Invoking the Wild

Wild places remind us of the adaptability, resilience, and fragility of plants and humans alike. The urban environment is awash in plant life, often taking root in remnants of industrial infrastructure in poetic ways—along roadsides and chain-link fences, between cracks of pavement, and within vacant lots, rubble dumps, and highway medians. Future Green Studio’s investigations into spontaneous urban plants have aspired to engage people with their neighborhood environments—streets, walls, lots, and tree pits—through a series of walks, talks, citizen science participation, and the publication of a book, SUP: Weeds in NYC. This work continues to feed planting concepts behind many of the studio’s designed landscapes, which seek to capture the rugged vision of urban wilderness. Species for the studio’s projects are selected for their ability to tolerate the proposed habitats created on sites and are often drawn from local plant communities, such as oak barrens and shrublands; the plants and ecologies of project sites are a frequent source of inspiration. The studio does not see uncultivated plant growth as the specter of disinvestment, but as an asset to the performance, health, and well-being of its inhabitants, human or otherwise, which demonstrates the ability of the city to support the evolving ecologies of the future.     

Best of Both Worlds: Lamenting Our Path to the Future

After a period of decline, the Alpine valley of Andermatt in Switzerland is undergoing major development as a holiday resort by an Egyptian real estate billionaire. A documentary film on the process, by a young Swiss filmmaker, highlights the ambivalent relationship between global corporatist efforts to ‘rescue’ struggling rural areas, and the local communities concerned. Stephan Petermann , who is researching the future of the countryside for architect Rem Koolhaas's think tank AMO, gives an account of it.     

中国城市老旧社区非正式绿地改造及其公众感知研究

Existing large-scale urban green spaces in a low distribution density can hardly meet citizens’ diverse and growing needs for convenient access and sharing modes, especially to those living in old communities. Compared with formal green spaces, informal green space (IGS) is a new urban green infrastructure contributing to the city’s coconstruction, co-governance, and co-sharing. This study was conducted based on a typical old residential community in the historic city center of Beijing, namely Beitaipingzhuang Neighborhood, acquired residents’ opinions, evaluation, and willing to participate in IGS governance, and investigated their preference of IGS renovation, activity, and the positive / negative perception of IGS scenarios through virtual renovation proposals upon the real scenes. According to the survey result, most residents have been aware of the existing IGS in communities as well as the advantages and disadvantages, and shown their support to IGS cogovernance; residents’ preference of IGS renovation scenarios is significantly affected by environmental factors—residents prefer the green spaces with a higher plant richness, a larger crown size, and a more complete leisure facility system. Therefore, residents’ positive perception can be enhanced through enriching plant species, adjusting green space ratio, and introducing proper planting patterns and facility types. Finally, the authors put forward several research interests for following up so as to provide targeted guidelines for the optimization of urban living environment.     

More than just a plant: cushion plants as biodiversity protectors in high mountains of Siberia

The Siberian cushion plants have been little studied. This research aimed to reveal their morphological and ecological features as enabling them to survive and to protect biodiversity in a changing environment. The research was conducted in the Altai Mountains, Russia, at 1750–4000 m a.s.l. The temperature of cushion plants, the surrounding air and soil were studied. Substrate samples from cushions and topsoil were taken and analysed. Indices of hydrolytic acidity, loss on ignition and percentage of humus, phosphorus and nitrogen were taken into account in soil analysis. Bryophytes and vascular plants inhabiting cushions were studied. Fifty-four cushion plant species were classified into six morphological types based on the cushion skeleton construction and divided into ‘obligate’ and ‘facultative’ cushion plants. The temperature inside the cushions is much more stable, than that of their environment. Accumulation of organic matter within the cushions and in the sphere of their vital functions represents a process of local primary soil formation and makes cushion plant communities indifferent to the ground quality. The functional features of the cushion plants allow them to occupy high-mountain habitats and to be the centres of communities including other plants and animals, which can be found in an extreme environment only within or near the cushions, increasing the biological diversity of the alpine mountain zone.     

基于高山生境特征的岩石园植物造景设计研究

以解决岩石园"如何设计""为何设计"的问题入手,通过分析国内外知名岩石园,从而得到当前岩石园规划设计依据的类型,确定以高山生境特征作为设计依据。但高山生境在城市中无法完全复制,因此仅以模仿其景观风貌特点作为设计依据。以中国高山生境为例,通过对生长的高山植被景观风貌进行提炼,得到高山植被外观风貌构建模式图;结合外观风貌特点,提取高山植被景观元素特点和设计要点,通过植物种类替换,构建出岩石园基于高山生境特征的植物造景设计模式。     

Cryopetrophyte communities of the West Sayan Ridge

Abstract

The paper presents research in eco-coenotic features of cryopetrophyte communities of the Osevoi Ridge in the Western Sayan Mts. All communities studied are in the association Saxifrago oppositifoliae–Rhodioletum quadrifidae. This association includes all communities with a predominance of alpine and arctalpine petrophytes, which are largely facultative and obligate calciphile plants. The coenoflora of the association Saxifrago oppositifoliae–Rhodioletum quadrifidae is represented by 54 species of higher vascular plants. The dominant species in its structure are those of Holarctic distribution and species generally confined to the Altai-Sayan mountain region, with Papaver pseudocanescens, Poa smirnowii, Sajanella monstrosa, Saussurea foliosa and Saxifraga melaleuca being endemics. In the structure of the belt-zonal groups, arctalpine and alpine species dominate. Among ecological groups, obligate and facultative petrophytes, generally cryophytes, are dominant. The predominance of some particular belt-zonal and ecological groups of species indicates greater specificity of the environmental conditions in which the communities were formed and are currently being formed.     

Ecological Planting Imperative: Functional Systems,Not Stylized Ecologies

The ability of landscape architectural projects to mitigate the worst effects of climate change will depend upon designed ecological systems. These systems will be built with plants. Despite the recognition of ecology as an essential driver of landscapes, the professionals of landscape architecture too often lack the knowledge and practical skills to create robust vegetative systems. New approaches and tools are required. This article outlines principles and methods for designing biodiverse plant systems for urban sites. Planting methods that increase species richness, functional diversity, and spatial complexity are emphasized as a way of developing more resilient plantings. Selecting species with similar evolutionary adaptions to stress, disturbance, and competition—as well as creating multi-layered compositions of diverse plant morphologies—allows designers to create compatible, long-lived plant mixes. To balance the increased visual complexity of diverse plant mixes, the article explores design techniques to make plantings more appealing to the public. The strategies explored here are based on the projects, experience, and research of Phyto Studio, a Washington, D.C. based studio. The methods build on work described in the author’s book, Planting in a Post-Wild World, an exploration of how to create designed plant communities.     

Main sources of indoor radon in the swiss central Alps

To estimate the amount of radon gas transferred from the water to the indoor atmosphere of dwellings in the Swiss Central Alps, the radon concentrations of tap water of about 50 public water supplies were analysed. The radon levels of water in alpine communities fit a lognormal distribution with a geometric mean of 26.5 bq/1 and a geometric standard deviation of 3.15.Radon monitoring in typical homes in the Swiss Midland revealed a significant influence of wind velocity and temperature difference indoor/outdoor on the indoor radon-daughter levels during the winter period.     

DESIGNING ECOLOGIES FOR RESILIENT URBANISMS

This article encapsulates the recent work of OSA, a practice-based urbanism situated in an academic environment (KU Leuven, Belgium). In the contemporary era of increased social, ecological, and spatial injustices, OSA’s work attempts to create resilient urbanisms through designing robust ecologies. Its worldwide sites of research and interventions are primarily addressed through three themes: water urbanisms, forest urbanisms, and creating new social ecologies as resistance. The first part of the article provides an overview of the ambitions of OSA with a number of examples. The second component consists of four excerpts of recent and on-going design research.     

Local Design Responding to Urban Problems— The Metro-Forest Project,Bangkok

To respond to the urban problems and to increase forest areas in the city, an urban forest reflecting Bangkok’s former landscape was designed and constructed. To create diverse forest ecology and stimulate plant growth, Miyawaki’s ecological method to reforestation was implemented, and local tree species were used for pioneer planting as they had once established territorial populations around Bangkok. The layout of the species was carefully grouped, and planting locations were also carefully selected. The skywalk and observation tower were designed to minimize disturbance of the burgeoning forest and allow close-up views of the maturing canopy. This project is distinguished by strong design gestures that are well integrated into the landscape by using Bangkok’s design language, creating a space truly to inspire public awareness of urban forestry and the importance of environmental stewardship in Thailand.     

边境棕地: 后工业及后冲突棕地景观

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) landscape between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea is currently the most dangerous and heavily fortified territory in the world and has produced a series of continuously linked brownfield lands on a divided Korean Peninsula through the continued intense presence of military troops and equipment, a significant amount of defense infrastructure, and pollutant buildup over the last seventy years. The political and social reunification of the two Koreas may occur in the coming years and any work in the future to address the landscape of a unified peninsula would be required to carry out in the DMZ. The work includes a complete characterization of the land area and water bodies and the existing military infrastructure and abandoned equipment, with the proposed remediation of soils, groundwater, and drainage systems as well as the concerns of brownfield land reuse, adding new industrial manufacturing to the area, the increase of tourism into the region, and the development of both traditional and new forms of regional energy generation. The brownfields in the DMZ can be considered an extreme version of the more conventional post-industrial sites that are addressed in other urban or ex-urban venues through the methods and conventions of brownfield regeneration. Or indeed it may become a new type of brownfield site — the “brownfield border” — with its own characterization, on-site pollutants, and methods to address its ongoing remediation and reuse programs. The intention of this paper is to examine the DMZ through a recent academic study carried out through a graduate design studio at Harvard University focused on the outcomes of unification on the Korean peninsula, the remediation of border landscapes as a new type of brownfield practice, and potential planning and design of alternative futures.     

Capturing Land Value Increment to Finance Infrastructure Investment—Possibilities for South Africa

In the globalisation age, cities are the drivers of economic growth. However, sustainable economic growth demands considerable investment in infrastructure. South African cities face a triple challenge of eradicating historical infrastructure backlogs inherited from the Apartheid era, servicing and maintaining existing infrastructure and providing new infrastructure to stimulate economic growth. In the South African context, the provision of municipal infrastructure plays a critical role in eradicating sociospatial inequalities as part of an overall poverty reduction strategy. This places a huge burden on local governments in South Africa in particular as they face capacity constraints and challenges in terms of raising sufficient own revenue in order to finance infrastructure projects. This paper argues that in light of the South African government’s current infrastructure drive and the significant amount of public resources being spent on transport infrastructure upgrades, it is an opportune time to consider the impact of transport infrastructure investment in particular on land value and how this value can be captured to finance the provision of infrastructure at local level. The paper cautions though that any programme aimed at capturing betterment needs to be based on sound research and needs to take cognisance of the legislative, policy and economic context in South Africa.     

运用社交媒体探索 基于自然解决方案中的 生态系统服务感知

Natural wetlands play a vital role in maintaining regional water balance, regulating regional climate, and maintaining biodiversity. Due to urban sprawl in China, the loss of natural wetlands has been dramatic. In recent years, nature-based solutions, including wetland parks, have been advocated to compensate for this loss and to reduce vulnerability and disaster risks. As a result, inspired by natural wetlands or building on existing wetland ecosystems, hundreds of wetland parks have been created in China over the last decade. Most research on ecosystem services of wetland parks has to date focused on technical perspectives, with only a few addressing public perception; the public’s perception of wetland parks is not well understood. This research used social media (i.e. Sina Weibo) to access large volumes of data and provide temporal and geographic granularity. A semantic analysis of microblogs was performed to understand how the public perceives the ecosystem services of wetland parks in Guangzhou. This study explored the public’s perceptions and compared these with the ecosystem services as communicated by professional institutions, and probed into the factors that affect these perceptions. The results showed that the top three ecosystem services perceived by both the general public and communicated by institutions are recreation, aesthetics, and refugia / habitat. There is a strong interconnection between the perceptions of recreation and aesthetics services. Flowering plant species and colored-leaf trees are the most important stimuli affecting perceptions of aesthetics services, and birds are key to the perception of refugia / habitat services. These results provide a basis for better aligning management of projects utilizing naturebased solutions, such as wetland parks, with expectations from the public.     

Urban vegetation of Almería City—a contribution to urban ecology in Spain

In this paper, we analyzed the vegetation of the city of Almería (southeast of Spain) using numerical methods. We distinguished 16 communities. Although most of them had an eminent ruderal character, some phytocoenoses were typical from non-disturbed environments. These communities can be distinguished not only by means of the dominant species, but also by the abundance of different biological forms. Thus, they can be grouped into six phytosociological classes. It was not found that diversity and coverage values were related to the features of the different habitats, but woody and herbaceous communities tended to occupy different types of biotopes. From the ecological point of view, the communities can be included into five groups, the floristic composition of which is related to the frequency of disturbance events as well as to the water availability of soils. According to the species composition and to the ecological significance of the communities detected, the city can be subdivided into three zones. These areas match the three historical phases of the city development. Finally, the possible implications of the results obtained are discussed in the context of urban planning and development, taking into consideration the conservation of valuable rare species and plant communities.     

Planning,Funding and Delivering Social Infrastructure in Australia’s Outer Suburban Growth Areas

The long-term success of Australia’s rapidly growing outer-suburban communities depends to a large extent on the presence of social infrastructure such as schools, libraries, sporting facilities and community centres. This paper briefly surveys and analyses the current frameworks and practices that support the planning, funding and delivery of social infrastructure in three of Australia’s fastest growing regions: Melbourne; Perth; and South Eastern Queensland. It finds that Australian governments have become adept at planning new suburbs, but still face significant challenges securing adequate funding for infrastructure and managing the complexity of infrastructure delivery.     

Building towards water efficiency: the influence of capacity and capability on innovation adoption in the Canadian home-building and resale industries

The pressure on water and wastewater infrastructure in Canadian municipalities continues to rise with the need for increased capacity and upgrades. Demands to extend and maintain municipal infrastructure means that capital costs threaten to swallow municipal budgets. A water efficiency strategy has helped some municipalities to maintain or reduce their residential and commercial water consumption. This demand adjustment then allows the municipality to defer some capital investment. But relying solely on municipal governments to see that water demand policies are implemented, and enforced, is unwise. Government priorities and responsibilities change, citizen interests evolve and funding programs can be cut. Yet the private sector’s contribution to promoting and sustaining residential and commercial water efficiency initiatives remains an untapped opportunity for collaboration. Conventional explanations for this neglect are that the private sector has been slow to embrace efficiency innovations because they are not economically viable and because buyers are not interested. The challenge is how to assess innovative builders and then translate the findings for policy-makers in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, Canada. This study used qualitative methods to assess the ‘tacit knowledge’ as a critical variable for innovative realtors and builders. We also assessed the legislative environment and the builders’ organizational cultures to generate new and proactive insights for residential water efficiency. By understanding the professionals’ learning processes, their rationale for action, and the organizational cultures in which they operate, more nuanced policy recommendations at multiple levels are possible.     

The Military as an Economic Agent in Local Economic Development: The Case of South Africa

Military bases can be important agents for local and regional economic development. This article examines the role of military spending in local economic development in South Africa, a country which, under apartheid, had high levels of military spending. The local economic impacts are analyzed of three operational military bases at Potchefstroom, Louis Trichardt’ and Heidelberg. It is argued that the military assumes a significant role in local economies and should be used by localities as a basis for competitive advantage in planning for local economic development.     

让自然参与设计：一种基于自然演替的 城市自生群落改良设计途径

城市自生群落具有重要的生态服务功能与潜力,但因其外貌不被公众所接受而难以在城市公共空间中应用。将群落生态学和设计学相结合,探索一种介入栽培植物对城市自生群落进行改良,最终形成具有一定美学价值的植物群落的途径。实验以植物群落设计美学原理和种间竞争原理为依据,向已经演替1年的城市自生群落中引入63种栽培植物,按照分层的方式对群落进行改良。3年的观测结果表明,有61.9%的栽培植物可以在城市自生群落中定居并建立优势,能对76.7%的自生植物起到抑制作用,使55.8%的自生植物消失。相比城市自生群落,改良后的群落美观度提高29.4%,公众接受度提高24%,群落的物种丰富度提高至2.29倍。相比一般的人工植物群落,改良后的群落可以节约58.2%的建植成本,降低83.9%的浇水成本和67.8%的除草成本。实验证明改良设计是一种可行的群落设计途径,能有效提高群落的物种丰富度和美学价值,同时让自然参与群落设计过程,实现人与自然的合作。     

Productivity effects and determinants of public infrastructure investment

This study aims to investigate three important issues whether or not public infrastructure contributes to production in the private sector, whether or not political economy factors such as political situation affect the allocation of public infrastructure investment, and what the government’s investment behavior is. We estimate simultaneous equations by using a panel data set of 46 prefectures in Japan for five-time periods from 1975 to 1990. We conclude the following: (1) public capital contributes to productivity, (2) the investment behavior of both governments is efficiency-oriented for private productivity and for the capital stock level, (3) a substitute of public capital investment between the national and prefectural governments can be found, (4) there is a clear political factor in the national government’s public investment function, and (5) the availability of national government grants for the construction of infrastructure boosts investment among prefectural governments.     

徒步与高山景观 初探瑞士、挪威户外游憩景观策略对横断山区域的参考

随着人们对游憩需求的变化,徒步等户外活动在横断山等中国高海拔山区迅速兴起,自然文化景观丰富与脆弱并存的高山地区面临着新的压力。拥有广泛高山区域的瑞士、挪威在相似情形下各自形成了户外游憩景观模式。以横断山区域为主要研究对象,贡嘎山地区为实例,阐述徒步介入后的高山景观特点;提出以瑞士、挪威高山区为参照对象,概述各自的景观策略;初探它们在城市化与区域空间格局,徒步线与保护地、沿线设施、高山村庄关系上对横断山区域的参考意义,以期对未来中国高山地区景观空间与体验策划有所启示。