sustainability Article Re-Inventing Water–Ground Relations in Landscape Architecture Projects Fabio Di Carlo *, Alfonso Giancotti and Luca Reale DiAP, Department of Architecture and Design and PhD Program in Landscape and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy;
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[email protected] (L.R.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 14 October 2020; Accepted: 4 December 2020; Published: 11 December 2020 Abstract: In recent decades, the relationship between soil and water has been at the center of many landscape architecture projects and, more in general, of urban transformation. With an ever-increasing recurrence, the interventions reflect on the positive effects of this dialectic, to the point of making it the constitutive element, both in terms of morphologies and of the reciprocal conditions of quality and resilience, combining ecosystem effects and cultural values. This paper thus examines some cases where the use of these elements has assumed the role of “raw material” in those design processes where they are called to specifically question the relationship between nature and human settlements. Three case studies, which with different declinations represent turning points and paradigmatic passages in this context, are here analyzed: the Cultuurpark Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam, the Cheong Gye Cheon canal in Seoul, and the Candlestick Park in the San Francisco Bay. Keywords: landscape architecture; water and ground; water urbanism; Urban Quality of Life (QoL); green infrastructure; natural adaptive processes; phytoremediation 1. Introduction Among the positive visions for cities and metropolitan areas for the third millennium, the work on the dialectic between water and soil plays an increasingly important role in all landscape design activities at various levels.