Designing landscapes of entanglement

Abstract

The announcement of the Anthropocene as a new geological epoch has lead to intensive debates on the concept of nature. It challenges the dominating Western notion of a dichotomy between nature and human culture and calls for new, unitary concepts. This has consequences for the philosophy of landscape architecture, where nature is one of the key conceptual terms.

This chapter addresses these consequences and starts by summarizing the philosophies of Philippe Descola and Bruno Latour as key proponents of a unitary concept of nature for the Anthropocene. Both authors ask for entanglements between humans and non-humans as an issue of design.

From this theoretical perspective, three landscape architectural „entanglement strategies“ are proposed: Entangling non-humans (Case study Buchholz Arc in Hannover), Entangling Humans (Case study Gleisdreieck Park in Berlin) and Entangling Time (Case study River Aire in Geneva). The discussion of these strategies suggests new research directions, such as re-animation, time-based aesthetics and design strategies, or designing commons.

It is concluded that landscape architectural theory and practice is already able to operate from a non-dualistic perspective and works creatively at the vibrant interface between humans and non-humans. Landscape architectural research should confidently articulate this unique qualities in the context of transformative science and the Anthropocene. This is an Author's Submitted Manuscript of an article published in Routledge Research Companion to Landscape Architecture, © Taylor & Francis, available online at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315613116-17/designing-landscapes-entanglement-martin-prominski