SHAPING LANDSCAPES Most of us never reflect on how many of the places we visit are planned by landscape architects. The field comprises small-scale measures that provide modest enrichments of our daily life, as well as the complex structural and strategic interventions that determine whether nature will prevail over us – or vice versa. What physical measures enable diversity in public spaces? Can landscape analysis contribute to new growth in rural areas that have lost their original industrial base? What are the consequences of a new high-speed rail system between Oslo and Copenhagen? Which technologies can alleviate an area afflicted by frequent flooding? This book is also a catalogue for MANMADEENVIRONMENT, an exhibition touring the Nordic countries from 2010–2012, which examines numerous innovative landscape architecture projects in the Nordic region. The book presents articles and reference projects to underscore how landscape architecture ideally can contribute to sustainable solutions, the promotion of better health and the improvement of living conditions for residents in both urban and rural areas. The book is sponsored by: Photos cover: 1:1 Landskab, Aurland Naturverkstad, Christina Capetillo, Christina Natalie Lunde, Erik Andersson, Landslag, Scandinavian Green Roof Institute, Sigfús Már Pétursson, SYKE and Vibeke Rønnow. CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 1 9/16/10 4:08 PM This book/catalogue is based on the exhibition MANMADE ENVIRONMENT: MANMADE ENVIRONMENT is a collaboration between the Danish Architecture Centre (DAC) and Norsk Form, based on an original idea by DAC. The Swedish Museum of Architecture, the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Nordic House in Reykjavik have all contributed to the curating of the exhibition content. EXHIBITION TEAM Kjersti Wikstrøm, Architect/Urbanist, Project Manager and Curator, Danish Architecture Centre Matti Lucie Arentz, Exhibition Manager and Curator, Norsk Form Christoffer Olavsson Evju, Landscape Architect and professional Consultant, Norsk Form NATIONAL CURATING GROUPS Denmark: Danish Architecture Centre in collaboration with Annemarie Lund, Cand. hort and editor of Landskab/Landscape | Malene Hauxner, Doctor in Agricultural Science, Landscape Architect and Professor, Forest and Landscape, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen | Jacob Kamp, Landscape Architect and Chairman of the Association of Danish Landscape Architects | Stig L. Andersson, Landscape Architect and Adjunct Professor, Forest and Landscape, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen. Norway: Norsk Form in collaboration with Karsten Jørgensen, Landscape Architect and Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning, The Norwegian University of Life Sciences and editor of JoLA - Journal of Landscape Architecture | Hettie Pisters, Landscape Architect and Adjunct Professor, the Institute of Urbanism and Landscape, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design | Johanna Göranson, Landscape Architect. Sweden: The Swedish Museum of Architecture in collaboration with Niklas Singstedt, Architect and Architectural Writer. Finland: The Museum of Finnish Architecture in collaboration with Meri Mannerla- Magnusson, Landscape Architect and representative of MARK – the Association of Finnish Landscape Architects. Iceland: The Nordic House in Reykjavik in collaboration with Guja Dögg Hauksdóttir, Architect FAI. The exhibition MANMADE ENVIRONMENT is financed by: The Oslo Architecture Triennale 2010 Realdania Nordic Culture Point Nordic Culture Fund Nordic Council of Ministers Norsk Form CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 2 9/16/10 4:08 PM CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 3 9/16/10 4:08 PM INTRODUCTION CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 4 9/16/10 4:08 PM All of our lives are impacted by landscape architecture, whether through the design of small urban built spaces, far-reaching strategically planned infrastructure or environmental measures. On 23 September 2010, the Nordic exhibition ManMade Environment will open in Oslo. The topic of the exhibition is landscape architecture as a strategy for sustain- PREFACE able urban and regional development. The exhibition will be touring the Nordic countries from 2010-2012. The book you hold in your hand was initially intended to purely be an exhibition catalogue aimed at the sector of the public with more than an average interest in landscape architecture. However, this is a topic that concerns more than just the initiated few. We decided to double the number of pages and put together a book for a wider public, building it around the four focal areas which the exhibition is presenting as being of particular importance at the present time within the Nordic countries: our communal social areas, infrastructure, productive landscapes and landscape interven- tions that tackle ecological problems such as the hazard of avalanches and flooding. In order to place the exhibition projects in a broader perspective, we have included articles and reference projects from all over the Nordic area. By presenting other disciplinary perspectives, political aspects, future scenarios and experiments, we aim to give the reader an insight into some of the themes of landscape architecture and what it means from a social perspective. Several of the authors are among the most highlyh i respected in their fields. MANMADE ENVIRONMENT focuses on sustainability in the social and economic sense as well. In Copenhagen’s Nørrebro Park, structural measures have been used to create urban recreation where a previously divided neighborhood meets. In rural Norway, the network Regional Parks uses mapping, analysis, landscape planning and heritage management to form a foundation for new growth in areas threatened by population decline resulting from the loss of livelihood. These are two of the four cases from the exhibition that we will consider in more detail, one from each category. In addition to Nordic articles and reference projects, we also present four articles that take us outside the Nordic countries, thanks to the kind permission of www.sus- tainablecities.dk. Are there similar challenges in other parts of the world, and if so, how are they solved? In a separate final section, we hand the microphone over to young Nordic landscape architects and experts who share their insights into, and visions for, the discipline and its place in architectural policy. The closing interview with Professor Richard Burdett of the London School of Economics gives us a final global viewpoint from an architect who believes there is a gap between our understanding of the physical and social world on the one hand and the manner in which design decisions affect the social, economic and cultural dynamics of the environments we actually build, on the other. As you see, this is not a coffee table book, nor is it a textbook. It is a small book about a large discipline. The format should allow you to take the book on a train or to bed. We hope you will also use the web references for further reading on this topic. I would like to thank all those who have so generously and enthusiastically contrib- uted articles, photos and insights. Julie Sjøwall Oftedal, Editor CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 5 9/16/10 4:08 PM OVERVIEW REALITIES & VISIONS INFRASTRUCTURAL SOCIAL LANDSCAPES LANDSCAPES USER INVOLVEMENT A green and multicultural meeting place provides new identity and common ground in a divided CONNECTING THE DOTS neighborhood in Copenhagen. In Kuopio, Finland, a narrow road stretching across small islands became the sustainable solution to urban growth. URBAN FRICTION Ethnologist Nicolai Carlberg on how design inflicts on diversity in public spaces. Who decides what is “the good life”? 36 20 32 16 CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 6 9/16/10 4:08 PM PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPES 8 MILLION CITY Welcome to 2025, when the whole region around Oslo, Gothenborg and Copenhagen has changed because of the new high-speed trains. FIGHTING DEPOPULATION The concept of regional parks is a progressive measure to help rural communities find new potential in landscape and natural resources. PERFORMATIVE LANDSCAPES SYSTEMIC RECLAMATION Students challenge development of an exhausted and contaminated industrial area in the suburbs of Oslo, with focus on natural resources and ecological processes. GLOBAL OUTLOOK SWEDISH ECO-CITY Stuttgart’s climate planning strategy In Augustenborg a small-scale is seen as one of the best examples pilot project proved to have of heat island management in the a major impact on its local world. This article is one of four environment. A run-down providing a global outlook, produced neighborhood with flooding by sustainablecities.dk. problems was transformed by 36 professionals and residents. 54 32 58 64 48 CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 7 9/16/10 4:09 PM NORDIC VOICES “I THINK SWEDISH PEOPLE IN GENERAL, AS IN MOST OTHER COUNTRIES, DO NOT REFLECT ON HOW MANY OF THE PLACES THEY VISIT ARE PLANNED BY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS.” Six fresh and seven experienced Nordic voices share their views on the future of the profession and its role in architecture politics. THE FUTURE OF SMALL THINGS Hot springs are one of Iceland’s main natural resources. In this GLOBAL OUTLOOK INTERVIEW: peculiar story of Vatnavinir, RICHARD BURDETT architects show the big value of ”(…) there is little understanding small interventions. of how design decisions affect the social, economic and cultural dynamics of the built environment and the people who inhabit them.” 91 70 84 CatalogStudies_Ok.indd 8 9/16/10 4:09 PM CONTENTS INTROS Preface 5 About the exhibition 10 Sustainable Exhibition Architecture 11