Landscape urbanism
Encyclopedia
Landscape Urbanism is a theory of urbanism arguing that landscape, rather than architecture, is more capable of organizing the city and enhancing the urban experience. Landscape Urbanism has emerged as a theory in the last fifteen years. Landscape Urbanism describes "the ability to produce urban effects traditionally achieved through the construction of buildings simply through the organization of horizontal surfaces." . The term, "Landscape Urbanism" was coined by architect and current Landscape Architecture chair of the GSD at Harvard
, Charles Waldheim, as a means of describing the recent emergence of landscape as a medium of urban order for the contemporary city http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/waldheim. "The origins of Landscape Urbanism can be traced to postmodern critiques of modernist architecture and planning."
Waldheim, has asserted "Landscape Urbanism was specifically meant to provide an intellectual and practical alternative to the hegemony of the New Urbanism
." http://www.planetizen.com/node/46262 Waldheim has taken what might be considered a fatalist view about American city planning stating "If you have a culture that is fundamentally automobile-based, then an urban model that is anti-automobile is counterintuitive at best. There’s a strange precept these days that asserts that people will abandon their cars if we simply build cities that don’t accommodate them".http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/02/02/the-rise-of-the-landscape-urbanists/ http://streetsense.squarespace.com/streettalk/2011/1/23/the-rise-of-landscape-urbanism.html Ecology is thus not as important as the liberty of personal transport and that cities and society are secondary to the liberties personal transport. Thus, he is not promoting integrated urbanism and public transport, or medium to high density living; this contradicts the notion of ecological design. The processes of landscape (i.e. time based development) are merely concepts to the landscape urbanist, not an ecological approach to development. There is, hence, reason to believe that this is an open affirmation to suburbanization – low density development. Charles Waldheim, James Corner
, Chris Reed, and Mohsen Mostafavi
are among the instructors, practitioners, and theorists who have been most responsible for articulating the terms of Landscape Urbanism, but the field is still at a point where architectural graphics take precedence over applied methodologies.
, James Corner
of James Corner/Field Operations, Alex Wall, and Adriaan Geuze of the firm West 8
, among others. The formative period of Landscape Urbanism can be traced back to University of Pennsylvania
in the late 1980s, at a time when James Corner, Mohsen Mostafavi, and others were exploring the artificial boundaries of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Architecture, searching for better ways to deal with complex urban projects. Charles Waldheim, Anu Mathur, Alan Berger, Chris Reed, amongst others, were students at the University of Pennsylvania
during this formative period for Landscape Urbanism. After the Chicago conference, European design schools and North American design institutions formed academic programs and began to formalize a field of Landscape Urbanism studies, including Oslo School of Architecture http://www.aho.no/en/aho/Institutes/Urbanism-and-landscape/, Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium http://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/syllabi/e/H02Q2AE.htm, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Toronto
, Harvard Graduate School of Design
, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://web.mit.edu/landscapeurbanism/. In 2000 the London's Architectural Association developed its own Landscape Urbanism program under the direction of Ciro Najle and chairman at the time Mohsen Mostafavi. This was marked by the 2003 publication of the book "Landscape Urbanism: A Manual for the Machinic Landscape" a year before chairman Mostafavi left the AA.
Harvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a graduate school at Harvard University offering degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design.-History:...
, Charles Waldheim, as a means of describing the recent emergence of landscape as a medium of urban order for the contemporary city http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/people/faculty/waldheim. "The origins of Landscape Urbanism can be traced to postmodern critiques of modernist architecture and planning."
Waldheim, has asserted "Landscape Urbanism was specifically meant to provide an intellectual and practical alternative to the hegemony of the New Urbanism
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
." http://www.planetizen.com/node/46262 Waldheim has taken what might be considered a fatalist view about American city planning stating "If you have a culture that is fundamentally automobile-based, then an urban model that is anti-automobile is counterintuitive at best. There’s a strange precept these days that asserts that people will abandon their cars if we simply build cities that don’t accommodate them".http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2011/02/02/the-rise-of-the-landscape-urbanists/ http://streetsense.squarespace.com/streettalk/2011/1/23/the-rise-of-landscape-urbanism.html Ecology is thus not as important as the liberty of personal transport and that cities and society are secondary to the liberties personal transport. Thus, he is not promoting integrated urbanism and public transport, or medium to high density living; this contradicts the notion of ecological design. The processes of landscape (i.e. time based development) are merely concepts to the landscape urbanist, not an ecological approach to development. There is, hence, reason to believe that this is an open affirmation to suburbanization – low density development. Charles Waldheim, James Corner
James Corner
James Corner is a Landscape Architect and theorist with numerous works to his credit which explore the contemporary meaning of architectural landscaping, with a focus on "developing innovative approaches toward landscape architectural design and urbanism." His designs of note include Fresh Kills...
, Chris Reed, and Mohsen Mostafavi
Mohsen Mostafavi
Mohsen Mostafavi is an Iranian-American architect and educator. He currently the Dean and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He was formerly the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University...
are among the instructors, practitioners, and theorists who have been most responsible for articulating the terms of Landscape Urbanism, but the field is still at a point where architectural graphics take precedence over applied methodologies.
History
The first event was the Landscape Urbanism conference sponsored by the Graham Foundation in Chicago in April 1997. Speakers included Charles Waldheim, Mohsen MostafaviMohsen Mostafavi
Mohsen Mostafavi is an Iranian-American architect and educator. He currently the Dean and Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He was formerly the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University...
, James Corner
James Corner
James Corner is a Landscape Architect and theorist with numerous works to his credit which explore the contemporary meaning of architectural landscaping, with a focus on "developing innovative approaches toward landscape architectural design and urbanism." His designs of note include Fresh Kills...
of James Corner/Field Operations, Alex Wall, and Adriaan Geuze of the firm West 8
West 8
West 8 is an urban planning and landscape architecture firm founded by Adrian Geuze in the Netherlands. It is known for its contemporary designs and innovative solutions to urban planning problems using lighting, metal structures, and color....
, among others. The formative period of Landscape Urbanism can be traced back to University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in the late 1980s, at a time when James Corner, Mohsen Mostafavi, and others were exploring the artificial boundaries of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Architecture, searching for better ways to deal with complex urban projects. Charles Waldheim, Anu Mathur, Alan Berger, Chris Reed, amongst others, were students at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
during this formative period for Landscape Urbanism. After the Chicago conference, European design schools and North American design institutions formed academic programs and began to formalize a field of Landscape Urbanism studies, including Oslo School of Architecture http://www.aho.no/en/aho/Institutes/Urbanism-and-landscape/, Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium http://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/syllabi/e/H02Q2AE.htm, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Harvard Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design is a graduate school at Harvard University offering degrees in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design.-History:...
, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
http://web.mit.edu/landscapeurbanism/. In 2000 the London's Architectural Association developed its own Landscape Urbanism program under the direction of Ciro Najle and chairman at the time Mohsen Mostafavi. This was marked by the 2003 publication of the book "Landscape Urbanism: A Manual for the Machinic Landscape" a year before chairman Mostafavi left the AA.
Themes
James Corner, in an essay entitled "Terra Fluxus," describes the main qualities of Landscape Urbanism in abstract rather than practical terms, lending the genre to speculation rather than practice:- Process in time: urbanization is a dynamic process characterized more by terms like fluidityFluidityFluidity may refer toIn science*reciprocal of viscosity*Cognitive fluidity*Membrane fluidity*Sexual fluidityOthers*Fluidity *Dark Fluidity – a literature magazine*Empire Fane ship...
, spontaneous feedbackFeedbackFeedback describes the situation when output from an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or...
, and non-linearity, than stability, predictability, or rationality. EcologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and systems theorySystems theorySystems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
are concepts inherent to the city. Apart from a unique set of lingo, this idea of 'process in time' affirms to idea of phased construction projects.It is hardly an innovative concept as architectural, landscape or urbanist projects often use multiple phases of construction.
- Surface, not form: horizontality and decentralization in places like Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Atlanta, Houston, San JoseSan Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, and the suburban and exurban fringes of most American cites is the supermajority of the American urban condition. As many theories of urbanism attempt to ignore this fact or retrofit it to new urbanismNew urbanismNew Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
, Landscape Urbanism attempts to understand it and find solutions for it. Landscape Urbanism uses 'territories' and 'potential' as well as 'program' to define strategies; it finds thinking in terms of adaptable 'systems' instead of rigid 'structures' as a better way to organize physical improvements. This lingo affirms nothing more than the death of the defined space of the city. Landscape Urbanism therefore affirms low densities and uburbanisation in American planning. These concepts systematically ignore landscape urbanism outside of America, where cities are still developing within the limits of city as defined by urban planners.
- Form: This concept negates the idea of 'plan' in preference of flexibility, or the organic nature of city development. The idea is the effect of the theories of Colin Rowe and Aldo Rossi affirming that different portions of cities should develop relative to their own set of criteria.
Projects
- Fresh Kills Landfill Competition, Field Operations/James CornerJames CornerJames Corner is a Landscape Architect and theorist with numerous works to his credit which explore the contemporary meaning of architectural landscaping, with a focus on "developing innovative approaches toward landscape architectural design and urbanism." His designs of note include Fresh Kills...
http://www.fieldoperations.net/ - The High Line, Field Operations/James CornerJames CornerJames Corner is a Landscape Architect and theorist with numerous works to his credit which explore the contemporary meaning of architectural landscaping, with a focus on "developing innovative approaches toward landscape architectural design and urbanism." His designs of note include Fresh Kills...
- Downsview Park Competition, all finalist entries http://www.pdp.ca/The_Finalists.416.0.html
- Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, West 8West 8West 8 is an urban planning and landscape architecture firm founded by Adrian Geuze in the Netherlands. It is known for its contemporary designs and innovative solutions to urban planning problems using lighting, metal structures, and color....
/Adriaan Geuze - Also see projects by Stoss/Chris Reed http://www.stoss.net/
See also
- Landscape architectureLandscape architectureLandscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
- Ecological UrbanismEcological urbanismThe ecological urbanism project draws from ecology to inspire an urbanism that is more socially inclusive and sensitive to the environment, as well as less ideologically driven, than conventional “green” or sustainable urbanism...
- Urban designUrban designUrban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has...
- Urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....