Joern Langhorst | University of Colorado Denver (original) (raw)

Papers by Joern Langhorst

Routledge eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2021

Landscape Architecture, Mar 1, 2003

Landscape review, Jun 1, 2004

The disappearance of specific places with a distinct local character as a result of economic and ... more The disappearance of specific places with a distinct local character as a result of economic and cultural globalisation invites the question whether the term “genius loci” is still a productive category. Should it be replaced with the global “genius mundi” when describing the phenomena of place? Modernist and post-modernist theories and practices have both contributed to an increasing lack of specificity among designed landscapes. The conscious disconnection of the discipline of landscape architecture from a larger context of cultural production and socio-economic and political processes, and a retreat to scientistic positions has done little to counteract the threat to the local genius loci, and contributed to a loss of influence and public profile of the discipline. An axiomatic understanding of the theory and practice of 'place making' beyond traditional dichotomies of nature-culture or global-local is suggested, acknowledging the concurrent existence of a variety of interests within a site, while contributing to an understanding of its value, imbue it with meaning beyond its current function - whether as repository of history, locus of ecological processes, venue for cultural exploration or economic progress. An informed process of value-based decisions might allow for an adaptation of the discipline of landscape architecture and the continuous emergence of specific places.

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jun 29, 2018

Local Environment, Jun 30, 2014

ABSTRACT

Architecture_media_politics_society, Feb 1, 2015

Post-industrial sites are frequently seen as aesthetically sublime, considered as iconic reminder... more Post-industrial sites are frequently seen as aesthetically sublime, considered as iconic reminders of an ongoing de-industrialization, and interpreted as symbols of the failure of the industrial age. Simultaneously they are also locations to re-imagine, reinvent and recover landscapes as agents for essential, sustainable, and environmentally-just urban transformations. The most visible discourses on post-industrial urban sites emphasize issues of environmental justice, pollution mitigation, adaptive reuse, and, in the context of urban redevelopment and renewal, benefits and performances based on ecological functions and processes. On the one hand, current concepts such as "landscape urbanism", "sustainable urbanism" and "ecological urbanism" (as conceptual and practical alternatives to the mainstream forces of urban development) suggest ecology as a redemptive agent. Conversely, established and new hegemonial agendas of global development and neoliberal capitalization focus on political and economic interests involved in the complex processes of urban renewal, gentrification, redevelopment.

Landscape review, 2012

j o e r n l a n g h o r s t REFLECTION Based on the author's ongoing involvement in the recovery ... more j o e r n l a n g h o r s t REFLECTION Based on the author's ongoing involvement in the recovery after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the Lower Ninth Ward neighbourhood in particular, this paper discusses the implications of alternative strategies and tactics involved in the recovery, restoration and rebuilding of post-disaster landscapes. It emphasises that the recovery and rebuilding of community is as important as physical restoration. The empowerment of disaster-affected communities is posited as a central element, in particular, because disasters often reveal long-standing underlying dysfunctions and uneven development patterns as important factors disproportionally affecting communities that were already victimised and marginalised. Design and planning approaches that gain the trust of local residents can reveal hidden, suppressed and alternative narratives and histories central to understanding the processes leading up to the disaster and to the development of viable and sustainable future scenarios. The active participation of traumatised communities is critical to an inclusive discourse on their future, allowing them to become co-authors of the landscapes and places they inhabit instead of victims of hegemonial agendas that created pre-disaster conditions in the first place. The paper discusses a modest spatial intervention in the Lower Ninth Ward and its impacts as an example of the agency of landscape in processes of cultural change. It discusses the instrumentality of a truly public space in a critical location in asserting the viability of a post-disaster neighbourhood and in changing the discourses on human-environment relationships to facilitate a sustainable future in a landscape shaped by challenging social and environmental dynamics.

Intellect Books, Jun 1, 2016

Landscape Architecture, 2005

Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other depa... more Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other departments of landscape architecture, charging that the field has outlived its historic purpose. Read excerpts from the manifest below, then read what Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA;

A Terminal Case? At the start of the 21st century, landscape architecture is a troubled professio... more A Terminal Case? At the start of the 21st century, landscape architecture is a troubled profession, more distinguished by what it lacks than the qualities that it actually possesses. It has no historiography, no formal theory, no definition, direction, or focus. A vast schism currently exists between its academics and professional practitioners. In universities across the nation, researchers poach methodologies from other, more vibrant disciplines. Meanwhile, in professional offices, designers yoked to the bottom line crank out pedestrian design. We believe these problems are pervasive and chronic. They indicate that landscape architecture is not just troubled, but sick. The condition of the patient is critical, requiring immediate attention.

Cities, Oct 1, 2014

As some cities grapple with economic decline and depopulating neighborhoods, a number of academic... more As some cities grapple with economic decline and depopulating neighborhoods, a number of academics and professionals have focused their attention on the causes, conditions and patterns of the resultant vacant land, whereas others lay out broad programmatic, institutional, fiscal and design responses to address vacancy on site or citywide scales. We find that, regardless of condition and context, most responses advocate complex, officially sanctioned, formal programs and policies that call for or depend on implementation over several multi-year phases. While laudable in scope, we question whether ''permanent'' solutions are appropriate given the widely varying causes, durations, contexts and patterns of vacancy and the inability of similarly scoped government-led programs to thus far achieve intended goals or improve local quality of life. We present examples that make the case for temporary, incremental, flexible and experimental responses to urban vacant land, then conclude by outlining the potential benefits and drawbacks of this temporary use model.

Intellect Books, Jun 1, 2016

Landscape Architecture, Mar 1, 2003

Routledge eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

Landscape Citizenships, 2021

Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other depa... more Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other departments of landscape architecture, charging that the field has outlived its historic purpose. Read excerpts from the manifest below, then read what Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA; Peter Jacobs, FASLA; Elizabeth Meyer, FASLA; Patrick A. Miller, FASLA; James Palmer, FASLA; Steven Velegrinis; and Peter Walker, FASLA, and Jane Gillette had to say in response. Disciplines Architectural History and Criticism | Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis | Historic Preservation and Conservation | Landscape Architecture Comments This article is from Landscape Architecture, April 2005, 95(4); 26-45. Posted with permission. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/landscapearchitecture_pubs/15

Routledge eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

Routledge eBooks, Apr 17, 2021

Landscape Architecture, Mar 1, 2003

Landscape review, Jun 1, 2004

The disappearance of specific places with a distinct local character as a result of economic and ... more The disappearance of specific places with a distinct local character as a result of economic and cultural globalisation invites the question whether the term “genius loci” is still a productive category. Should it be replaced with the global “genius mundi” when describing the phenomena of place? Modernist and post-modernist theories and practices have both contributed to an increasing lack of specificity among designed landscapes. The conscious disconnection of the discipline of landscape architecture from a larger context of cultural production and socio-economic and political processes, and a retreat to scientistic positions has done little to counteract the threat to the local genius loci, and contributed to a loss of influence and public profile of the discipline. An axiomatic understanding of the theory and practice of 'place making' beyond traditional dichotomies of nature-culture or global-local is suggested, acknowledging the concurrent existence of a variety of interests within a site, while contributing to an understanding of its value, imbue it with meaning beyond its current function - whether as repository of history, locus of ecological processes, venue for cultural exploration or economic progress. An informed process of value-based decisions might allow for an adaptation of the discipline of landscape architecture and the continuous emergence of specific places.

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jun 29, 2018

Local Environment, Jun 30, 2014

ABSTRACT

Architecture_media_politics_society, Feb 1, 2015

Post-industrial sites are frequently seen as aesthetically sublime, considered as iconic reminder... more Post-industrial sites are frequently seen as aesthetically sublime, considered as iconic reminders of an ongoing de-industrialization, and interpreted as symbols of the failure of the industrial age. Simultaneously they are also locations to re-imagine, reinvent and recover landscapes as agents for essential, sustainable, and environmentally-just urban transformations. The most visible discourses on post-industrial urban sites emphasize issues of environmental justice, pollution mitigation, adaptive reuse, and, in the context of urban redevelopment and renewal, benefits and performances based on ecological functions and processes. On the one hand, current concepts such as "landscape urbanism", "sustainable urbanism" and "ecological urbanism" (as conceptual and practical alternatives to the mainstream forces of urban development) suggest ecology as a redemptive agent. Conversely, established and new hegemonial agendas of global development and neoliberal capitalization focus on political and economic interests involved in the complex processes of urban renewal, gentrification, redevelopment.

Landscape review, 2012

j o e r n l a n g h o r s t REFLECTION Based on the author's ongoing involvement in the recovery ... more j o e r n l a n g h o r s t REFLECTION Based on the author's ongoing involvement in the recovery after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the Lower Ninth Ward neighbourhood in particular, this paper discusses the implications of alternative strategies and tactics involved in the recovery, restoration and rebuilding of post-disaster landscapes. It emphasises that the recovery and rebuilding of community is as important as physical restoration. The empowerment of disaster-affected communities is posited as a central element, in particular, because disasters often reveal long-standing underlying dysfunctions and uneven development patterns as important factors disproportionally affecting communities that were already victimised and marginalised. Design and planning approaches that gain the trust of local residents can reveal hidden, suppressed and alternative narratives and histories central to understanding the processes leading up to the disaster and to the development of viable and sustainable future scenarios. The active participation of traumatised communities is critical to an inclusive discourse on their future, allowing them to become co-authors of the landscapes and places they inhabit instead of victims of hegemonial agendas that created pre-disaster conditions in the first place. The paper discusses a modest spatial intervention in the Lower Ninth Ward and its impacts as an example of the agency of landscape in processes of cultural change. It discusses the instrumentality of a truly public space in a critical location in asserting the viability of a post-disaster neighbourhood and in changing the discourses on human-environment relationships to facilitate a sustainable future in a landscape shaped by challenging social and environmental dynamics.

Intellect Books, Jun 1, 2016

Landscape Architecture, 2005

Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other depa... more Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other departments of landscape architecture, charging that the field has outlived its historic purpose. Read excerpts from the manifest below, then read what Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA;

A Terminal Case? At the start of the 21st century, landscape architecture is a troubled professio... more A Terminal Case? At the start of the 21st century, landscape architecture is a troubled profession, more distinguished by what it lacks than the qualities that it actually possesses. It has no historiography, no formal theory, no definition, direction, or focus. A vast schism currently exists between its academics and professional practitioners. In universities across the nation, researchers poach methodologies from other, more vibrant disciplines. Meanwhile, in professional offices, designers yoked to the bottom line crank out pedestrian design. We believe these problems are pervasive and chronic. They indicate that landscape architecture is not just troubled, but sick. The condition of the patient is critical, requiring immediate attention.

Cities, Oct 1, 2014

As some cities grapple with economic decline and depopulating neighborhoods, a number of academic... more As some cities grapple with economic decline and depopulating neighborhoods, a number of academics and professionals have focused their attention on the causes, conditions and patterns of the resultant vacant land, whereas others lay out broad programmatic, institutional, fiscal and design responses to address vacancy on site or citywide scales. We find that, regardless of condition and context, most responses advocate complex, officially sanctioned, formal programs and policies that call for or depend on implementation over several multi-year phases. While laudable in scope, we question whether ''permanent'' solutions are appropriate given the widely varying causes, durations, contexts and patterns of vacancy and the inability of similarly scoped government-led programs to thus far achieve intended goals or improve local quality of life. We present examples that make the case for temporary, incremental, flexible and experimental responses to urban vacant land, then conclude by outlining the potential benefits and drawbacks of this temporary use model.

Intellect Books, Jun 1, 2016

Landscape Architecture, Mar 1, 2003

Routledge eBooks, Aug 16, 2022

Landscape Citizenships, 2021

Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other depa... more Late last year, two faculty members at Iowa State University circulated a manifesto to other departments of landscape architecture, charging that the field has outlived its historic purpose. Read excerpts from the manifest below, then read what Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA; Peter Jacobs, FASLA; Elizabeth Meyer, FASLA; Patrick A. Miller, FASLA; James Palmer, FASLA; Steven Velegrinis; and Peter Walker, FASLA, and Jane Gillette had to say in response. Disciplines Architectural History and Criticism | Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis | Historic Preservation and Conservation | Landscape Architecture Comments This article is from Landscape Architecture, April 2005, 95(4); 26-45. Posted with permission. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/landscapearchitecture_pubs/15