ,, . progetto del suolo , the design of the ground th .

• e spatial ar-ticulation of the site.

Preparing the ground is a part of a complex

and protracted process that precedes buildin There arc many actors involved in thi g.

. . spro~q who must negotiate with one another· • .

, It IS a process involving considerable uncena· . . IIlty, In whjch all seems to be fluid. The art is to 1·d .

ent1-fy the proper moments for things to solid·fy. I In

IJburg, Amsterdam, from top: The spatial and ecological de.

sign for the IJrneer"inland sea" preceded the design of the

new urban extension. The three-dimensional articulation of

the ground plane for the new island of Haveneiland was pre-

pared in 2004. The new islands are embedded in the newly

developed ecological zone on the banks of the "inland sea".

such processes. Architectonic notions regarding form and composition are of crucial impor- tance at these moments of solidification. That which becomes fixed takes on form in a draw- ing, map, diagram or plan. That which has tak- en on form can be read in architectonic terms: dimensions, material, structure, orientation, proportion, texture, construction, effect, pro- grammatic carrying capacity. It is an extremely rewarding subject for design.

Construction itself - the realm of architec- ture - takes place within a much shorter time horizon. The construction is initiated as a result of current programmes and investments. But a building can also survive its programme. From the viewpoint of physical and cultural sustain- ability, this is even a necessity. Architecture also plays with the differences in tempo between facade and interior, berween load-bearing con- structions, interior divisions, technical installa- tions and finish. The time dimensions within the different disciplines touch upon and overlap one another. The disciplines interpenetrate each oth- er, without entirely merging. It is precisely the differences in their approaches to time that make their coalitions interesting. In every project the relations among the time rhythms - and design disciplines - must be rediscovered and retuned.

I Layering time In addition to its architectonic dimension preparing the ground also has its own time di- rnension. Various rhythms of change find their e.xpression in the d .grcun ,and mterventions in the ground can 1 •• ~

· make new rhythms of change possible, The des . di .· igrung isciplines of landscape archltecture urb .

, antsm and architecture each handle this temporal d " .ynanuc Ul their own man- ner. Landscape a lu. rc itecture is on the side of slow tune, the longue d ' dike b ildi uree. In the delta landscape,

lU mg and drama d .di . ge eterrnine the basic con rttons for livin f

. g or a term counted in cen- tunes. It provides fo th bi .

r e sta iliry of the ground overaverylongtim W' h . h -. e. It chmate change on the

ortzon, It deserves a new and hi h Urbanism COntinues to b '~der urgent.-y.

scape structures and pr ut upon land- ocesses b t .

twist for the purpose of ma~ u t gives them a

suitable for new urban fu . g he landscape , fictions. It r hd

ground from the slow ti Y\ It raws rmc of nature d .

culture and gives it a place' h an agn- f - m t e faster rh ho urban life. It creates publ' yt ill . ic spaces th

Vide for acceSSibility and d at pro- ~ emarcates .

are to be used and built up U . sites that " On. rbams .

nons building.At the same ti m eondl- ime urban 1 .

must anticipate future and . p annmg yet unpred'

changes in the use of the city Ictable b ildi and thus f'ill lIlgS, their replacement d 0 Its

an even di pearence. The aim of urban d . isap.,

· eSlgn mUstb surV1vethe structures Over tim e toe.

The printed circuit

Urbanism and landscape architecture as separate disciplines are products of the 20th century. However, they have a pre-history that goes much further back in time and is part of their body of knowledge. The whole history of the genesis and shaping of landscapes and the development of cities is a part of this tradition.

In the Netherlands the pre-histories of the two disciplines are closely interwoven. The de- velopment of the landscape and the shaping of the cities, the defensive systems and the infra- structure have for centuries been very deeply interconnected. The 20th century witnessed a unique episode in this old alliance of urban and landscape planning. Under the influence of in- dustrialisation the issue of mass housing came to occupy the central place in urbanism.

The connections between urbanism and landscape design therefore loosened; those with architecture became tighter. This was articulat- ed by A. E. Brmckmann in his famous dictum "Stadte bauen heiSt: mit dem Hausmaterial

- ,

RaLUDgestalten!" (Urbanism is modelling space with housing material.)

This picture has changed over the past decades. The government has yielded its central role in planning residential construction to the market. At the same time, issues of infrastruc- ture and water management are again of in- creasing importance. These reach beyond the boundaries of separate project areas, and even beyond those of the cities as a whole. Thus ur- banism has lost a part of its legitirnisation, which it had gained from its link with mass housing. The connections between urban plan- ning and architecture are becoming looser. With this, however, building - architecture - does not disappear from the picture. The task of directing the position of new urban material continues to exist. Over the course of time in our work we have developed a set of instru- ments for that, with the printed circuit (or print plate) as an important element. It draws the bonding points for the buildings: the first decimetres of the vertical elements along the public spaces) which define the relation between public and private. It is like Pompeii in reverse: rather than relics of a city that has disappeared, it is the preconception of a city that can arise. The printed circuit negotiates between the flat surface and the carpet of buildings. They are in- terconnected but not conflated.

Therefore, I disagree with authors who inter- pret "surface" as the conflation of the ground and "horizontal" urbanisation, and treat them as one thing. It denies the stratification in time, be- tween public and private, between infrastruc- ture and buildings (no matter how insignificant or generic).lt is evidence of a sheer architectur- al view, which considers everything as built structures, and can be constructed or swept away with equal ease. Also a building whose ground plane folds and unfolds and is clad with grass re- mains a building and has a different stature than the landscape with which it desires to blend.

"';

,® ,~,t ... lr/4

.. - 1:,.,.

'•-'"'!;. ~ .. ~ ....

,. ........ ,,, '•I l '...,;.: (~,.;"'' ... ~ _:'·,, \

..... ~-. ~'\ • .,..,...,, ... ,✓

IJburg, Amsterdam, from top: The spatial and ecological de-

sign for the llmeer "inland sea" preceded the design of the

new urban extension. The three-dimensional articulation of

the ground plane for the new island of Haveneiland was pre-

pared in 2004. The new islands are embedded in the newly

developed ecological zone on the banks of the"inland sea".

such processes. Architectonic notions regarding

form and composition are of crucial impor-

tance at these moments of solidification. That

which becomes fixed takes on form in a draw-

ing, map, diagram or plan. That which has tak-

en on form can be read in architectonic terms:

dimensions, material, structure, orientation,

proportion, texture, construction, effect, pro-

grammatic carrying capacity. It is an extremely rewarding subject for design.

Layering time

In addition to ·t h 1 s arc itectonic dimension preparing the ground also has its own time di~

mension. Various rhythms of change find their

expression in the ground, and interventions in the ground can m k h . a e new r ythms of change possible. The desig · di . 1. . mng SClp mes of landscape architecture u b • h

' r amsm and architecture each andle this tempor I d . . . a ynanuc 111 their own man-

ner. Landscape a h' . . re itecture is on the side of slow

t1me, the longue d , 1 d'k b . . uree. n the delta landscape I e u1ldmg and dra. . ,

d . . mage determine the basic

con it.Ions for living ~ • or a term counted in cen-

tunes. It provides for the stability f th o e ground

over a very long time With .. h · . · clm1ate change on the

onzon, it deserves a new and hi h u b · g er urgency

r amsm continues to build . scape structures and proc b upon land-

esses ut g· h twist for the purpose of maki~ ives t em a suitable for new urban fu . g the landscape

' nct1ons It ,. hd ground from the slow ti f . "'it raws

me o nature a d . culture and gives it a pla . n agn-

f ce m the faster rh h

o urban life. It creates pub!' yt m • Jc spaces th

v1de for accessibility and d at pro- , emarcates ·

are to be used and built upo U . Sites that . . n. rban1s .

t1ons building. At the samet· m cond1- 1me urban 1 .

must anticipate future and P annmg yet unpred·

changes in the use of the c·t ictable

b ild . i y and thus f .

u mgs, their replacement d O its an even d'

pearance. The aim of urban d . 1sap- es1gn mu b

survive the structures over time. st

e to

Construction itself - the realm of architec-

ture - takes place within a much shorter time

horizon. The construction is initiated as a result

of current programmes and investments. But a

building can also survive its programme. From

the viewpoint of physical and cultural sustain-

ability, this is even a necessity. Architecture also

plays with the differences in tempo between

fa<;:ade and interior, between load-bearing con-

structions, interior divisions, technical installa-

tions and finish. The time dimensions within the

different disciplines touch upon and overlap one

another. The disciplines interpenetrate each oth-

er, without entirely merging. It is precisely the

differences in their approaches to time that make

their coalitions interesting. In every project the

relations among the time rhythms - and design

disciplines - must be rediscovered and retuned.

The printed circuit

Urbanism and landscape architecture as separate

disciplines are products of the 20th century.

However, they have a pre-history that goes much

further back in time and is part of their body of

knowledge. The whole history of the genesis and

shaping of landscapes and the development of

cities is a part of this tradition. In the Netherlands the pre-histories of the

two disciplines are closely interwoven. The de-

velopment of the landscape and the shaping of

the cities, the defensive systems and the infra-

structure have for centuries been very deeply

interconnected. The 20th century witnessed a

unique episode in this old alliance of urban and

landscape planning. Under the influence of in-

dustrialisation the issue of mass housing came

to occupy the central place in urbanism.

The connections between urbanism and

landscape design therefore loosened; those with

architecture became tighter. This was articulat-

ed by A. E. Brinckmann in his famous dictum

"Stadte bauen heiBt: rnit dem Hausmaterial

Raum gestalten!" (Urbanism is modelling space

with housing material.)

This picture has changed over the past

decades. The government has yielded its central

role in planning residential construction to the

market. At the same time, issues of infrastruc-

ture and water management are again of in-

creasing importance. These reach beyond the

boundaries of separate project areas, and even

beyond those of the cities as a whole. Thus ur-

banism has lost a part of its legitimisation,

which it had gained from its link with mass

housing. The connections between urban plan-

ning and architecture are becoming looser.

With this, however, building - architecture -

does not disappear from the picture. The task of

directing the position of new urban material

continues to exist. Over the course of time in

our work we have developed a set of instru-

ments for that, with the printed circuit ( or print

plate) as an important element. lt draws the

bonding points for the buildings: the first

decimetres of the vertical elements along the

public spaces, which define the relation between

public and private. It is like Pompeii in reverse:

rather than relics of a city that has disappeared,

it is the preconception of a city that can arise.

The printed circuit negotiates between the flat

surface and the carpet of buildings. They are in-

terconnected but not conflated.

Therefore, l disagree with authors who inter-

pret "surface" as the conflation of the ground

and "horizontal" urbanisation, and treat them as

one thing. It denies the stratification in time, be-

tween public and private, between infrastruc-

ture and buildings (no matter how insignificant

or generic). It is evidence of a sheer architectur-

al view, which considers everything as built

structures, and can be constructed or swept away

with equal ease. Also a building whose ground

plane folds and unfolds and is clad with grass re-

mains a building and has a different stature than

the landscape with which it desires to blend.

The pr~nt plate or "printed circuit" concept for Buizenqat,

Vlaardlngen: each part of the plan has a different relation

between the ground surface and bUilding typology.

The prinl plate is like Pompeii in revers.' th fi d ', e r51 eel- metres of vertical elements along the public: spaces act as bonding points for buJldil1gs to come.

In our view landI d ' scape urbanism does not ea to a conflation f h . .

seeps hi 0 t e dIsCIplines of land- . arc itecture and b .

nerwould ur arnsm, as James Cor- argue TheY'dwith . . must meed be redefined

Iespect to one an h . own tern I ot er, but each retains its

pora andarch't t . . precisely th ~diff 1 ec orne dimension. It is

e uerences ben. ~ h ' , ,and th . I veen t e disciplines elf eyeredn ess th . ,

to be abl t at are essential in order e 0 Come to gn ,IpS WIth our tasks today.

tional design" to "strategic instrumentality", He calls for a "focus ... on the agency of landscape (how it works and what it does) rather than up- on its simple appearance".

The emancipation of the process-focused ap- proach is essential for the development of the de- sign disciplines. The formulation of the problem for contemporary design exceeds the scale of the object, and commonly flows out of processes that occur in time and only become visible in space in veiled ways, such as urbanisation, climate change, etc. The aim of design is not the ordering in space, but the ordering in space and time.

It is our strong conviction that within design form-oriented and process-oriented approaches cannot be driven apart from one another. Form is not purely expression of the process lying be- hind it. The direct identification of form with process and programme leads to a sort of neo- functionalism, which the history of design and architecture criticism has repudiated since the

Plan versus process For man thy au ors the ar u urbanism " g ment for landscape

IS coupled with process-orient d an argument for a

e approach abo f ed approach Th f ve a orrn-orient-

. ey requently arguments of R proceed from the b

' em Koolhaas h d anisrn as being co dit i . ' w 0 efines ur-

n JtlOmng fl id oriented and a hi ' -lit and process-

, rc - Ltecture as co and form-oriented F" nsmuerist, fixed

. or instan J argues for shifting th . ce ames Corner

e emphaSI~ from t< •compoSl_

19705. With it urbanism would be referred back to the domain of abstract planning.

We insist on giving the architectonic dimen- sion - or better, the architectonic moment - within urbanism and landscape architecture its proper value. The moment at which the archi- tectonic in the process solidifies and acquires a certain autonomy is of vital importance. It is an instrument for provoking succeeding steps in the planning process, or for making them pos- sible, and adding new layers to the process, which without that form could not come about. But it is also the moment at which a plan can rise above the concerns that surround its gene- sis and acquire a new self-evidence: a beauty for its own sake, a matter-of-factness. as if it had al- ways existed. As a result it can fix itself in mem- ory and survive time, just as countless plans from the past have obtained a place in the body of knowledge and continue to challenge and in- spire down to this day.

In Buizengat, Vlaardingen, the interlace between land and

water defines the position of the buildings.

49·---

The print plate or"prlnted drcuir concept for Buizengat, Vlaardingen: each part of the plan has a different relation between the ground surface and building lypol ogy.

b,.vt-L5

The print plate is like Pompeii In reverse: the first deci- metres of vertical elements along the public space.s act as bonding points for buildings to come.

In our view land le d ' scape urbanism does not a to a conflatio f h . . sea h" n ° t e d1sc1plines of land-pe arc itecture and urba . ner would msm, as James Cor-argue They . d with · muSt m eed be redefined respect to one an h own temp I

ot er, but each retains its ora and archit . . precisely th d"fi'" ectomc dimension. It is e 1 1erences b h and their I d e veen the disciplines ayere ness that to be able t are essential in order 0 come to gr· • tps with our tasks today.

Plan versus orocess

For many authors the ar urbanism · gument for landscape ts coupled with an ar process-oriented gument for a approach abo ti . ed approach Th ti vea orm-onent-. ey requently arguments of R proceed from the b . em Koolhaas h d an1smasbeingco d'. . , w o efrnes ur-n tlJomng fl "d oriented, and arch ·1 , u1 and process-

1 ecturc as c and form-oriented F . onsumerist, fixed · or instance J argues for shift• h ames Corner tng t e emphasis from« .

compos1-

tional design" to "strategic instrumentality''. He calls for a "focus ... on the agency of landscape (how it works and what it does) rather than up- on its simple appearance".

The emancipation of the process-focused ap- proach is esscnlial for the development of the de- sign disciplines. The formulation of the problem for contemporary design exceeds the scale of the object, and commonly flows out of processes that occur in time and only become visible in space in veiled ways, such as urbanisation, climate change, etc. The aim of design is not the ordering in space, but the ordering in space and time.

It is our strong conviclion that within design form-oriented and process-oriented approaches cannot be driven apart from one another. Form is not purely expression of the process lying be- hind it. The direct identification of form with process and programme leads to a sort of neo- functionalism, which the history of design and architecture critici~m has repudiated since the

l970s. With it urbanism would be referred back to the domain of abstract planning.

We insist on giving the architectonic di men sion - or better, the architectonic moment - within urbanism and landscape architecture its proper value. The moment at which the archi tectonic in the process solidifies and acquires a certain autonomy is of vital importance. It is an instrument for provoking succeeding steps in the planning process, or for making them pos- sible, and adding new layers to the process, which without that form could not come about. But it is also the moment at which a plan can rise above the concerns that surround its gene- ~is and acquire a new self-evidence: a beauty for its own sake, a matter-of-factness, as if it had al- ways existed. A:, a result it can fix itself in mem ory and survive time, just as countless plans from the past have obtained a place in the body of knowledge and continue to challenge and in- spire down to this day.

In Buizengat, Vlaardingen, the Interface between land and water defines the position of the buildings.

Machu Picchu, Peru: terraced granite stonework of the royal estate and religious Incall retreat reveals topography as the organizer of space,

Bruno De Meulder, Kelly Shannon

TRADITIONS OF LANDSCAPE URBANISM I68

Landscape urbanism has at least two roots: the heritage of

many ancient civilizations in creating settlement structures

and the history of both landscape architecture and urbanism

themselves. Considering its roots, landscape urbanls~ strate- owerful tools for 21st-century Cities.gies could become p

. e and urbanism. The terms have always been Nature and city, Landscap I to an ant.agonistic duo. To-

. f mplementary coup e , intertwmed - rom 8 co f h rds signal a realignment of dis-

.. d(ab)useo t ewe . days superponuon an ) ki of the built envITonment.

d rns in the (re rna mg d ciplines, scales an concer idi the wave of both genuine an

, . somehow n lllg , Landscape urbaDlsm IS , d as more and more profession-

t nvironmentahsm, An 1 fi Id Politicallv-correc e , Ii themselves to the e ,

'. d nacademlccourses-a Jgn als,acadeDllcs-an eve 1 . For some it is perhaps oppor-

ever more e usrve. its defmition becomes f -design by retreating into the

cape route 0 non . tunisrn. for others an esca] . " Still for others it 1S a

. _ riented lIldeterlTIlOlSm, " establishment of process 0 . h b ilt environment _ with the logics

. d intervene in t e u . (d) way to re-engage an I 'I t to canalize or even guide e r-

t icturmg e emen of the landscape as a s n, I d pe urbanism is not very new

. hi . le claims that an sca . urbanizatJon. T IS artlc. ,grounded in an intelhgence

tunes old, roots, one and has at least two, cen . . "I" ations to seek a balance in creat-

. th t led ancient CIV! rz d) borne of necessity a . h b d through the (constructe

t t uctures Wit , Y an ing their settlemen sr. f the history of both landscape landscape and another nemrrung rom

. d urbanism themselves,architecture an

Heritage of indigenous landscape urbanism ., h of Machu Picchu in Peru, to Varanasi S ur-

From the terraced topograp Y . I eli t the large barays and tern- he sacred Ganges m 11 a.ro , f

banized ghats on t. eli t the ancient pyrall1 id-water city 0 . . f AI kor in Cambn a, n

pie-CIties 0 . 19 . , 1 f the Mediterranean, to count- . M . 0 to the hil towns 0

TeotiJmacan 10 exic l 'worldwide settlements have " 1 ral agglomeratlOns , ,

less craft and agncu tu '. 'til both the productiVe and a hed to interact WI

been carefully choreogr P " The numerous case studies (many [' ects of the terntol y. , d'

more symbo lC asp b t' te the existence of an in Ige- 'T . ns) that su stan la, .

as disappeared clvllza~lo I h tial materiaJization of quite spe- nouS landscape urbanism revea, t e sp.a 'fi ld view narratives and IdeologIes.

CI IC wor

II I

' i .. Macllu Picchu, Peru: terraced granite stonework of the royal estate and religious lncan retreat reveals topography as the organizer of space.

Bruno De Meulder, Kelly Shannon

TRADITIONS OF LANDSCAPE URBANISM 68

Landscape urbanism has at least two roots: the heritage of many ancient civilizations in creating settlement structur~s and the history of both landscape architecture and _urbanism themselves. Considering its roots, landscape urbanis~ strate-

rf I tools for 21st-century c1t1es. gies could become powe u

b . The terms have always been . La d cape and ur amsm. Nature and city. n s I to an antagonistic duo. To-. fr omplementary coup e . intertwined - om a c f h ords signal a realignment of dis-.. d(ab)useo t ew day's superpos1t1on an k' of the built environment. in the (re)ma mg ciplines, scales and concerns 'd' the wave of both genuine and · · omehow n mg . Landscape urbanism is s 1· A d as more and more profess1on-

t vironmenta ism. n ' fi Id Politically-correc en . I' themselves to the 1e , . d ven academic courses- a ign als, academics- an e I . For some it is perhaps oppor-ver more e us1ve. h its definition becomes e f -design by retreating into t e cape route o non . . tunism, for others an es . . . m Still for others it is a · nted mdeterm1111s • . establishment of process-one . h b ·1t environment - with the logics

d 'ntervene 111 t e u1 . d ) way to re-engage an • . I t to canalize or even guide ( e -tunng e emen ' of the landscape as a struc . h I dscape urbanism is not very new . h' t' le claims t at an . urbanization. T is ar ic grounded in an intelligence · sold, roots; one and has al least two, centune . . ·1·. t' ons to seek a balance in crcat-. h I d ancient c1v1 ,za • . ) borne of necessity L at e . h b d through the (constructed t uctures wtt , Yan ing their settlements r . f the history of both landscape landscape and another stemm111g rom

d b ·sm themselves. architecture an ur am

H ·tage of indigenous landscape urbanism en ., h f Machu Picchu in Peru, to Varanasi s ur-

From the terraced topograp yo . l d' to the large barays and tern h d Ganges tn n ia, banized ghats on t e sacre . h ncient pyramid-water city of . . k r in Cambodia, to t e a

pie cities of Ang o h'II ' of the Mediterranean, to count . M · 0 to the I to,vn, Teotihuacan 111 exic ' . •orldwidc, settlements have . ultural agglomerations w d less craft and agnc . 'ti both the productive an a hed to interact w1 1 been carefully choreogr p . The numerous case studies (many

b I. pects of the territory. . di more sym o IC as b u· te the existence of an m ge-. T t' ns) that su stan a as disappeared c1v1 iza_ io 1 the spatial materialization of quite spe-landscape urba111sm revea nous d 'd I ies cific world view narratives an I eo og .

'I I I

I 1 I ~

I •

J ~

! l

j I

I II , I

J j _i J;

::t:::s~; ~hd~:::et:o;::~::~ of Hinduismis interspersedwithsevenkilo- nature and profane to sa d angesRiver, connecting land to water, clty fo

ere.

Yet, collectively they bear witness to a COl . productively transform d sor-i rttnuum of human effort to I

an soclo-culturally . andscape in order to ff . I' appropriate nature and the . e ecttve y guide their us .

ucn. In general terms thev! e, occupanon and urbaniza- , ey mscnbed the I ..

the slightest differen f mse yes within landscapes where . ces 0 topography and I . Important _ both prag ti II re anon to hydrology was all-

rna rca yand s mb I' II environments work d Y 0 lea y. The built and unbuilt h e as an ecosystem Man ad

t rough patient pragmar: di . apted to the environment , ic a justmenr t . '

ed means and logics tl t k . 0 CIrCUmstances with sophisticat- b . ra war ed WIth nat .

ur antsm created marvel . '1.' ure. IndIgenous landscape .' ous Clvl1Zatlons_ wh b strategIC asset for develo ere ythe landscape was the

pment.

Bequest of landscape architecture

EVid~ntly,the rich theoretical and built archItecture feeds the pr d . work of the profession oflandscape

b . esent- av discou- ur arusm. In the early 19th' se and practice of landscape CI . century the k

audius Loudon in Londo . .' war of Scottish botanist John M n, parncularly hi H

e.tropolis (1829), was a preamble to th . IS ~ntsfor Breathing Places for tunng elements in urban exp. e mcluSIOn of green belts as struc- I ansmn pIa I h .aw Olmsted's Boston Back Ba F ns. 11 t e United States, Frederick

~ften referenced as a preceden:fo;~:na~ld Emerald Necklace (1878-96) is Its underplayed modernity and potent/~ape ur~anisrn projects through meters for contemporary projects It. a to articulate conceptual para- ~ure and architecture was achieve~ S lOtegration oflandscape, infrastruc- )uxt . . not only thro h

aposItlOn of various Uses (veh· 1 ug a horizontal (planar) and Jinka f a1' JeU ar, recreatio Ige 0 sc es (dIstinctive pia. na, representational). . ceslU th . nt.onal system), but aJso vis-a.-vis a . e CItyand as part oflarger ter- eluded infra structural i.mprovement;e(rst1~al(sectional) richness that in- below the surface. The Emerald N kl ~ ~ay, sewer, Water mains etc) . . ec ace lSSI I ' .

tIOn system, an automobile p kwa mu taneollsly a tidal ='t' · ar y, a real es Iga-

pUbli~ park and a site for urban gardens_ all . t~te development project, a ropolltan system of parks and parkways It ~lated to an even larger met- Ian McHarg's D .. . a ost goes witheSlgn with Nature (1969) d . out saying that mal language of landscape ecology 11 and RI~hard T.T. Forman's for-

h as un erpI d approac to planning and design that seem t /~e today's ecological Judeo-Christian worldview in wh' h sore Inverse the centurie Id

• 1C nature (the wo ld . so ~s a gIven, as a present to mankind with the tas r) lS basically seen tIcally engage with it. Are such notions in f: k to ,transform it, to dialec- anti-thesis _ t h act, as m Isaac pr h .

, 0 cut t e mountains and fill th U op eoes, an demonstrated in the approach C 01 e va eys? Is this invers'

· Hom msted to McHar JOn structmgnature versus working \v:iththe C f g - from (re)con_

d . torces a nature" Ar th

porary ISCourses following catastro h' h . e e ContC1l1_ p es suc as Hurricane Kat' .

fIna In

The Preah Khan complex, Cambodia, is part of the vast territorial structure of the legendary

city of Angkor (AD 802-1432), with carefully engineered waterworks and temple mountains.

New Orleans or the recent landslides in Rio indications for the funda- mental shift that slowly, but surely, one is witnessing? Is this due to the limits of and dangers of engineering approaches that are becoming more

and more apparent?

Legacy of urbanism , , 0

Ever since the twin processes of industrialization and urbanization took hold in the 19th century, urbanists have been struggling to include na- ture in the city. Consequently, there has been no lack of concepts and models that have tried to restore or re-establish nature/city relations and scale urban environments in such a way that (co)presence, or at least nearness, of nature is guaranteed. Yet, it could be said that the era of the proliferation of garden cities, green belts, green fingers, green corridors, park systems, parkways, etc. was in fact a meager concession for the much larger operation of massive and expansive erasure of nature by urbanization. Patrick Geddes' Valley Section (1917) became a prototype of a sort of bioregionalism and is known to have inspired Lewis Mum- ford's Regional Planning Association in America. And, new cities - from L'Enfant's Washington, DC (1791) to Doxiades' Islamabad (1959-63) to Corbusier's Chandigarh (1950), to name but a few- incorporated nature in the city through the majestic Potomac, the Margalla Hills and an im- pressive National Park, a warp and woof with "vertical greenbelts" respectively. In such plans, culture and nature, city and landscape are equivalent terms. The (constructed) landscape - even if this requires sys- tematically planting mountains, as in Islamabad - is the setting and frame in which the city is imbedded and landscape and urbanism are inter- twined intensively. In the case of vVashington, the moment that endless urbanization overwhelmed the territory, the potomac River basin sud- denly became the backbone of the "regional" plan. Such an approach con- trasts with that of Ludwig Hilberseimer in his Lafayette Park, Detroit (1961-65) _ also referenced by landscape urbanism proponents to be a precursor to the field _ where the city is choreographed to dissolve v.rith~ in a carefully analyzed and (re)constructed nature. The city as metaphor for nature and its processes also was expressively articulated by both Reyner Banham's Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies (1971) and the Philadelph ia traffic studies oflouis Kahn in (J 951-53).

PRAt:' KHAN PLAN GEI'I'f.RAL

Landscape urbanism today

Nature and city. Landscape and urbanism. The terms are unavoidable and inextricably bound. However, today, as Kenneth Frampton has postured, the tools of urbanism alone appear unable to resist the unrelentless

Emerald Necklace, Boston, US: Frederick law Olmsted's project to control

the natural ecology of tidal wetli:mds doubled as a rich, multi~layered system

of"drculation and respiration" of urban infrastructure.

i ..

Varanasi, India: the most holy city of Hinduism is interspersed with seven kilo-meters of ghats on the f G curve o anges River, connecting land to wale~ city to nature and profane lo sacred. '

Yet, collectively they bear witness to a . productively transform d . continuum of human effort to an soc10-culturally • landscape in order to ecc . 1 . ' appropnate nature and the 11ect1ve ygmdethei . tion. In general terms th . . ruse, occupation and urbaniza-, ey mscnbed themsel • 1 . the slightest differe f ves wit un landscapes where nces o topography and I . important_ both . re at.Jon to hydrology was all-pragmatically and s b r JI . environments worked ym o ica y. The built and unbuilt as an ecosystem M d through patient pragmat· d. . an a apted to the environment, ' 1C a JUstrnent to ci . ed means and logics ti k rcumstances with sophisticat-1at wor ed with t . urbanism created ma 1 . . . na ure. Indigenous landscape rve ous cwil1zations wh b strategic asset for dev I - ere y the landscape was the c opment.

Bequest of landscape architecture Evidently, the rich theoretical and b ii h . u tworkofth fi · arc 1tecture feeds the p d e pro ess10n of landscape b . resent- ay discourse a d . . ur amsm. In the early 19th n practice of landscape CJ century the wo k f S audius Loudon in Lond . , r o cottish botanist John on, particular! h. H. Metropolis ( 1829) was a p bl y is mtsfor Breathing Places for . , ream e to the in j •. tunng elements in urban exp . c us10n of green belts as struc-La Oln , a11s1on plans. In th U . d w 1 ted s Boston Back B F e nite States, Frederick ft fi ay ens and ErneraJd N kl o en re erenced as a precede t fi 1 . ec ace ( 1878-96) is 't d n or andscape u b . I s un erplayed modernity and . r anism projects through fi potential to a f I meters or contemporary . . . r icu ate conceptual para-. proJects. Its integraf fl ture and architecture was achieved ion o andscape, infrastruc-J. u t . . not only through h . x apos1t1on of various uses (v h. I a onzontal (planar) di. k e icu ar recre f an 111 age of scaJes ( distinctive pl . , a tonal, representational) . . aces m the c·ty d ntonal system), but also vis-a-vis a . I an as part oflarger ter-cluded infrastructural impro verttcal (sectional) richness that in b vements (subwa -elow the surface. The Emerald N kl . y, sewer, water mains etc ) . • ec ace is simult· , . t1on system, an automobile parkw aneously a tidal mitiga-bl. k ay, a real estated I pu 1c par and a site for urban garde all eve opment pro1·ect a · ns- related ' ropolitan system of parks and parkway I Im to an even larger met-[ M H ' . s. ta ost goe . h an J c args Design with Nature (1969) d . sw1t out saying that mal language of landscape ecology I and R1~hard T.T. Forman's for-h las un erpinncd t d approac to planning and design that se . o ay's ecological J d Ch . . ems to re/mverse th u eo- nshan world view in wh · h e centuries old . ic nature (the world) .. b . a a given, a a present to mankind with th k is as1cally seen t' II e tas to transfo . ica y engage with it. Are such notion in f; t . rm it, to dialec-a f th . ac , as in Isaac p h n ,_ ests - to cut the mountains and fill th 11 rop ecies, an de d · e va eys? Is ti · · monstrate m the approach from OJ d . us inversion . · mste to McHarg fi structmg nature versu working with th fi - rom (re)con-. e orce of nature? Ar th porary d1scourses following catastrophes h ·. e e contem-suc as Hurricane Kate· . ma rn

The Preah Khan complex, Cambodia, is part of the vast territorial structure of the legendary city of Angkor (AD 802-1432), with carefully engineered waterworks and temple mountains .

Legacy of urbanism

tematically planting mountains, as in Islamabad-is the setting and frame in which the city is imbedded and landscape and urbanism are inter-twined intensively. In the case of Washington, the moment that endless urbanization overwhelmed the territory, the Potomac River basin sud-denly became the backbone of the "regional"plan. Such an approach con-trasts with that of Ludwig Hilberseimer in his Lafayette Park, Detroit ( 1961-65) - also referenced by landscape urbanism proponent to be a precursor to the field- where the city is choreographed to dissolve with-in a carefully analyzed and (re)constructed nature. The city as metaphor for nature and its processes also was expressively articulated by both Reyner Banham's Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies ( 1971) and the Philadelphia traffic studies of Louis Kahn in (1951-53).

Landscape urbanism today Nature and city. Landscape and urbanism. The terms are unavoidable and inextricably bound. However, today, as Kenneth Frampton has postured, the tool of urbanism alone appear unable to resist the unrelentless

PRAt:1 KHAN PLAN GENe.AAL

e,ct'<ELLt. 1klfl - .. .i,111 a- 0

--·

! -r· 1--·-· I~ II ;i ur·- ••A~AT&tlis.,

p . . .

Emerald Necklace, Boston, US: Frederick law Olmsted's project to control the natural ecology of tidal wetlands doubled as a rich, mufti-layered system of"drculation and respiration" of urban infrastructure.

Top: Major Andrew Ellicott's survey of Washington, DC: river, topography and l'Enfant's plan.

Bottom: In Islamabad, Pakistan, Constantlnos A. Dcxiadls created a "natural frame" in which

the new capital city was embedded.

homogenizing tendencies of built environments which, to a certain degree, flatten-out cultures and places. To a large extent, landscape has come to the fore as the savior of the professions of the built environment - acknowl- edged for its capacity to (re )shape urban space. Its forceful re-entry on the design stage has also been underscored by the inability of the planning pro- fession to convincingly deal with the fluid conditions of today's politics and economies. The notion of landscapes as process, active, dynamic, op- erational systems dovetails into the need to manage complexity, to em- brace change and to respond to evolving politics, global economies and a more general degree of uncertainty. At the same time, landscape urban- ism's unavoidable crossing of scales and disciplines places it more strate- gically than Iosep Lluls Sert's conception of urban design in the 1950s - al- so arising at a moment of crisis in the design of the built environment. Leaving the urban design discourses of/on Sert for what they are, and look- ing at his practices as demonstrated in plans - Havana in Cuba, for exam- ple - that travel between architecture, urban design and urban planning, it becomes clear that Sert's approach, in a certain way, interwove a land- scape layer within the existing urban environment.

However, the charm of landscape urbanism is also its pitfall. The dis- course is riddled with imprecision, ambiguities and fashionable rhetoric. The prevailing metaphorical use oflandscape and nature - as ever-chang- ing, chaotic and indeterminate - plays eloquently into the hands of a post- modernist approach, where hyper-design is disguised in non-design and vice-versa. Both educators and practitioners have usurped a highly abstract vocabulary oflandscape and natural processes to function as a critique of rnodernist planning. Yet, they are themselves obsessed by rhetoric of the new and their designs indeed demand a high degree of control. Obvious- ly, their work holds a hidden aesthetic agenda: the reinvention of the nat- ural world has superseded the building of a mechanical world-s which, in fact, requires not less design, but more design.

The defining of and interest in landscape urbanism suffers from the fact that it plays lip service to the notion of productivity and the habitu- ated place of landscapes. Yet, on the whole, the experienced, phenorne- nologicallandscape figures much less in the writing and built projects than one would expect. Instead, as evidenced by contemporary represen- tation techniques, a picturesque, landscape beautiful approach remains a hidden foundation upon which the discourse and projects are built - despite claims to the contrary. The contemporary landscapes of necessi- ty and survival are left out of the discourse. Landscapes at work and in- frastructures of productivity are rapidly being transformed by the glob- al restructuring process and innovations in technology, communication and transport. Landscape urbanism holds the possibility to synthesize landscape, architectural and urbanistic fields into a hybrid form of prac-

I I

Detroit re-planning, US: ludwig Hilberseimer's plans for Detroit utilized landscape and

infrastructure as the organizing elements of decentralized urbanism.

tice that may allow for the invention of new built fabrics, new landscapes. The landscape can both absorb and redirect the alternating episodes of concentration and dispersal caused by the volatile movement of invest- ment capital and power through the creation of logical, systemic and

interdependent relationships.

Powerful tools for the 21st-century cities

And as a postscript, the catastrophes of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (2005) and the more recent rain-induced landslides in Rio de Janeiro's hillside favelas affirm the necessity to work with the logics of landscape and forces of nature as opposed to them. Landscape urbanism has a (re)newed urgency in light not only of the mantras of the day - sustain- ability and response to climate change - but also as evidence that hard engineering feats are not fool-proof and inappropriate urbanization has severe consequences. Landscape urbanism could be an urbanism strate- gy that gives voice to the restorative and resistive social and cultural for- mation of territories - and the evocative power of landscapes. Landscape urbanism can deal with sites too large and too complex for definitive, one- off solutions by engaging with the territory as an iterative process. By realizing a constructive interplay between ecological and urban strategies means can be found by which projects may create new systems of inter- connected networks that complement the existing structures. In a land- scape urbanism strategy, the site becomes the controlling instrument of the interface between culture and nature; site phenomena are generative

" I '" I s f ecolodevices for new forms and programs. Integrating tne prmcip e 0 - gy's positive feedback system results in landscape urbanism's appreciation of/working with larger regional scales (watersheds, ecosystems, infra-

I" hi fstructures, and settlement patterns). A dynamic interre ations ip 0 urban and rural works to create an urban countryside/rural metropolis. The form and character oflandscape urbanism strategies derive from the

social and cultural formation of the physical fabric. , ' " thi g other thanA descriptive landscape urbanism - once It ISsome in _

good, old-fashioned human geography that is not afraid to engage WIth material culture _ could evolve from the careful reading of layered con- tested territories and "designerly" investigation of potentials. The exist- ", " I di " hi t ' I layers and ad-hoc dailylUg lOgICSof landscapes - me u ing ItS IS onca

, , ' d t diff r t scales and connectedappropnations - could be reorgaruze a I e en , ' I ics f tl "[unkyard" of existingto new {infrajstructures. Specific OglCSrom re J

I d new i ti with structural capac-andscapes could be stressed an new mterven IOns ities could reformulate reality. Landscape urbanism strategies could be-

, ion b dia rent actors and withincome powerful tools for negotIatIOn etween irre the "contested territories" of 21st-century cities.

Havana, Cuba: the "Plan Pilote de la Habana" (1955-58) by Josep Lluls Sert

and Paul lester Weiner restructures the interplay of landscape, dty and infra-

structure in the Cuban capital.

73 72

Top: Major Andrew Ellicott's survey of Washington, DC: river, topography and L'Enfant's plan.

Bottom: In Islamabad, Pakistan, Constantinos A. Doxiadis created a "natural frame" in which

the new capital city was embedded.

homogenizing tendencies of built environments which, to a certain degree,

flatten-out cultures and places. To a large extent, landscape has come to the

fore as the savior of the professions of the built environment- acknowl-

edged for its capacity to (re)shapc urban space. Its forceful re-entry on the

design stage has also been underscored by the inability of the planning pro-

fession to convincingly deal with the fluid conditions of today's politics

and economies. The notion oflandscapes as process, active, dynamic, op-

erational systems dovetails into the need to manage complexity, to em-

brace change and to respond to evolving politics, global economies and a

more general degree of uncertainty. At the same time, landscape urban-

ism's unavoidable crossing of scales and disciplines places it more strate-

gically than Josep Lluis Sert's conception of urban design in the 1950s -al-

so arising at a moment of crisis in the design of the built environment.

Leaving the urban design discourses of/on Sert for what they are, and look-

ing at his practices as demonstrated in plans - Havana in Cuba, for exam-

ple - that travel between architecture, urban design and urban planning,

it becomes clear that Sert's approach, in a certain way, interwove a land-

scape layer within the existing urban environment.

However, the charm of landscape urbanism is also its pitfall. The dis-

course is riddled with in1precision, ambiguities and fashionable rhetoric.

The prevailing metaphorical use oflandscape and nature - as ever-chang-

ing, chaotic and indeterminate-plays eloquently into the hands of a post-

modernist approach, where hyper-design is disguised in non-design and

vice-versa. Both educators and practitioners have usurped a highly abstract

vocabulary of landscape and natural processes to function as a critique of

modernist planning. Yet, they are themselves obsessed by rhetoric of the

new and their designs indeed demand a high degree of control. Obvious-

ly, their work holds a hidden aesthetic agenda: the reinvention of the nat-

ural world has superseded the building of a mechanical world- which, in

fact, requires not less design, but more design.

The defining of and interest in landscape urbanism suffers from the

fact that it plays lip service to the notion of productivity and the habitu-

ated place of landscapes. Yet, on the whole, the experienced, phenome-

nological landscape figures much less in the writing and built projects

than one would expect. Instead, as evidenced by contemporary represen-

tation techniques, a picturesque, landscape beautiful approach remains

a hidden foundation upon which the discourse and projects are built -

despite claims to the contrary. The contemporary landscapes of necessi-

ty and survival are left out of the discourse. Landscapes at work and in-

frastructures of productivity are rapidly being transformed by the glob-

al restructuring process and innovations in technology, communication

and transport. Landscape urbanism holds the possibility to synthesize

landscape, architectural and urbanistic fields into a hybrid form of prac-

Detroit re-planning, US: Ludwig Hilberseimer's plans for Detroit utilized landscape and

infrastructure as the organizing elements of decentralized urbanism.

tice that may allow for the invention of new built fabrics, new landscapes.

The landscape can both absorb and redirect the alternating episodes of

concentration and dispersal caused by the volatile movement of invest-

ment capital and power through the creation of logical, systemic and

interdependent relationships.

Powerful tools for the 21st-century cities

And as a postscript, the catastrophes of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans

(2005) and the more recent rain-induced landslides in Rio de Janeiro's

hillside favelas affum the necessity to work with the logics of landscape

and forces of nature as opposed to them. Landscape urbanism has a

(re)newed urgency in light not only of the mantras of the day- sustain-

ability and response to climate change - but also as evidence that hard

engineering feats are not fool-proof and inappropriate urbanization has

severe consequences. Landscape urbanism could be an urbanism strate-

gy that gives voice to the restorative and resistive social and cultural for-

mation of territories - and the evocative power of landscapes. Landscape

urbanism can deal with sites too large and t~o complex for definitive, one-

off solutions by engaging with the territory as an iterative process. By

realizing a constructive interplay between ecological and urban strategies

means can be found by which projects may create new systems of inter-

connected networks that complement the existing structures. ln a land-

scape urbanism strategy, the site becomes the controlling instrument of

the interface between culture and nature; site phenomena are generative

devices for new forms and programs. Integrating the principles of ecolo-

gy's positive feedback system results in landscape urbanism's appreciation

of/working with larger regional scales (watersheds, ecosystems, infra- I . h' f structures, and settlement patterns). A dynamic interre auons ip o

urban and rural works to create an urban countryside/rural metropolis.

The form and character oflandscape urbanism strategies derive from the

social and cultural formation of the physical fabric. A descriptive landscape urbanism - once it is something other th_an

good, old-fashioned human geography that is not afraid to engage with

material culture - could evolve from the careful reading of layered con-

tested territories and "designerly" investigation of potentials. The exiSt -

ing logics of landscapes - including its historical layers and ad-hoc daily

appropriations - could be reorganized at different scales and connected . · J «· k d" f existing

to new (infra)structures. Specific logics from t 1e JUn yar 0

1 · t' with structural capac-andscapes could be stressed and new mterven 10ns

ities could reformulate reality. Landscape urbanism strategies coul~ b~-

come powerful tools for negotiation between different actors a11d wi th

lll

the "contested territories" of 21st-century cities.

\JU.\ Cl ,TR \I Dt·. LA 11 . .\Ur\'-IA

----.. :::;:::.:;:=--... _ .. ,--·- -

Havana, Cuba: the "Plan Piloto de la Habana" (1955-58) by Iosep Lluis Sert

and Paul Lester Weiner restructures the interplay of landscape, city and infra-

structure in the Cuban capital.