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ACE: Architecture, City and Environment, 2020
For several decades, the notion of landscape has been instrumentalised by various fields of study and with the most diverse views and interests. This is a notion that brings together all the features of liminal spaces, areas characterised by their mediating nature. The success and rapid extension of the concept of landscape, however, has not yet seen a similar development in the methodological field nor is it achieving sufficient consensus to be applied to the administrative scope. In this contribution we will adjust our reflection around the idea of historic urban landscapes, highlighting the need to address the “change management” approach demanded by 21st-century cities. To this end, we shall delve into some new urban management initiatives, in which the “prosumer citizenship” is beginning to be a key element in the construction of the identity of the spaces inhabited. In the same vein, the scope and content of the emerging discipline of tactical urbanism will also be discussed, paying special attention to the limitations of “design thinking” in historic city centres; areas affected by environments that are frequently problematic, where the complex regulations of individual or collectivetutelage that cultural assets require come into play.
The Instrumentalization of Landscape in Contemporary Cities
Today, cities are redefining their relationships with the natural world, spurring a new dynamic between the built environment, man-made landscapes, and nature. Nature is no longer seen as the antithesis of the city and civilized life, or as something simply to support urban dwellers’ social life, but also as a means of fighting challenges such as climate change, urban health and well-being within the city. This approach to landscape and nature in cities has evolved as a response to the human–nature crisis and the need to limit urban development in open areas of ecological importance. In terms of planning, this approach called for the preparation of pre-development surveys, including a comprehensive land survey that relates to climate, geology, hydrology, flora and fauna as means to better planing the built environment. In addition, and in parallel, to the discussion on the conservation of land resources outside urban space, there was also recognition of the need to address the natural systems in cities (Scheer, 2011). This recognition led to investigation of flora and fauna in the city and examination of the city’s ecosystems, which in turn led to new design strategies viewing landscape as a key component in creating new hybrid ecosystems (Mossop, 2006). At the beginning of the twenty-first century this ecological emphasis in cities is associated with two prominent concepts: landscape urbanism (Waldheim, 2006) which emerged from architecture and planning, combining design with ecological approaches, and urban ecology (Mostafavi and Doherty, 2016; Steiner, 2011) whose roots are in ecological positivist studies. Viewing landscape and nature as a means/tool that can ‘solve’ some of the major challenges of contemporary urbanization also contributed to their presence in our daily life. Recycling, greening and rehabilitating nature in the city have not been merely theoretical-utopian ideas but rather translated into practice through policy documents, designated campaigns, and legal initiatives. This condition contributed to the centrality of landscape in our daily city life and also, as suggested by W.J.T. Mitchell (2002), contributed to the use of landscape as a verb. As he further argues, landscape is not just an object to be seen, or text to be read, but a process by which social and subjective identities are formed; as such, landscape is not merely signifying power relations; it is an instrument of cultural power, perhaps even an agent of power that is independent of human intentions (Ibid., p. 1).
International Journal of Energy and Environment, Issue 4, Volume 6, 2012
Resulting from two different evolutionary processes - 4000 million years of biological changes and the cultural process of human inhabitation of the planet - landscape makes evident the level of integration of its natural and cultural dimensions. The cultural context (ensuing from the transformations imposed by human population) affects the natural environment and the overall construction of landscape. For centuries, the relationship between society and territory was harmonious and balanced, producing urban, rural and natural constructed landscapes which were not only attractive and productive, but formed a core part of our shared heritage and the basis for our European identity. More recently, however, sectarian and utilitarian visions ruled by the principles of easy and maximum profit have become prevalent, side-by-side with new dominant trends of human intervention which have assisted in the adulteration and degradation of landscape. If a more sustainable approach to the organisation of contemporary landscape is to be defined, this will have to be based on the in-depth knowledge of its values, dynamics, problems and contradictions. This approach will have to jointly consider the landscape’s natural and cultural aspects in the planning process and use both of these dimensions for the definition of the objectives presiding landscape preservation and transformation. Only such a methodology, which respects the heritage and identity of landscape, can be said to foster the long-term development of both society and nature. In the context of the changeable dynamics typical of contemporary landscapes, this article contributes to the formulation of an intervention methodology based on an ecological and cultural reading of the landscape in order to apply the method used in landscape ecology to the conurbation of central Algarve coast.
ACE Architecture, City and Environment, 2020
Abstract e-ISSN 1886-4805 For several decades, the notion of landscape has been instrumentalised by various fields of study and with the most diverse views and interests. This is a notion that brings together all the features of liminal spaces, areas characterised by their mediating nature. The success and rapid extension of the concept of landscape, however, has not yet seen a similar development in the methodological field nor is it achieving sufficient consensus to be applied to the administrative scope. In this contribution we will adjust our reflection around the idea of historic urban landscapes, highlighting the need to address the “change management” approach demanded by 21st-century cities. To this end, we shall delve into some new urban management initiatives, in which the “prosumer citizenship” is beginning to be a key element in the construction of the identity of the spaces inhabited. In the same vein, the scope and content of the emerging discipline of tactical urbanism will also be discussed, paying special attention to the limitations of “design thinking” in historic city centres; areas affected by environments that are frequently problematic, where the complex regulations of individual or collective tutelage that cultural assets require come into play. Keywords: Historic Urban Landscapes; Prosumer Citizenship; Tactical Urbanism; City Prosperity Initiative (CPI)
Landscape and heritage: A sustainable and resilient model for (re)designing cities
IFLA Journal #2 [Adaptive Capacity of Cities], Europe International Federation of Landscape Architects, 2013
This article will contribute to the discussions on the developing process of cities` construction in relation to the territory. We will argue that urban spaces should be (re)design on a regional scale by prioritising landscape as the ruling force in the analysis and planning of contemporary cities. The rules and limits of a landscape together with the forces of nature and its heritage values will be considered when striving for the long-term goal of developing a new urban landscape, socially- cohesive and ecologically-balanced.
Landscape architecture – landscape urbanism, regenerative correlations in the urban field
This paper focuses on the emergence of landscape urbanism and the discourse on it in the world of landscape architecture the latest years. It is examining the regenerative correlations between this recent term and the long-established approach since the 1970s in the discipline of landscape architecture as well as their impact on the way the modern city is conceived. On the one hand, the necessity for a new urban planning model is answered by landscape urbanism through the idea of a process-orientated landscape working as a structural medium of urban space. On the other hand lies the European practice and theory of the last decades in the field. Through a combined socio- ecological and perceptual approach, urban landscape works as a living document and a mirror for society’s intentions, playing an important role in the formation of the European city scene. Both sides taken into consideration, it is not a matter of choice of the most efficient term between landscape urbanism and urban landscape architecture but rather a matter of a dialectic coexistence where landscape urbanism can advance in the wider frame of landscape architecture
Fragments and memory of landscape: preservation of some fragile architectures
2015
The interest in the land has encouraged studies and restoration projects aimed at the enhancement of the architectural heritage contained in it, but excluded assets that just lent themselves to actions of new functions: a network of small buildings that together with natural and urbanized areas, form a territorial system in which the architecture is bound by ties of interdependence: Italian buildings for the production of wine as the "palmenti" for grape pressing, the Galicians "horreos" for storage cereals, the "pigeonniers" of the Pyrenees, small buildings, mainly rural character. Such architectures are now vulnerable since, illsuited to host functions economically attractive. Based on these considerations, we suggest actions to value based not so much on the new functions the same as their "reviving": that is, their conservation through the sole use as a symbol of collective memory and historical evidence of cultural processes of contexts a...