Here is the link to the synopsis of the session described by Graham A Young . Please read to the bottom of his summary to see a quote from visionary, and IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award winner, Anne Whiston Spirn. https://lnkd.in/eG4U4sei
Speaking at COP 16 in the session on: Rethinking Urban Landscapes - Equity, Restoration and Resilience in Arid Regions. Amongst all the theory and policy discussions I wanted to present a practical example of the role of landscape architecture in the discourse. I shared the Caledonian Inner City Park, Pretoria, South Africa. A project approved by Council but as yet unbuilt. To make the point of our role as visionaries I quoted from Anne Winston Spirn’s 1984 book: The Granite Garden, Urban Nature and Human Design. An excellent book which never ages and was way ahead of the Nature Based Solutions buz ( every single presentation I heard included this phrase 😉). Here is her quote: ‘If cities are to become more liveable, it will be by design: not just through the design of built projects – homes and workplaces, gardens and parks, streets and sewer systems – but also through visions that may never be realised. …… Without visions to guide their development, cities will be shaped by the politics of expedience’
Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning at MIT
1moThanks so much for this cite, Graham! I still believe this, now more than ever.