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You know, how does landscape urbanism challenge traditional ideas of New Urbanism?
Landscape Urbanism is an urban design theory that advocates that cities are composed of interconnected and rich ecological horizontal fields, rather than a simple arrangement of objects and buildings. This perspective contrasts with New Urbanism, both of which emerged in response to the shortcomings of modernist architectural and planning practices, but with very different understandings of urban space.
Landscape urbanism often emphasizes performance over pure aesthetics and utilizes systems-based thinking and design strategies.
Historical background
Since the mid-1990s, the concept of landscape urbanism has gradually taken shape and matured. During the first few meetings, a number of academics and designers began to explore how to push the boundaries between landscape architecture, urban design and architecture. In particular, the conference held in Chicago in 1997 introduced this new theoretical form to the world and inspired its academic and practical upsurge in North America and Europe.
The city of the future will be a series of endless landscapes, both psychologically and physically, where urban and rural areas intersect and flow.
The difference between landscape urbanism and new urbanism
New urbanism focuses on the connectivity of streets and aims to create walkable communities, while landscape urbanism emphasizes the use of "thin-layer green planting planes" to reconstruct urban order and regards green spaces as the basis of urban planning. This all attempts to bypass the shortcomings of traditional urban planning and come up with more flexible solutions.
Under the core effect of landscape urbanism, landscape replaces architecture as the basic element of urban design.
Main Topics
Landscape urbanism involves four important concepts, including the understanding of time processes, respect for natural processes, the use of horizontal design and the integration of adaptive technologies.
Practitioners of landscape urbanism must have the ability to adapt technology to their context.
Project examples
Including Millennium Park, Olympic Sculpture Park and The High Line, etc., they provide excellent examples of the specific application of landscape urbanism.
Criticisms and Challenges
Critics of landscape urbanism point out that the theory is often a vague concept that focuses too much on flashy images and ignores important aspects such as social justice and ecological equity. Some people believe that it fails to effectively promote the interests of low-income and disadvantaged groups.
Critics question who landscape urbanism really serves and point to a lack of true integration with urban ecology.
Conclusion
Landscape urbanism, as an emerging urban design concept, provides a different urban planning perspective from New Urbanism by emphasizing the integration of green infrastructure and ecosystems. Advancing sustainable urban design approaches is particularly important in the current context of climate change. So, how do you think future cities should balance these two different urban design concepts?
