| Landscape inherently fits the definition of an emergent complex adaptive system: landscape is infinitely interconnected to other systems, operates between order and chaos, is simultaneously spatial and temporal, and is robust through adaptivity. It's ironic that in our time of unprecedented complexity we have constructed paradigms that fail to recognize the complex nature of landscape. This failure is a narrow and limiting frame of reference. This research reveals key concepts of complexity theory that apply directly to landscape architecture and informs how landscape architects may think about interacting with the land. It then proposes five critical principles as a methodology for practice that informs how landscape architects may interact with the land. Here, the aesthetic, poetic, and existential qualities of landscape are valued, but are no longer the motivating doctrine for the design of landscape. I call this theory and methodology of landscape architecture "Landscape Emergence." In theory and practice, Landscape Emergence additively enriches conventional paradigms of landscape architecture by empowering designers to engage the temporal, adaptive, and complex qualities inherent to landscape. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
