But we don’t. A reference to previous work from a MA in Landscape Architecture 2012, relevant to a morning lecture on Psychogeography (describes the effect of a geographical location on the emotions and behaviour of individuals).
The Background
The Forest
This was an option module from the MA called ‘Art and Context’. The the outcome for the module was to teach, challenge and explore our preconceived ideas as to ‘What is Landscape?’ Via a field trip in the deep South West of England of 5 days in a mixed forest (deciduous native and evergreen softwood grown and sold as a product of the forest) owned by the renamed Forestry England (formerly the Forestry Commision). The site was partially funded by on site log cabins for holiday retreats within the forest, perfect for a group of aspiring Landscape Architects wanting to get out of the classroom and experience the human Biophilic response to nature.
The idea was to make an intervention in the forest. It could be anything from a physical structure to music, poetry, art or a later piece to be shown as part of the final symposium. We were all asked to present, with the question; ‘what is landscape?’ Again open to whatever style or form, but the proviso was to really look in depth to the experience, the intervention and what you learnt that could be shared, but also challenging some of the norms we associate with the Landscape as humans onlookers and/or being part of the said landscape.
“I love this stuff, once the ideas start to flow, but hate it when that blank sheet of paper just laughs and mocks you for your lack of imagination”.
The artists running the course were from the more abstract land interventionist style, and I mean ‘Abstract’ with the capital ‘A’. We were all challenged very quickly as to our assumptions and thus the struggles ensued to even start to form any ideas.
But they were also very encouraging once some ideas of value started to germinate.
Two examples of people movement on the Isle of Dogs; Sideways and Vertical.
When putting together a presentation concerning a brief history of the Isle of Dogs in the Eastend of London, I stumbled on a 2nd less well known influx during the 1960’s, also promoted by a centralised organisation, but far more inclusive than the later corporate organisation foisted upon the community in 1981, namely The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC).
The former was the London County Council (LCC) (later to become the GLC) which derived from the post war housing consensus and in particular the 1947 housing act.
So as with all things, looking a little more deeply into the policy of a pre LDDC government select committee, comments within the paper questioning the new law to be presented to parliament. As with many acts of parliament is has to go through various cross parliamentary committees to scrutinise a controversial bill. This bill was no exception born out a new ideology of Free Market Neoliberal Capitalism as promoted by the Thatcher Government of 1979, from the theories of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman (and the rest of what was known as the ‘Austrian School’).
“This was the first real opportunity to enact the low regulation ring fenced policy centrally governed via unelected quangos on a large scale”.
To say this was a 180 degree shift from the previous economic and social ideology would be no exaggeration. This is born out in the two shifts in the islands population, the first in the 1960’s which I will call a horizontal shift of people, so not strictly Gentrification in the Ruth Glass terminology of the 1960’s and the present day, and a 2nd more seemingly effective solution in the context of monetary value to the area, but not necessarily for the original local population.
So the seemingly innocent intersection of roads and footpaths has become so imbedded in our subconscious that we hardly recognize its importance, and yet the phrase ‘meet you at the corner’ is part of our everyday life. So why?
It’s a node
More options of escape, fight or flight
A prairie view
That’s the text-book view, but it’s so much more than that.
So to understand the culture of the street corner in a housing district that is designed around the grid street system ( think squares ), a social document should be viewed, understood and lessons learnt from said study.
An easily understood document is a TV series from the early 2000’s called the ‘The Wire’, considered by the local community, police, politicians, educators and press to be an accurate portrayal of the Baltimore area 1995-Present.
Written by a former crime reporter of the Baltimore Sun, David Simon and Ed Burns, a Senior Detective. They collaborated on a book ” The Corner: A Year In The Life Of An Inner City Neighborhood” This was written from a street perspective and eventually was used as a base for The Wire.
So you have the corner shop and corners occupied by the drug dealers. The series goes through the turf wars between the dealers, the police trying to rid the corners of the gangs ( think; futile), the politicians trying bury/solve the problems to thier advantage within 5 year terms, the education system trying to give the children a way out, all in the confines of a post industriual town with middle class flight. The series is about all the consequences of little or no investment into new industry, of fire fighting rather than getting to the root cause, and ultimatly letting it fend for its self.
“The recent History of Baltimore is the same all over the post industrial world where the old heavy, labour intensive industries move out or are mechanized, leaving a local population with a lost identity of work and place.”
Think of the Royal Docks in the east end of London, once the container shipping moved in at Tilbury, the boom of the London docks died over night, leaving disenfranchisement, no identity of place that had a sense of pride, no industry leading to high unemployment and eventually no hope.
A void remained to be filled, and with the local politicians with a small government agenda this will not stop the natural hard-working resourcefulness of people, it’s just that the easiest way with highest profit is at present drugs for the resourceful and for some, who lose hope, it can become a form of escape from the harsh relativity of day-to-day living. So the ‘Supply and Demand’, pure Smithsonian Market forces that the neoliberals propagate as the capitalist utopia with the invisible hand of self-regulation, will, left to its own devices bring us to a place where every man helps his brother for the good of the market. Experience tells us this is not so, short-term markets post big bang* will not allow this, the god of self-interest*, our irrational inner chimp*, fear* and greed all add up to the distopia that is Balitmore.
“And the corner is where it would be played out in this Drama”
So the how does the humble brown paper bag relate to all this?
Below is an interpretation of a scene from the episode where this all comes to a head, leading to the parable.
Obviously this is not the answer, but the point of the exercise is to look around you, take stock and think. The rational rather than the reactive*is needed to understand the cause and effect of a small change mixed with compromise can offer a solution, and get the thinking to a more Lateral position, asking different questions and exploring the consequences of long and short-term interventions.
“So the street corner where people, stop, meet and feel comfortable, it’s a place of high value.”
If a place has high unemployment, no hope then it can become a place of conflict, but it’s still a place, good or bad.
Ultimately people need money and at present that comes through gainful employment, so no matter how many beautiful parks, housing developments we build, if people don’t feel valued in themselves, then that will show on the outside. No work, then other high profit means will appear. Gentrification may push the problem elsewhere under the carpet, but you will eventually trip over it and fall flat on your face, i.e. Baltimore, Trump, Brexit etc.
This is what a Rowndtree commission conclusion was on Regeneration, but more of that for a later post.*
A future landscape? A fantastic video of a future reality set within the confines of a virtual world within a dystopian landscape. A good lesson in cause and effect
A thought that keeps coming to mind is that the study of a dystopian landscape is possibly more important than a proposed utopian dream scape, as virtually all the designs where originally designed with utopian ideals, (political, social, economic etc), but now often regarded as dystopian, often mis-judged (by present day judgement) and ugly. Some mistakes where made through focussing on one area i.e. large scale plan, and forgetting human scale/perspective, modernism to a tee. So who is to say we are not mis-judged? Looking at perceived failures with a narrow ascetic value of fashion for example, thus a lot of perspectives need to be taken into consideration with the avoidance of presumption of present day wisdom over the dreams of the birth of the idea. Also not taking into account changes that created a conflict along the time line from conception to the present moment of judgement to what may seem’s a ruined space. So the question is what has changed? Often we are too quick to write a off a space without fully understanding its long term aim. Thats not saying mistakes have not been made, but not to make the same mistake again due to a poorly thought out process only taking in present day fashions into consideration.
People
It will always come back to adoption of space by the people who live in the area. Why should anybody want to live here? At its base level what will me and my family gain? What is the core of any community? On questioning some residents on The Isle Dogs, London (now re-developed, but issues of the local working class having no relevant jobs to their skill set or if there is any work then the jobs are often with no prospects of promotion or further training ( or self employed under the tax radar thus trapped). It became clear that gentrification had pushed out the old community of seeing the place as home leaving them with no identity and thus no sense of place leading to non engagement, which eventually leads to the ‘I have nothing to loose attitude’ were the rot of crime and vandalism eats into the core of the community. So all might look rosy, but get below the skin. North Woolwich has the same problems though yet to be developed. The loss of the Docks caused a complete loss of identity to the community. Any sense of ‘pride of place’ is gone. If you have no job, hope of employment or low skilled with no future training, then the most beautiful park is not going to lift the spirits of a down beaten soul. If you want to understand more listen to ‘The Message’ by ‘Grand Masterflash and the Furious 5;
When a couple of life long residents were asked if they could have anything as part of a redevelopment what would it be, as quick as a flash, work, not just any work, but skilled work with training to bring back a pride in the individual and provide prospects and thus investment of the individual back into the area. So Work has to be at the core, as a means not only earn a living from the landscape, but create an identity of place to the resident, wanting to stay and raise a family and invest emotionally to the place. Then a park that is beautiful to the designer/visitor will have so much more meaning and beauty to the residents, whatever the income. Hope and prospects are an empty politicians promise unless there is a long term plan to deliver. So the Joseph Rowntree commission report sums up various European dockside redevelopments which we can learn from;
Without a doubt a must read document for all who want to bring prosperity and ‘the of spirit of place’ to a space, so all who reside have a future of substance and prospect.
Framework
Framework rather than strict rules so adaption can occur as employment styles change, technology, community that adopts the as the space changes, global warming, political change, transport change (battery boosted bicycles), source energy (i.e. Fusion, when this comes on line it will be a World changer, squeezing two forms of Hydrogen atoms (heavy and heavy heavy) together to produce Helium plus a proton and energy (1 gallon of water= 300 gallons of petrol), even though some web sites say there is no waste product this is not entirely true as a radioactive product is produced, but through reprocessing it can be used to re-fuel and have a short half life (30 years instead of 24,000 years this is what happens in present re-processing plants for Fission waste) and less obvious types of employment moving into areo-space, heavy industry (which may comeback to theses shores as other countries become less competitive) Art, etc.
Garden Design and Landscape Architecture
So what has the above got to do with our industry, well we no longer live a bubble as an industry. Design crosses platforms and inspiration can come from anywhere. So as the term ‘Garden Cities’ have come back into vogue (though I suspect those who use don’t understand the history of the movement) this is not just the property of Architects and town planners or even Landscape Architects/Garden Designers, but of designers who have a passion for people and the built landscape that they live in.
Anyway you get my train of thought, we can’t entirely future proof our spaces, but we can leave room for future development that will always occur, ‘as this is our nature’. The beauty of humanity is its messiness as well as its order, both have a place and should be celebrated, so decay as well as pristine should be built in/admired…… At what point does decay turn from an eyesore to nostalgic ruins? Or any style come to think of it. Two Generations? I like modernists buildings from the 1930-50’s ( I was born in 1964) especially underground stations/Tunbridge wells main Civic Centre, I really dislike the Pastiche post modern buildings of the 80-90’s, not one thing or another, both were designed with the best of intentions, so a generational view can have an effect and which generation is in the driving seat. ‘The Sprit of 45’ Worth seeing the whole film to understand why Labour got in with such a land slide and 180 degree opposite plan to the previous generations and why Margret Thatcher turned it back again. What next? We are still suffering from the big bang and all the consequences of short termism, the breaking up of unions (divide and rule), selling off of Natural Monopolies under the guise of competition. Capitalism has a hold, know one actually believes there is an alternative, but all the time the Press Barons hold the keys to our politicians it will be hard to unite, lets hope we don’t need war to unite us or extreme poverty, what ever happens it will be bottom up as it was in 1945. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c86Gwsb5LY
So the brochure we all have to put some text and images in a limited space.
Therefore trying to create an eye catching effect, plus some kind of narrative.
Header image
The err…shot as Robert would say. Had this image for a while, love Banksy.
Had to a bit of work to do as the girl and balloon were facing the wrong way. Lighten wall shadow, darken footpath shadow. Drawing blended on the wall with a couple of layers to get the colour effect. Grass (a bit naff, time etc). Light, light and light to get that grundge and dreamy contrast.
Overall pleased, more work on the grass and the image was cropped for the brochure as more of a letterbox view which works better.
Original
Update, letterbox view, grass
Secondary images
Three images each with a different message and mood.
Dock side
A mix of three images, two beautiful women (with freckles, is it warm in here), its the eyes….
A bold sunset and a hand drawn image, rendered/PShopped by yours truly.
The idea was to join people and not necassarlly men to the dock side as its also a public place. Viewing the river and looking at the working dockside from the upper deck
A normal British day.
I wanted to show that the river side walk is a part of the greenway system of NW, thus used in an ordinary way, caught in a shower, the rest of the narrative is for the viewer to decide, being chased or owner? Long flowering meadow grass, resin bonded on bitmac, so easy for curves etc. Practical more than decorative. Let the planting do the work.
A chilly visit to the Aquarium Footbridge designed with desire lines in mind, so its function over form (a modernist at heart). So whats the story? You decide.
Well after some debate (and some chat with Paul) decided not to try and cram my MP on A1. Due to the fact that the next scale down from 1;2500 is 1;5000 it just was lost on A1. So A0 it is.
Lots of explaining to do to justify the drawing, which can only be done with sequential’s and flow digrams. No point writing an essay when the 1000 word rule works with a picture (plus spelling and grammar mistakes are not so obvious).
Like all struggling with the beast, that is master planning. I keep thinking about the quote from James Corner that master planning can sometimes lead to an alienation of the site, as in reality the site will be used and seen from a human eye line perspective. So I have constantly tried to visualise each area, creating visual references along routes, nodes, Fused Grid theory etc. So it may look a bit jumbled (ie not that pretty) from a plan view (and to be honest only Gulls and Crows will have that pleasure), but hopefully the journeys through the greenways to destinations, whether as a visitor or resident, will act as an encouragement to leave the Car at home ( along with the fused Grid idea of the Car route is less convenient than walking).
Visuals
Once annotated, I get on with the many (eye level) visuals that will be needed to explain the flow, beauty and hope that I would like to bring to North Woolwich.
Not entirely finished, annotation and composition etc.
Doctor Albert Einstein. A journalist showed him a picture of a tree growing inside an abandoned warehouse with the smallest bit of sun beaming down on it, and said doesn’t this beauty prove the existence of god, his reply, “the planet does not need us, it is us that needs the planet.”
Honesty is always the best policy, so really didn’t know what the word meant so looked it up;
zeitgeist |ˈtsītˌgīst; ˈzīt-|noun[insing.]the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time : the story captured the zeitgeist of thelate 1960s.ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from GermanZeitgeist, from Zeit ‘time’ + Geist‘spirit.’ Ok so that cleared up.The Storey so far….My beloved LX3 Panasonic camera is going wrong, and being the suspicious person that I am, immediately thought’ ‘built in obsolescence.‘ So i googled it just for fun.Well found some great links on you tubehttp://youtu.be/N2KLyYKJGk0Planned ObsolescenceThis video really explains the theroy pefectly, especially the light bulb that is still working after over a 100 years!!!!!So what is going on???So on my previous blog I went into the idea of Desire over Need, thanks to Edward Bernays( http://felixfatfunk.blogspot.com/2010/11/psycology-of-crowd.html ). This really goes into the corporate company cartels that arose to create false markets, due to product failure after a period of time (just long enough to keep brand loyalty ), so that we purchase again and thus keep the ‘consumer’ model going. So yes we know that, but the depth of the roots of this idea are really frightening, and thus lead to MASS waste/Landfill/ moved to third world countries, who really pay the price. No thought of finite resources, only the support of the blaoted market economy that needs growth at all costs.I have argued strongly against zero growth in the past due to the spirit of human evolution. Parents wanting their off spring to have a better life than themselves. So not wanting a dictatorial regiem (grew up in the Cold War) growth is ‘Evolution’. But not the monterist view which relies of an ever increasing debt on money that was printed out of nothing in the first place.Its now called ‘Product Life cycle’ just imagine an aircraft failing after a year, or a communication satellite (that has a life of 25years ) breaking down before its ‘life cycle’. ATM machines are old and very rarely fail, yet computers fail after 3+ years. The best example is the old telephone system, when it was owned by the telephone company, the phones lasted forever, as coming out to service them would cost money, now, mobile handsets are changed between 12-24 months, still don’t believe it goes on? I have had two Sony camera’s fail after 2 years to the day virtually, the reason? A particular glue that dry’s out causing failure, forums are full of dissatisfied customers , Sony ignore it knowing its a numbers game. They are big enough to take bad press and and they know that in the end we will get tired and buy another camera. Though as for me I won’y buy another Sony product. This would not happen if we were truly serious about sustainability.Built to last? Cartels in the market and Governments won’t accept it as the trap of the Monetarist model needs to have growth to pay the ever increasing debt of the previous generation. It is legalised Pyramid selling.Note;You Tube’s embedding not working, so click on link.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5DCwN28y8o&feature=related
Note: The Chip for failure!!!!!! Fact not fiction. In all our printers and computers.
‘The Man in the White Suit’
This Film is a hoot, but opens the can of worms that is the short term view of employer and employee due to the system that needs the flow of capital, A real classic film.
So linked onto this movie, now I am sure most of you are aware of this movie (I wasn’t ), but if not, its free on You Tube its 2h 40 mins long (for good reason) and a must watch if you really want to understand the big picture of true sustainability. Rather than a fringe touchy feely thing. The core or big picture has to be tackled other wise the status quo will remain.
I have long held the belief that debt is what controls 95% of us, the basic theory being, a debt ridden population needs to service that debt, so employers can easily enslave people to a wage packet, and when times are really hard they don’t have to increase wages, as the saying goes ‘you pay just enough to stop people leaving.’
As Landscape Architects we have an opportunity to create environments that in their planning can to a degree, effect the populous that live there (but only to a degree, not entirely, don’t make the mistake of the Modernists).
Rather than going through the strengths and weaknesses of the film (some area’s that I feel area bit weak are at the beginning and the utopian view at the end especially the actual design, Le Corbusier would of loved it, Tom Turner would hate it). How can I put it into some kind of context for my final proposal? Bottom line still seems to be ‘Hope, social mobility, tackling the issue of finite resources with a structured approach of energy consumption, place-making, breaking the monopoly of landownership by corporations/landlords especially via the theft of Leasehold and a real alternative to the present norm of build ’em cheap/run with a profit, philosophy.
I am in the fortunate postion of owning just enough to get by and not being completely flattened by ‘the man’. So i don’t have the pressure of being a complete wage slave, thus choice ,freedom etc.
In my latter years my little pearl of wisdom, is that the consumer society needs us to judge each other constantly, do we measure up? am i fitting in? what will people think, the trick is to not judge others… just accept or even ignore. Then when others judge you badly etc, its not in your value system and thus you can be free of the oppression of being judged. So what is my value system? Using my talent for the betterment of others. Six plus billion people on the planet and if, so and so thinks blah blah.. really does it matter? Just get on with doing what you were/are designed for. We are all less that perfect and have plenty of ‘fails’ in our cupboard, so the pointing of a finger always has three pointing back for good reason ( and those who have a ‘Faith’ the thumb pointing to Heavenly direction).
Well its the 30th of December and I can’t stop thinking about the Art and Context module, work submitted etc so in theory I could just stop and carry on some kind of formulaic way or process. Unfortunately too many questions have arisen and lines of thought unresolved. So I can’t and won’t put it down until I am bit further down the road. Pandoras box has been opened.
Personal Conclusions or others?
I have to raise this point as the process can take two routes 1) read loads of other books to reach some kind of conclusion or 2) sit and think. Both have pitfalls and advantages. A friend has recently finished her PhD and I questioned her approach to her project. An interesting quote, she said for her ( and i think anybody at this level) it was important to be well read so as not to bring up the obvious, and at least try and bring a new angle on a subject). I fully understand this, but as a Ma student I still feel (for me at least ) the latter is a better way at present, as reasoned thought (with all its dead ends and possibly simple conclusions) brings a depth of understanding that second hand knowledge can never equel. Yes it takes longer and is riskier (including complete failure) but its far more satisfying finding a scholar agreeing (or not) with a line of argument than to just ‘quote.’ So i have been reading a lot about the concept of ‘space, void and mass’ and previous ideas and new springing off some other peoples thoughts. So a mixture as time constraints (and my eyes) allow.
The Woods
The personal experience of trying to create a piece of work, along a certain theory has led me to conclude so many angles of design and perspective (whether as an individual or trying to interpret the end user in whom we serve). A few weeks on and I am coming up with solutions that don’t sit that well as a designer. The big one being is ‘Framework’. That is what we design. The framework will always be loaded with expectation and disappointment, but thats why it needs to be a frame work. Anything to dogmatic and the community left behind with not be able to leave their finger print on the space as it evolves and therefore never adopt the space. With the result that it will be left to local council who will do the minimum as the Council tax payers who shout the loudest will get their way ( put it this way it won’t be someone trying to hold down a job on the minimum wage).
Conclusions thus far
1) Modernism never existed as everything has a motive, either from rebellion from something or conformity for acceptance. An opposite is an opposite of something therefore ‘nothing’ (year zero) cannot be achieved.Year zero only existed once, everything from that point will always have allegory, a time line, and a cause and effect on the aforementioned timeline (ultimately decay ,loss of energy, darkness, void). This is our constraint we can’t escape it.
2) So as an individual I accept this, my baggage/aspirations/distorted view will always come through. So ‘pespective’ is a distorted lens that we all see through, and yet to ourselves as individuals is as clear as a spring morning. I can only attempt to interpret how others see and aspire. So it has to be an effort from day one to include the community that I will effect. They also need to understand this fact, big picture, long term cause and effect.
3) Framework for others to evolve as they see fit. I cannot socially engineer. Modernism tried this and failed. Because humans are complex and predictions of future behaviour have nearly always been wrong (eventually, at first a theory may well work, but evolution will always take the shortest route, which we so often miss).
4) Escape. Which can also be termed as ‘fantasy’. Most movies portray an idealised world for us to escape to for a couple of hours. Especially the ‘feel-good’ film. And there is nothing wrong with that, its what we do to regulate (just like the brain uses dreams to stop us going mad, I think 5 days with out sleep starts to lead to madness) and keep our sanity in this unnaturally stressed world that we are still adapting to. So escape and changing escape/fantasy within a design in an urban context is crucial.
5) Play. For adults and children. Another way to release the valve of our restrictive lives.
6) Time line of perspective. I came up with six ( again this is not a fixed rule as baggage effects each of us) stages that describe what i go through over time concerning a space( that becomes a place due to revelation and memory). first observation= wonder through discovery second= familiarity which shrinks the space third= invisibility, you just don’t notice it forth= imprint in your mind/ permanent memory fifth= allegory forms as a sequence of the aforementioned events in time sixth= nostalgia refection of youth, as death approaches
7) Lanscape is a manmade concept,
Note, shadow on tree and the ghost behind. Once observed can never revert for the individual as well as the collective.
Enough. I would love to do my symposium again as i think i have cemented some idea’s and thrown out others. plus not being under pressure to ‘think’ has meant more free thought has come to the front of my mind.
I think I could do virtually the whole symposium around a Frank Capra film Eg ‘Its a Wonderful life’ or a Hollywood musical Eg ‘Calamity Jane’
(note embedding not working on you tube.GRRR, click on link etc)
It’s a Wonderful life Colorised version, whole film. Note Frank Capra nearly had the film turned down for its Anti-Capatalist message. Idealised yes, but 80% of a goal is still worth more than doing nothing.
Calamity Jane Good old Calamity Jane, pure escapism, rufftim and tufftim, can’t help but feel good after anything with the Gal next door ‘Doris Day’. Bless her. Though off the set her life was anything but ideal. So even those seemingly who have it all financially, don’t …thank God!!
It's about people, stupid... 
