The past two decades have witnessed a resurgence of ecological ideas and ecological thinking in discussions of urbanism, society, culture, and design. The field of ecology has moved from classical determinism and a reductionist Newtonian concern with stability, certainty, and order in favor of more contemporary understandings of dynamic systemic change and the related phenomena of adaptability, resilience, and flexibility. But ecology is not simply a project of the natural sciences. Researchers, theorists, social commentators, and designers have all used ecology as a broader idea or metaphor for a set of conditions and relationships with political, economic, and social implications. Projective Ecologies takes stock of the diversity ofcontemporary ecological research and theory--embracing Felix Guattari's broader definition of ecology as at once environmental, social, and existential--and speculates on potential paths forward for design practices. Where are ecological thinking and theory now? What do current trajectories of research suggest for future practice? How can advances in ecological research and modeling, in social theory, and in digital visualization inform, with greater rigor, more robust design thinking and practice? New original essays by Peter Del Tredici, Erle Ellis, Christopher Hight, Sanford Kwinter, Sean Lally, Nina-Marie Lister, Chris Reed, Jane Wolff Reprinted/excerpted essays by Robert Cook, David Fletcher, Richard T.T. Forman, C.S. Holling. With drawings by, Gross.MAX, James Corner, Field Operations, Sean Lally, Anuradha Mathur and Dilip DaCunha, OMA, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, West 8.

A definitive intellectual history of landscape urbanism It has become conventional to think of urbanism and landscape as opposing one another—or to think of landscape as merely providing temporary relief from urban life as shaped by buildings and infrastructure. But, driven in part by environmental concerns, landscape has recently emerged as a model and medium for the city, with some theorists arguing that landscape architects are the urbanists of our age. In Landscape as Urbanism, one of the field's pioneers presents a powerful case for rethinking the city through landscape. Charles Waldheim traces the roots of landscape as a form of urbanism from its origins in the Renaissance through the twentieth century. Growing out of progressive architectural culture and populist environmentalism, the concept was further informed by the nineteenth-century invention of landscape architecture as a "new art" charged with reconciling the design of the industrial city with its ecological and social conditions. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as urban planning shifted from design to social science, and as urban design committed to neotraditional models of town planning, landscape urbanism emerged to fill a void at the heart of the contemporary urban project. Generously illustrated, Landscape as Urbanism examines works from around the world by designers ranging from Ludwig Hilberseimer, Andrea Branzi, and Frank Lloyd Wright to James Corner, Adriaan Geuze, and Michael Van Valkenburgh. The result is the definitive account of an emerging field that is likely to influence the design of cities for decades to come.

Is Landscape . . . ? surveys multiple and myriad definitions of landscape. Rather than seeking a singular or essential understanding of the term, the collection postulates that landscape might be better read in relation to its cognate terms across expanded disciplinary and professional fields. The publication pursues the potential of multiple provisional working definitions of landscape to both disturb and develop received understandings of landscape architecture. These definitions distinguish between landscape as representational medium, academic discipline, and professional identity. Beginning with an inquiry into the origins of the term itself, Is Landscape . . . .? features essays by a dozen leading voices shaping the contemporary reading of landscape as architecture and beyond.

This companion investigates the ways in which designers, architects, and planners address ecology through the built environment by integrating ecological ideas and ecological thinking into discussions of urbanism, society, culture, and design. Exploring the innovation of materials, habitats, landscapes, and infrastructures, it furthers novel ecotopian ideas and ways of living, including human-made settings on water, in outer space, and in extreme environments and climatic conditions. Chapters of this extensive collection on ecotopian design are grouped under five different ecological perspectives: design manifestos and ecological theories, anthropocentric transformative design concepts, design connectivity, climatic design, and social design. Contributors provide plausible, sustainable design ideas that promote resiliency, health, and well-being for all living things, while taking our changing lifestyles into consideration. This volume encourages creative thinking in the face of ongoing environmental damage, with a view to making design decisions in the interest of the planet and its inhabitants. With contributions from over 79 expert practitioners, educators, scientists, researchers, and theoreticians, as well as planners, architects, and engineers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia, this book engages theory, history, technology, engineering, and science, as well as the human aspects of ecotopian design thinking and its implications for the outlook of the planet.

Dynamic Patterns explores the role of patterns in designed landscapes. Patterns are inherently relational, and the search for and the creation of patterns are endemic to many scientific and artistic endeavors. Recent advances in optical tools, sensors, and computing have expanded our understanding of patterns as a link between natural and cultural realms. Looking beyond the surface manifestation of pattern, M’Closkey and VanDerSys delve into a multifaceted examination that explores new avenues for engagement with patterns using digital media. Examining the theoretical implications of pattern-making, they probe the potential of patterns to conjoin landscape’s utilitarian and aesthetic functions. With full color throughout and over one hundred and twenty images, Dynamic Patterns utilizes work from a wide range of artists and designers to demonstrate how novel modes of visualization have facilitated new ways of seeing patterns and therefore of understanding and designing landscapes.

Winner of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) National Excellence Award (Research and Communication) 2017 Winner of the AILA VIC Excellence Award (Research and Communication) 2017 Highly Commended (Communication and Presentation) Landscape Institute Awards 2018 Landscape architecture has a pivotal role in ensuring environmental sustainability through design interventions. This book takes a broad look at strategies and completed projects to provide the reader with a strong understanding of the sustainability challenges being faced by designers today, and potential routes to addressing them. The book covers essential concepts of landscape architecture and environmental sustainability, including: - Ecology, multifunctional landscapes and sensitive intervention - Remediation, cleansing and environmental infrastructure - Social sustainability, design activism and healthy landscapes - Food systems, productive landscapes and transportation - Performance ratings, materials and life cycles Through case studies from around the world and interviews with leading landscape architects and practitioners, this book invites discussion about possible future scenarios, relevant theories and project responses in landscape environmental design. With hundreds of color images throughout the book, and additional study material in the companion website, Joshua Zeunert provides an overview of the multidimensional qualities of landscape sustainability.

The sensing, processing, and visualizing that are currently in development within the environment boldly change the ways design and maintenance of landscapes are perceived and conceptualised. This is the first book to rationalize interactive architecture and responsive technologies through the lens of contemporary landscape architectural theory. Responsive Landscapes frames a comprehensive view of design projects using responsive technologies and their relationship to landscape and environmental space. Divided into six insightful sections, the book frames the projects through the terms; elucidate, compress, displace, connect, ambient, and modify to present and construct a pragmatic framework in which to approach the integration of responsive technologies into landscape architecture. Complete with international case studies, the book explores the various approaches taken to utilise responsive technologies in current professional practice. This will serve as a reference for professionals, and academics looking to push the boundaries of landscape projects and seek inspiration for their design proposals.

This book presents emerging work in the co-evolving fields of design-led systemics, referred to as systemic design to distinguish it from the engineering and hard science epistemologies of system design or systems engineering. There are significant societal forces and organizational demands impelling the requirement for “better means of change” through integrated design practices of systems and services. Here we call on advanced design to lead programs of strategic scale and higher complexity (e.g., social policy, healthcare, education, urbanization) while adapting systems thinking methods, creatively pushing the boundaries beyond the popular modes of systems dynamics and soft systems. Systemic design is distinguished by its scale, social complexity and integration – it is concerned with higher-order systems that that entail multiple subsystems. By integrating systems thinking and its methods, systemic design brings human-centred design to complex, multi-stakeholder service systems. As designers engage with ever more complex problem areas, it is necessary to draw on a basis other than individual creativity and contemporary “design thinking” methods. Systems theories can co-evolve with a new school of design theory to resolve informed action on today’s highly resilient complex problems and can deal effectively with demanding, contested and high-stakes challenges.

Environmental disasters and severe weather due to climate change, both triggered by human actions, have had an increasingly direct impact on our homes. But the way in which America builds its homes is part of the problem. This deeply researched history of sustainable design standards in building codes explores how public policy, standard-setting trade associations, and financial incentives influence the ways in which the construction of our homes impacts the environment. The Greening of America's Building Codes investigates the regulations and economic incentives meant to control the environmental impact of contemporary construction practices as it analyzes the history of residential building codes. The book exposes how the socioeconomic and political forces that influenced early building code development continue to define the character of current building codes and, by extension, determine how we regulate environmental impact and define sustainability today. More relevant than ever, The Greening of America's Building Codes is a valuable tool for architects, architecture students, builders, real estate developers, and homeowners who want to understand how public policy and their own day-to-day decisions impact the environment.

This book embraces the idea that in today’s complex world, multiple, emerging perspectives are critical to the design fields, the environment, and society. It also brings authors into conversation to focus on the built environment from the perspective of critical practice. The authors take as a starting point Jane Rendell’s ground-breaking work, which defines critical spatial practice as “self-reflective modes of thought that seek to change the world.” In opposition to conventional conceptions of architectural education and work, this book reflects how socially engaged architects, landscape architects, designers, urbanists, and artists take up critical spatial practice. Bridging ideas from multiple countries and approaches to design scholarship, each chapter seeks to find places of convergence for the multiple strands that form around themes of practice, equality, methods, theory, ethics, pedagogy, and representation. Rendell’s foreword and postscript provide context for these themes and suggest a way forward in today’s challenging, changing times.