Abstract

Urban ecosystems are defined and redefined constantly by shifting political, economic, social, and ecological forces operating at scales from the global to the single plot and from the glacially slow to the acute and catastrophic.  Within this unstable landscape, discrete parcels of land within urban regions can occasionally fall off of the socio-political map and be left for extended periods to be shaped once again by the forces of natural growth, decay, and succession. 

Over the last 3-4 decades, several research and landscape architecture projects have recognized the potential for abandoned lands, once intensively used for urban or industrial purposes, to perform ecologically and socially essential roles in the life of the city.  This project focuses case studies of two such landscapes: the Sudgelande Nature Park and the Gleisdreick Park in Berlin, both former railroad depots left dormant following the post-war partition of the city.

The interaction between built infrastructure and natural forces and phenomena are a particular focus of my research.  Might we learn something useful for the design of our buildings, cities, and landscapes by observing how native and non-native species colonize abandoned buildings and landscapes?  What values are implicitly or explicitly expressed in the treatment of architectural elements (new and old) in such landscapes?  Are ruined architectural elements treated as memorials or follies, museums or sculpture, playground equipment or sites of fear and danger?  Where and how are decisions made to stop, stall, or otherwise alter the progression of natural succession and the dissolution of build elements in the landscape?

Few designers of urban buildings or landscapes truly account for or consider the instability inherent in the interconnected social, economic, and ecological flows that make up the city.  I see this research as part of an ongoing investigation of that might help to clarify the underlying values and assumptions that create and shape urban wildlands.  It is my hope that such an investigation might lead to a more nuanced and richer understanding of how architecture and landscape architecture can operates within its political, social, and ecological setting of the ever-changing global city.