Flexibility and Ecological Planning: Gregory Bateson on Urbanism (original) (raw)
Related papers
Gregory Bateson’s ecological aesthetics - an addendum to urban political ecology in vol4-issue1 Field Journal Special Issue on Ecology (whole issue as pdf) Goodbun, Jon, 2010, Journal Article, Gregory Bateson’s Ecological Aesthetics - an addendum to Urban Political Ecology Field Journal, 1 (4). pp. 39-47. ISSN 1755-068 Following a paper given at the 2008 Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA) 'Agency' conference, Goodbun was invited to submit a paper to the peer-reviewed international AHRA online architectural journal 'Field'. The paper was accepted for publication in the fourth issue of the journal, which was on 'ecology'. The published paper is a synopsis of key aspects of his PhD research, which informed his contribution to the SCIBE research project and the AD ‘Scarcity’ publication. This paper was the first publication of much of his thinking with regard to this material, and is referenced in recent PhDs (eg Jody Boehnert and Doug Spencer), and university reading lists (including the Bartlett School of Architecture, and the seminars of Peter Harries-Jones, a leading Bateson scholar). The paper considers how ecology – a term that emerged into popular consciousness in the 1960’s as a byword for holistic/ systemic thinking – has returned to prominence in recent years across disciplines beyond its original terms of use, including design theory and practice. Within the natural sciences, ecology is above all characterised by a holistic approach that focuses on organisation and the internal/external relational dynamics of ‘wholes’ or ‘assemblages’ such as ecosystems. Goodbun reviews how the concept of ecology has developed historically, and defines ecology by drawing together the ecological aesthetics in the work of Gregory Bateson, and the urban political ecology of contemporary neo-Marxist geographers such as Erik Swyngedouw, David Harvey and Matthew Gandy. He adds to a growing body of research relating political conceptions of ecology at an urban and planning scale to the possibility of an aesthetics of ecology more directly related to architectural and design-based thinking.
Bateson, the City and the Plan
circolobateson.it
In Ecology and Flexibility in Urban Civilization (1972), Bateson argues that an advanced urban civilization is one that has the highest degree of flexibility, able to harmonize with the flexibility of the environment to create a single, complex dynamic system, open to gradual changes ...
ECOLOGY IN PUBLIC OPEN SPACE PLANNING AND DESIGN SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY OR IDEOLOGY
International Conference“ Architecture and Ideology“, 2012
| Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, ecology is not "only" a science or a rationale for "green" philosophies and political actions. Due to global recognition of environmental crisis, and the role that cities play in it, ecologically sound urban development became institutionalized. "Ecology" becomes a buzzword for urban development and "re-imaging" the cities in competition for new inhabitants and investments. It starts to be interpreted as a new planning and design ideology. Being a place where urban and natural systems meet and interact, public open spaces are important both as a reflection of environmental problems and as a part of their solution. Besides their ecological importance, public open spaces have various roles in urban life and are constituents of urban identity. As well, as a social scene, they are places of special importance for the social and cultural interaction and integration. This multifaceted nature of public space keeps open the debate on the quality of public space, and the role that ecology should play it their planning and design. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by using case study methodology to explore the ways in which ecology conceptually relates to public open space planning and design and by critically evaluating material consequences of this relations. We argue that the way the meaning and content of ecology is conceptualized, shapes the way it is integrated in planning and design theory, which consequently, shape our urban environment. Since ecology as a science evolves over time, it is important to keep its relation to planning and design open for new interpretations. Therefore, ecology should not be integrated to public space planning and design as a "solution" but as a way of approaching public space quality problems. Interpreted in that way, integration of ecology to planning and design theory opens up the space for creative practice.
Developing Urbanism and Its Application with Systems Thinking and Ecology
"""The world is urbanizing. Urban landscapes are changing faster than expected, which can cause environmental deterioration in global scale. This emerging recognition on geophysical phenomena entails the response toward unprecedented environmental issues and complex urban systems. As an advocate of efficient urban development, urban planning should reconsider its static mindset and make use of synthetic tactics to deal with urbanization, ecological imperatives, and systems paradigm in the urban setting. In this regard, a decoder of the big paradigm and sharable theoretical framework such as systems thinking and ecology are examined to prepare the mind shift on planning ideal and to perceive this background for developing theories and practices of urban professionals. Main objectives of the study is to make progress on understanding of (1) City as a system: the metaphoric use of urban systems, (2) Ecology of system: the metabolic meaning of ecosystem, (3) Environmentalism to urbanism: the paradigm shift in urban planning, (4) System-oriented planning strategies: the application of urban ecosystem planning. Consequently, the progress will bring on developing landscape system theory to find the meaning of ecology for urbanism. Approach of the study is (1) to review the inquiry of systems thinking intellectuals, (2) to make categories of systems concepts, and (3) to interpret them with contemporary research and practice cases. By tracing the flow of systems ideas development from scholar to scholar and linking this with landscape researches and practices, the paper will provide the further understanding of urban ecosystem planning strategies described in the discussion. In conclusion, the study will find the clues for improving urban ecosystem planning, lessen the gap between systems thinking, ecology, environmentalism and urbanism, then imply further research ideas to foster urban resilience. Keywords: Urban ecosystem, systems thinking, urban planning and design, landscape architecture, ecology, resilience, systems concepts"""
Ecological Design for Dynamic Systems: Landscape Architecture's Conjunction with Complexity Theory
Jounal of Biourbanism, 2013
"Ecological design adequate to help resolve current social environmental problems will have to engage organisms, ecosystems, and cities as far-from-equilibrium, open, self-organizing systems. Because these systems are inherently dynamic, with elements co-constituting one another, the goal of ecological design should not be a specific condition or end state. Rather, the entire network of processes, especially the positive feedback loops from which a given system’s self-organizing capacity emerges, needs to be maintained. Thus, the task of fully ecological design is to avoid interrupting or impairing a system’s ability to maintain or transform itself; or, as is increasingly necessary, enhancing or helping restore damaged ecosystem dynamics. Thankfully, landscape architecture and allied design disciplines and practices are developing greater capacity to facilitate dynamic adaptive processes—substantially contributing to a transition from a first to a second phase of ecological design that operationalizes the new paradigm of complexity theory. In order to continue the transformation we need to make explicit and integrate the fundamental dimensions of this shift and the implications for design. To present a clear description and analysis that also emphasizes the actual physical changes that make an ecological difference the essay uses examples concerning hydrologic flow regime and flooding."
2020
Ecological design adequate to help resolve current social-environmental problems will have to engage organisms, ecosystems, and cities as far-from-equilibrium, open, self-organizing systems. Because these systems are inherently dynamic, with elements co-constituting one another, the goal of ecological design should not be a specific condition or end state. Rather, the entire network of processes, especially the positive feedback loops from which a given system's self-organizing capacity emerges, needs to be maintained. Thus, the task of fully ecological design is to avoid interrupting or impairing a system's ability to maintain or transform itself; or, as is increasingly necessary, enhancing or helping restore damaged ecosystem dynamics. Thankfully, landscape architecture and allied design disciplines and practices are developing greater capacity to facilitate dynamic adaptive processessubstantially contributing to a transition from a first to a second phase of ecological ...
Ecological Urban Design theory, research, and praxis
2019
The Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES) provides a cogent political and geographical context in which to locate a critical evaluation of the intersections between ecology, social justice, and urban design. • This critical intersection provides a basis for a new theory on the metacity that integrates ecosystem, social justice, and design thinking. • The metacity is motivated to understand the functional role of urban heterogeneity as a linked network of neighborhood patches that work together to achieve urban resilience and social equity at regional scales. • Academic urban design studios establish a foundation for incorporating interdisciplinary, project-and action-based urban design research into ecological science, where patch dynamics provided a metaphorical and practical tool shared by ecologists and designers to integrate built, ecological, and social criteria into research projects. • Research on new forms of critical ecological urban design praxis employed a novel urban land cover classification system called HERCULES as a way to understand hybrid built and vegetated urban systems.