Landscape+Urbanism

Category: ecology

  • Game/Landscape

    I’ve mentioned a few times on Twitter, I have had an on-going interest in game design as a medium, but also in relation to the potential synergistic overlaps between the technology/techniques with landscape architecture and urbanism practice.  The most obvious connection has to do with visual representation, as the ability to create engaging site and building…

  • LA+ Journal

    A fine addition to the ranks of landscape architecture journals that recently emerged is LA+, The Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture, from the Penn.   From the website, the journal is billed as the “…the first truly interdisciplinary journal of landscape architecture. Within its pages you will hear not only from designers, but also from historians,…

  • Hidden Hydrology at UERC Conference

    I recently gave a talk at the great annual conference Urban Ecology Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver (UERC), which focuses on ” advance the state of the science of urban ecosystems and improve our understanding of them”.   I was really excited to be chosen to present (i had done a poster presentation in past years), and…

  • San Francisco Hidden Hydrology

    A project of note that made the rounds over the past month resonated with the concept of Hidden Hydrology.  The project ‘Ghost Arroyos‘, proposed as part of the Market Street Prototyping Festival  paints the town blue, in a sense.  I definitely like this idea, as we’ve discussed doing a similar exploration of Portland’s Tanner Creek.…

  • PE 1: Parallel Genealogies

    As mentioned, it would be worth while to explore some essays of the Projective Ecologies book, and what better way to start than with the introductory essay by Reed and Lister, Parallel Genealogies. The terms ‘ecologies’ and ‘ecosystems’ are co-opted for a variety of uses today beyond event these, which could lead to the eye-rolling…

  • Books: Projective Ecologies

    A recent conversation with a colleague reminded me of one of the best books of 2014 — Projective Ecologies, a collaboration between Chris Reed and Nina-Marie Lister that brought together a number of essays both new and old an framed the ideas in some interesting ways. You can also read an adaptation of this first…

  • Language of Landscape

    A great article in the Guardian  on an upcoming work (Landmarks) by nature writer Robert Macfarlane on the ‘rewilding of our language of landscape’.  I was not familiar with Macfarlane, but the takeaway of the connection between language and understanding of natural systems is captured in the subheading: “For decades the leading nature writer has…

  • Hidden Hydrology Redux

    Last week, I had the honor recently of presenting at a conference with one of my idols of landscape architecture, Anne Whiston Spirn.  Aside from stimulating conversation, she presented the old and new of her work from The Granite Garden through her ongoing work on the Mill Creek Project in Philadelphia, i was reminded of…

  • Old + New – Photos

    An interesting idea from some of the coverage of Memorial Day, which is a good time to remember the past.  The Guardian and the Photography Then and Now, which includes interactive before and after images – essentially exact matching shots of the old and new through historical events.  This weekend, they posted some interesting photos…

  • Urban Ecology

    I’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Urban Ecology: Science of Cities by Richard T.T. Forman (Cambridge University Press, 2014).  Since arrival a couple of days ago, i have not been disappointed, and this shapes up to be one of the most up to date resources for ecological principals applied to urban areas to date.…