As landscape urbanists hover in the exalted world of the designer-hero-genius, Emily Talen asks — where are the people?
In this piece from New Urban Network, Emily Talen provides a serious critique of the landscape urbanism. Although she admits that "it's easy to poke fun at landscape urbanism...the rapid growth of literature, academic appointments, and conference themes associated with it forces a more serious appraisal."
Upon exploring The Landscape Urbanism Reader during a recent trip through China, she concludes that "landscape urbanists are really, really good at describing things" and the movement is essentially unoriginal, contributing "nothing more than a series of restatements - in a hundred different ways - of the same issues that have been reframed, reconceptualized, and rewritten for the past 150 years."
Ultimately, Talen asserts that "by far the most serious problem with landscape urbanism is that it completely leaves out of the discussion something many of us consider to be pretty essential: humans."
Thanks to Scott Ulrich
Read the full story: A tire in the park
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future
Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.
NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project
New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.
One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing
The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.
Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’
The city has installed the pavilions along 15 blocks in Houston.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority