Landscape as a regenerative catalyst: blending cultural and ecological values in architectural and urban design education

We aim to present the exploration developed within an educational setting of Landscape as a device used in the realms of architecture and urban design to drive the regeneration of our cultural and biological habitats. We emphasise Landscape, as a not self-explanatory notion, rather needing human agencies, capable of unfolding the intricate play between the cultural and ecological values subsumed by the actual Landscape itself. We aim to articulate and deconstruct the notion of Landscape and its implicit meaning of regeneration by making explicit complexities emerging from our studio’s aims, from the different cultural and discipline backgrounds of the tutors, the diverse international student cohort, and the proposed geographies. Finally, we would also like to emphasise Landscape as a notion of developing a meaningful agency for students’ preparation for their current and future professional practice.

We aim to share the following lines of enquiry:
How can educators, researchers and practitioners consistently articulate the interdisciplinary dimension implied by the notion of Landscape?
How can we make tangible the relation between culture and ecology underpinned by Landscape?
By cultivating an ethical and responsible approach to architecture and urban design from the foundation of environmental systems, can different educational, professional and research agencies create an environment which allows students to develop regenerative design skills across professional and discipline silos?

We will use participant observation and action research methods to unfold the humanistic and scientific dimensions implied by Landscape as a catalysing notion triggering the proposition of regeneration. Intending landscapes as rich repositories of transitional historical narratives, cultural identities, and ecological systems, we also aim to frame a repository of practical methods, which span from traditional and analogue practices to digital and computational. We aim to show that in education regeneration is mainly about understanding inhabiting an environment and contributing to its evolution.

Cross-Cutting Question 1: Regenerative Landscapes: How might we define them?*
Give us a brief understanding of the theories and discourses that are shaping your understanding of the concept of 'regenerative landscapes'. Max. 50 words.


We emphasize the term 'regenerative' with explicit reference to the co-existing and co-evolving living and artificial systems. Our approach draws upon a constellation of theories, particularly inspired by James Corner's perspectives and contemporaneous approaches underpinning the notion of embodiment and structural coupling between living and non-living entities.