CITY as LANDSCAPE architecture

Veganism is a set of principles, as well as being a diet, and relates to Green Buddhism. The design principles include: - vegetated ground, roofs and walls, - rainwater harvesting, use and infiltration - growing as much of our own food as we can - avoiding industrialised and ultra-processed foods, which help you to die young - planning greenways for commuting and for leisure - both walking and cyc...

This moving Elegy on John Claudius Loudon was written by John Robertson, his assistant for 9 years. A fascinating aspect of the poem is the twin themes of 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 and working to create what we call 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬. This is what Geddes and McHarg did. Robertson drew the plan of Birkenhead Park - which inspired Frederick Law Olmsted (in 1850) "to admit that in democratic America there was nothi...

Claudius Buchanan’s promotion of higher education in India led to the foundation of its first degree-awarding university, at Serampore. He also had a significant influence on the campaigns against wife-burning and self-immolation in India. Yet he saw himself as ‘one of the chief sinners.’ Why? John Claudius Loudon advanced through Europe as Napoleon retreated. As well as being a pioneer of landsca...

This update on the City as Landscape podcast channel explains why it has been neglected for a few years: the reason is because Tom Turner has been writing a fictionalised dual biography of "The Grandfather of Landscape Architecture" and the cousin with whom he shared a forename: Claudius Buchanan. That's why the book title is The Claudians. It is available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle at a 25% d...

Robert Holden and Tom Turner discus the Landscape Institute's aims and its achievements. Landscape Institute Members for 111 years (half each), they discuss the foundation of the Institute and what it does now. They intend a second video about what the LI and the landscape profession should plan to do in the future, as it approaches its 100th Anniversary in 2029. It was founded as the Institut...

Seven artists and landscape architects outline their views of environmental art and landscape architecture: Brodie McAllister, Andrew Stonyer, Catherine Dee, Ian Thompson, Trudi Entwhistle, Scott Farlow and Edward Hutchison. The debate was organised by LANDSCAPEmatters and held on 15th June 2021 (online). The debate is also available on Youtube https://youtu.be/O4e0bDtKqck  

There is a very fully illustrated version of this podcast on YouTube . Edward Hutchison is a London artist, landscape architect, architect and author of a very popular book on Landscape Drawing (published by Thames and Hudson). In this podcast he talks to Tom Turner about his work and about how he sees the relationship between art, painting and landscape architecture. He sees drawing and painting...

Here's a summary of what came out of the LANDSCAPEmatters debate on environmental art and landscape architecture (held by LANDSCAPEmatters on 15th June 2021) with a comment on the historical context for the issues (in the design theory of Vitruvius Pollio, whose book was published 2000 years ago). If you'd prefer an illustrated version of this podcast, you can find it on YouTube

Though published out of sequence, this is is the first of nine or ten podcasts about the relationship between the Environment, Art and Landscape Architecture. I’ve also done a short YouTube video about this -  with rather a long title. It was called A History of Land Art, Ecological and Environmental Art  in relation to Landscape Architecture and  made to set the scene for a discuss...

Brodie McAllister gives an outline of land art, environmental art and their relationship to landscape architecture. The debate was organised by LANDSCAPEmatters and held on 15th June 2021. Brodie became the Landscape Institute’s President Elect a few days before the debate.

"Environmental Art" can be seen to have originated in the early 20th century, with Picasso, collage, Duchamp, readymade artworks, Cubism and Minimalism.  Or it can be seen to derive from the ancient world, including the Pyramids, Stonehenge and many projects in the history of landscape architecture and garden design. Asking "what is the difference between Environmental Art and Landscape Archi...

Landscape architecture is a very good job and a very satisfying career. The work is creative, exciting and a great way to solve environmental problems and contribute to the mitigation of climate change.  See illustrated version of this podcast on YouTube . It was made for people thinking about a career in landscape architecture AND for professionals who would like to expand the scope and work...

The UK Landscape Institute election, in May 2021, is a good opportunity to think about the future of the landscape profession, the art of landscape architecture and the UK Landscape Foundation.  The LI dates from 1929 and the LF from 1992. Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe was right that both are needed. As well having a major role in shaping the LI, Jellicoe established the International Federation of L...

Landscape Institute (LI) Past President Merrick Denton-Thompson OBE looks to the future in a wide-ranging  debate with Past LI Vice President Brodie McAllister. They see many ways in which landscape architects contribute to the adaptation of project designs to mitigate the impact of global warming on climate change. Landscape architects' work can be more functional, more beautiful, higher val...

There's an illustrated version of this podcast on Youtube https://youtu.be/qdZIVBRGIec It takes an overview of how and why cities could, and surely will, come to have vegetated rooftops with a profusion of roof gardens. The text is from an online lecture by Tom Turner to the London Branch of the UK Landscape Institute LI on 16th February 2021.

Does the landscape profession need professional societies? Yes. Institutes, societies and similar bodies have a vital role: in promoting landscape architecture, in maintaining standards - and in raising standards.   This podcast is about the past, present and future of the Landscape Institute - and about the term ‘landscape architecture’. Though it’s focus is on the UK, I’m also thinking abou...

An illustrated version of this podcast is available on Youtube . A reasonable case exists for seeing John Claudius Loudon as Landscape Architecture's Giant. He lived from 1783-1843. More research is necessary but it is evident that: (1) Loudon  was nearer to polymath status than anyone else who has devoted their life to the profession (2) Loudon had a decisive influence on the adoption of the...

No surprise if half of you hate Jordan Peterson and the other half love him. That's how it goes. But I guess we all love Geoffrey Jellicoe. The theme of the podcast is that just as Modernism and Postmodernism were cultural trends with a powerful influence on 20th century design, whatever comes after them (which was called post-postmodernism in the title of my 1996 book on City as landscape ) is su...

This podcast is a critique of a competition winning design for converting a romantic public garden beside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster into a UK Holocaust Memorial. The small and much-loved greenspace would become a wide verge for a heavily trafficked pedestrian walk from Parliament Square to the Memorial. The design was by Kathryn Gustafson working with Ron Arad (of Ground Zero fame) a...

Ideas lie at the heart of landscape architecture and should have the same place in  the design process. This includes ideas about the natural world, about society, about culture and about the traditions of making cities, gardens and landscapes. To integrate these ideas they can be represented with words and images. The words should be as concise as captions The images should be diagrammatic a...

This is the third part of a  podcast, based on Tom Turner's book on City as landscape . A design method is proposed which draws upon Christopher Alexander's Pattern language and other types of structuralist thinking. The method uses types of pattern: natural pattern structures, human pattern structures, archetypal pattern structures, and patterns found in the fine arts (painting, music, liter...

This is the second part of a podcast, based on Tom Turner's book on City as landscape . It reviews the ways in which different types of structuralist thinking are important in landscape architecture theory. The structuralist ideas are  found in psychology, ecology, geomorphology, art, design, geometry, planning and other disciplines. There is an illustrated version of this podcast on Youtube.

This is the first part of a  podcast, based on Chapter 3 of Tom Turner's book on City as landscape. It's about the importance of ideas in the landscape architectural design process and supports the case for Christopher Alexander’s Pattern Language being incorporated into the landscape design process. There is an illustrated version of this podcast on Youtube.

There is a fully illustrated version of this podcast on Youtube . It's about the most influential landscape architect of the 20th century. Well known to planners and environmental campaigners, Patrick Geddes is less well-known to landscape architects, landscape planners and landscape urbanists. This is a pity. My preferred account of landscape architecture is that it is the art and science of comp...

Far too many buildings are covered with dead skin. Concrete, steel, wood, metal, brick, bitumen, rubber and vinyl are lifeless materials which can and should have a vegetated outer cladding.  Here's an illustrated version of the podcast . The exteriors of buildings should be planned, designed and managed for multiple objectives including: 1. Habitat creation 2. Horticulture for growing food 3...