“Landscape Prompts” Awaiting Attendance: Uncovering the Persistent Factors That Shape the Drowned Lands

The Black Dirt Region in the State of New York has been well-known for the unique taste of its onions, which is attributed to the organic matter that weighs over 80% in the soil. In recent years, however, the rigid economic pattern restrains the development of this area. In the meantime, local agricultural production is more and more vulnerable to flooding. When this region is labeled as “highly productive of crops,” the persistent factors that have been shaping the black-dirt landscape are omitted. The other name of the place, “the Drowned Lands,” may better capture its entangled relationship with water. In this article, hydrogeological dynamics and human desire are regarded as the factors that sustain landscape continuity and stability. Based on the research on historical sedimentation in the Drowned Lands, this article attempts to delineate a local scenario of covert landscape evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum. The proposal initiates a composite pathway of ecological functions and touristic values in the agricultural region. Within a series of “landscape prompts,” a lesser-known tale of local geology and prehistoric culture is told. Through design interventions, alternative possibilities of rural landscape are tested, embedded meaning of the agricultural land becomes tangible, and a more adaptive human–land relationship is restored.     

机场一种文化景观?

在20世纪,机场已被理解和设计为一种文化景观和独特环境。尽管机场在其演化过程中被各种批评家、建筑师和哲学家描述为是一种反景观,过时的"非场所"和反乌托邦,但总体上对机场和航空的理解已经与景观、环境、生态的概念紧密地交织在一起。机场被认为是一种文化景观和一种脆弱的容易被破坏的环境,这种观点引发且起因于对机场特定地点的景观设计,对野生动物的管理实践,在机场设计中纳入历史遗迹、以及以废旧机场的适应性再利用为目的的飞机跑道和其他特征的保护。尽管很多设计师把机场构想为新的标志性的高科技文化景观,其他设计师则认为机场破坏了现有的文化景观。机场作为文化景观的理念也因此总是与其周围的社会、经济和政治密切相关。这篇文章把机场作为景观的思想,融入到文化景观自身概念的变化解释中,这种理念在动力飞行诞生的那几年中,第一次在英美世界得到更广泛和准确的运用。     

儿童友好型城市建设背景下景观设计师的职责和角色转变

More than 20 years have passed since the launch of the Child Friendly Cities Initiative. However, relevant practices in China are still insufficient and laggard. This article concludes two reasons: 1) children participation in the design process is far insufficient and results in the failure of the expression of core users’ demands; and 2) landscape architects less think of the holism of such children spaces at a city scale with considerations on city’s cultural identity and societal backdrops, and also ignore the influence of such places on children’s development. With these problems in mind, this article proposes that landscape architects can draw inspiration from the Ecological Systems Theory and Public Participation Theory, actively expanding their responsibilities in the establishment of Child Friendly City. Following that, three international case studies, namely Growing Up Boulder Initiative, Play and Informal Recreation Strategy of London, and Green Schoolyard America, are introduced to demonstrate that landscape architects should not just design proposals, but act as coordinators among different parties and leaders of innovative urban space renovation. As the integrator of the urban spatial framework, landscape architects should go beyond the design of individual playgrounds and focus on improving community environment and the spatial pattern of the whole city, in order to protect child rights and to realize integration and improvement of urban spaces.     

“MORE BUZZWORDS THAN ANSWERS” — TO SIDEWALK LABS IN TORONTO

Many articles have appeared in mainstream media and in techoriented venues about Sidewalk Labs’ ideas for a new hightech neighbourhood in Toronto (a project named Sidewalk Toronto). By and large, international commentary has focused on the opportunities and risks of giving over control over many city planning decisions to a private data-oriented corporation, with people lining up for or against “smart city” ideas, in general. This article will set aside generalities about “smart cities” and technology, and instead pose a few questions about the particulars of Sidewalk Toronto project. The first question concerns the striking lack of transparency of the agreement between Sidewalk Labs (a Google sister company) and Waterfront Toronto, the public authority promoting the project, which is not directly accountable to the city or the citizens. The second question concerns the equally striking ambiguity about which parcel of land is being sought by Sidewalk Labs — an ambiguity that suggests a worrying lack of concern, on the tech company’s part, about both local planning law and local real estate realities. The third set of concerns is about the ownership of the data that appears to be Sidewalk Labs’ real interest. Fourthly, problems in the contract award and procurement mechanisms will be raised. Finally, even though the agreement has not yet been seen even by city council, the process so far and the statements by both parties raise serious concerns about accountability, the fifth point raised in this article.     

The Tree at the Center of Collapse: ‘Ōhi‘a Lehua and Hawaii’s Future

Hawaii is on the threshold of collapse. Over a century of American colonization and exploitation of the islands and their people has resulted in the island chain facing critical environmental and cultural catastrophe. This article examines the emergence of Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death as a critical aeolian pathogen capable of wiping out the most culturally and ecologically significant species representing over 50% of Hawaii’s forests. Plantation histories are unpacked as foundational tools which directly led to deep alteration to the cultural fabric and landscape of the islands, accelerating the complex issues faced by Hawaii and Hawaiians today. This crisis offers landscape architects and the design professions grounds for a new methodology to approach both ecological and cultural issues as one to tackle the issues stemming from ongoing climate change. Furthermore, the article underscores the need to rethink the American fetishization of the Hawaiian Islands and look instead to how land stewardship and landscape practices can facilitate a self-determinant, equitable, and resilient future.     

Development trend of urban design in “digital age”: Pan-dimensionality and individual-ubiquity

The wave of “digital age” featuring digital information is coming. Digital technology is profoundly changing the societal development direction and evolution paths. It also has significant bearing on production modes, social interactions and lifestyles. With regard to urban design, a system of knowledge about the creation and adaptation of material space forms that integrate humanities, art, technology and materials, digital technology has provided it with a brand-new and revolutionary scientific impetus for its evolution. The result of this evolution is “digital urban design paradigm based on human-computer interaction”, i.e., the urban development is moving toward “pan-dimensionality” and “individual ubiquity”. The future of urban design will construct a new approach to urban research and engineering, which is more complex, capable of accommodating and compatible with multiple goals of “instrumental rationality” and “value rationality”. Such a new approach shall be led by the probabilistic theory of “gray scale thinking”, reflecting quaternary synergetic view of “scientific rationality, ecological rationality, cultural rationality and technical rationality” to realize the cognitive progress of “engineering for the benefit of mankind”.     

Provincializing Transnational Landscape

Provincializing transnational landscape is attracting increasing attention from international academia with the rise of transnational landscape practice and the shift of the academic research paradigm. It calls for us to move beyond the national political, economic, social, and cultural boundaries to examine the provincialization mechanisms, processes, and influence of transnational landscape activities. It is particularly important for China to explore the provincializing transnational landscape. It will contribute to examining China’s historical local-global interactions over the landscape, and providing a lens of „the Other” to study the regional landscape characteristics in China. Significantly, it will not only deepen the understanding of the development of the research on landscape, cultural, and communication histories in China and beyond, but also promote China’s transnational economic cooperation frameworks, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, to better tell China’s story and let the world better understand China.     

Influence of Built Heritage on Sustainable Development of Landscape

The concept of sustainable development has influenced the evolution of many scientific and practical activities. An application of this concept to landscape, as a product and a field of interaction of human and natural processes, is possible and necessary. It is evident that concepts of landscape and cultural heritage are closely interrelated: cultural heritage can obviously exist in a landscape and influence it as well as landscape can be treated as cultural heritage. The interrelationship between these concepts makes possible the search for links between cultural heritage and sustainable development of landscape. Built heritage, the abundant category of cultural heritage encompassing historic buildings, their ensembles, and other structures, has an indisputable influence on landscapes and is crucial for their sustainable development. In order to determine the influence of built heritage on sustainable development of landscape, four main dimensions of sustainability representing the integration of human and natural processes (i.e. cultural, economic, environmental, and social) are distinguished and analysed in this paper.     

Spatial Potential of Recreational Services in Western Hubei Region in Light of the “All-for-One Tourism” Development—A Machine Learning Approach Based on Ensemble Model

Under the call for “all-for-one tourism” development, the focus of regional-scale recreational services is shifting from the construction of individual scenic spots and tourist areas towards the comprehensive planning of tourist destinations, so as to propel China’s rural revitalization and regional coordinated development. In research and practice, however, it is still challenging to identity and evaluate spatial locations for developing tourism according their cultural and environmental resource and characteristics and prioritizing the high-potential ones. Employing the whole western Hubei region as a case study, this paper proposes a method of assessing recreation potential within the research framework on cultural ecosystem services, and uses multi-sourced social-ecological data to develop an SDM model via ensemble machine learning. Through analyses of the environmental features of 336 recreational hotspots in the study area, the model predicts the areas with high recreation potential in continuous areas. This study intends to establish a technique path to examine the regional-scale pattern of recreational spaces via numerical analysis of environmental features, and to provide a reference for relevant spatial development strategies of all-for-one tourism and rural revitalization.     

New challenges in the field of spatial planning: landscapes

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) highlights the landscape as an holistic concept, which is important for individual and social well being and for quality of life. Landscape questions tend today to fall between the responsibilities of different sectors of society. The implications of the Convention for giving 'landscape' a higher status in spatial planning are discussed. Important challenges for planning that need to be focused from a landscape approach are discussed: the growing urbanization; the development and new roles of the urban fringe areas; new infrastructure landscapes; the mental landscapes of tomorrow; an holistic approach to landscape ecological planning and environmental policies and the need for co-ordination of European planning issues that concern landscapes. Planning for good landscape qualities is not a new issue; many landscape architects and landscape planners have worked in the spirit of the ELC for decades. The importance of educating landscape architects and planners with an holistic approach is particularly addressed. Efforts for a more integrated landscape education, such as the European network LE:NOTRE, already exist and contribute to the implementation of the ELC.     

New challenges in the field of spatial planning: landscapes

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) highlights the landscape as an holistic concept, which is important for individual and social well being and for quality of life. Landscape questions tend today to fall between the responsibilities of different sectors of society. The implications of the Convention for giving ‘landscape’ a higher status in spatial planning are discussed. Important challenges for planning that need to be focused from a landscape approach are discussed: the growing urbanization; the development and new roles of the urban fringe areas; new infrastructure landscapes; the mental landscapes of tomorrow; an holistic approach to landscape ecological planning and environmental policies and the need for co‐ordination of European planning issues that concern landscapes. Planning for good landscape qualities is not a new issue; many landscape architects and landscape planners have worked in the spirit of the ELC for decades. The importance of educating landscape architects and planners with an holistic approach is particularly addressed. Efforts for a more integrated landscape education, such as the European network LE:NOTRE, already exist and contribute to the implementation of the ELC.     

Terrain-Specific: Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Canada

The Canadian landscape has typically captured a global imaginary of a pristine wild, but how might its urban designed landscapes be distinctly understood? Foregrounded by the landscape transformations accelerated by climate change, the book Innate Terrain: Canadian Landscape Architecture, edited by Professor Alissa North from the University of Toronto, highlights landscape architecture projects situated on the unique Canadian terrain. Providing further provocation on Canadian landscape architecture, Innate Terrain seeks to fill the literary gap on contemporary landscape perspectives, distinguishing Canadian landscape architecture from global practice, and particularly, its well-documented American counterpart. Landscape architecture in the Canadian context has evolved and established its own distinct identity, one imbued with national and local sensitivities. Informed by diverse environmental and cultural contexts, Canadian-designed landscapes reflect and refer to the prevailing ecosystems of Canada’s innate terrain. Contrary to the preceding International Style, landscape architecture projects in Canada have adopted the ethos of Critical Regionalism in the second half of the 20th century. Contemporary Canadian practitioners are designing landscapes that are deeply informed by their surrounding geographical context while emphasizing cultural specificity. Central to this cultural specificity, addressed by a new generation of landscape architects, is the increasing recognition of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge within the discipline. Canadian landscape architects have collaborated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, including the keepers of this knowledge, to develop land management strategies and design landscape interventions.     

后现代主义与我国城市景观建设

通过分析后现代主义思潮对全球景观设计的影响,论述了我国当代城市景观建设的后现代主义表现,指出了景观设计师应明白自己所处的时代文化背景,懂得用自己的方法解决自己遇到的困惑,并行之有效的创造出适合为中国人民服务的城市景观.     

ON THE “TRIO” OF BEAUTIFUL CITIES

Urban quality improvement and the construction and management of high-quality beautiful cities have been considered a prioritized initiative across China. Beautiful cities are built on the harmony and symbiosis between human and the nature. This only route to sustainable development consists of three dimensions: 1) the deep structure of the beautiful city, i.e. a good site selection that realizes an interwoven pattern between urban matrix and natural ecological network, which could be reflected in spatial configurations of both “the city in nature” and “the nature in the city”; 2) the deep appearance and style of the beautiful city, deriving from the natural topography, process, and climatic conditions to guarantee the ecological adaptation to the nature; and 3) the green lifestyle of the beautiful city, which guides citizens to green living, green traveling, and green consumption so as to reserve sufficient development space for generations. This is the “trio” of beautiful cities. Drawing lessons from the conflicts with the nature in the past civilizations, the ecological civilization is the only way to achieve the human-nature harmony.     

地域性景观的风景园林学实践——以岳阳尚书坊规划设计为例

在研究地域性景观的概念及特点的基础上,以岳阳尚书坊规划设计为例,着重介绍了地域性景观特色塑造的过程和方法。在规划设计中,通过研究岳阳自身的地域环境如区位特点、尚书文化、自然资源等,基于中国古代山水骨架的塑造传统以及规划定位和自然资源基础上的地域特色景观挖掘与提炼,将场地独特的地形地貌、地理位置、文化精神、历史传说、功能定位等融八设计方案中,营造了自然景观与历史文脉融合的地域性景观。     

繁华过后的宁静——理查德·哈格和罗伯特·史密森在后工业化时期的景观思想

本文介绍了在美国1950年代后期进入后工业时代的背景下,成长起来的两位著名景观建筑师理查德·哈格和罗伯特·史密森。通过分析当时的社会环境、对比研究他们的教育背景和代表作品,总结出两位大师以自然、生态、平衡为出发点的主要景观思想,以助于我们更好地把握后工业时代的景观设计要点。     

AN EVIDENCE-BASED METHODOLOGY FOR LANDSCAPE DESIGN

As a design method supported by scientific knowledge and findings, evidence-based design now is widely applied in the field of architectural and landscape design. This design process makes architects and landscape designers’ decisions about built environment sound and reliable. Combining two practice cases — the Urban Ecological Corridor Planning of College Station of Texas, a regional planning project, and Landscape Design of the Yangpu Bridge Park in Shanghai, an urban public space project — this article illustrates the concept and process of key issue identification and response, a pivotal step in evidence-based design, and points out the challenges in related applications of this method.     

ORIENTED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEACHING—THE CAUP SPECIAL PROGRAM “HOME ABOVE MARKET” AT TONGJI UNIVERSITY

This interview centers in an architectural design program titled “Home Above Market,” which is one of the special programs of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University for junior experimental classes since 2012. As an innovative teaching practice that combines multiple specialties and spans a long-time period, this program reflects and accumulates its knowledge and experience through a documentary book series. Wang Fangji, the interviewee, is the teaching director of the Home Above Market program and the leading author of the book series, who also enjoys a high reputation in China’s architectural design education. He points out that this program aims at encouraging students to observe and care about ordinary urban and social environment that is often neglected in current architectural education. He further argues that problem-finding and-addressing capability training is important to architectural students, which would help stimulate a more vibrant exploration of China’s urban architecture.     

Ethics-Based Stewardship Practices and the Stewards—Case Studies on Public Landscape Stewardship From North Carolina,USA

The persistence of public landscapes is a critical approach to community resilience and sustainability. But in China’s landscape architectural field, it is neglected in both planning and design, and post-occupancy operations and maintenance. With the case studies of three public landscape sites in North Carolina, the United States this article introduces the concept of stewardship, and outlines the contemporary public landscape stewardship practice as management efforts predominantly driven by the landscape architect’s long-term duty and proactive care to create a sustainable landscape for the site. This article emphasizes that the essence of stewarding public landscapes lies in the ethics—the attachments to and the responsibilities and care of the land and the landscape; and modesty, discernment, and enthusiasm when facing the ever-changing socio-ecological systems—and the outcome of public landscape stewardship typically takes the form of developing and implementing new and futureoriented master plans for the sites. This article also summarizes a set of site-based principles and approaches to public landscape stewardship. Finally, based on the discussion about the case studies, this study points out the practical implications of public landscape stewardship for Chinese cities which are progressively entering into an era of inventory development. Recommendations for its application to the Chinese landscape architectural profession are further addressed.