Reclaiming The Urban Landscape

A new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art examines the capacity of landscape architects to transform formerly industrial or decrepit urban spaces into public green space. In his review of MoMA’s “Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary Landscape,” Witold Rybczynski observes that the exhibit illustrates a renewed vitality in the discipline of landscape architecture. “Taking the long view is what landscape architecture can contribute to urbanism” in the parks, gardens, and other man-made landscapes that are designed to evolve over time. He reflects that that plans for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site would have benefited from this perspective, lamenting the insistent emphasis on architecture rather than the long-term landscape.