FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

NEWS and UPDATES

• South Africa Green Industry Council (SAGIC) hosts the first SA Landscape and Ornamental Horticulture Convention (SALOHC)

It must reflect my age that when I look at the shelves of books in my office, which have served me well throughout my academic and professional career, I find myself thinking, '… now, which ones can I part with'?" only to realise a few minutes later, "… not yet ….." 
Many have stayed with me for most of my student and working life. At first, they were exciting and full of new ideas. Later they became familiar and brought me a sense of knowingness. "… ah, that's what fashioned by thoughts way back then …" It is heartening to know that their message and values remain strong and provide the framework for my understanding of the importance and practice of our profession.
 
I wrote a column for The Urban Green File, a local landscape architecture and urban design journal, some years ago. On that occasion, I was looking into the connection between the works of Ian McHarg and Christopher Alexander, two influential authors whose understanding of our field was evolving and where new ideas were likely to appear. 
 
McHarg was a landscape architect and planner who developed the concept of ecological planning in the 1960s, which he published as Design with Nature. On the other hand, Alexander was an architect and design theorist best known for his book A Pattern Language. Alexander believed that good design should be sensitive to humans and encourage a sense of community and social interaction.
 
While their ideas were expressed in different contexts, they believed in the importance of holistic, integrative design approaches that created functional and aesthetically pleasing environments.
 
The following is an excerpt from that October 1996 column.
 
"When preparing for this column, I read an extract from Ian McHarg's autobiography, A Quest for Life¹.  Simultaneously, I had come into contact with, A New Urban Design Theory by Christopher Alexander and his co-authors, Hajo, Anninou and King ².


McHarg discusses survival on earth and how we should plan and design for "better fitting" environments (McHarg 1996). Alexander emphasises that cities should be planned and designed to create "wholeness" (Alexander et al. 1987).
To illustrate his point, McHarg relates the story of an astronaut in his capsule.
An aquarium lines the walls of the capsule, containing algae and decomposers. It is a closed system and works like this: Sunlight falls upon the algae, which use carbon dioxide, water, air and light to fix carbon and then expel oxygen. The astronaut breathes air, consumes oxygen, and exhales carbon dioxide, which the algae absorb. Thus, there is a closed cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The astronaut drinks and then pees into the aquarium; water condenses on the outside and is collected by the astronaut - a closed cycle of water. The astronaut hungers; he collects some algae and eats. In due time he defecates into the medium where live the decomposers that reduce the waste into nutrients employed by algae, which grow, and which the astronaut eats. Here is a closed cycle of food. There is one input - light; one export - heat. Oxygen, carbon dioxide, water, food, wastes, and nutrients go 'round and 'round (McHarg 1996:242).
The model is simple, but all the essentials are there for a perfect fit. Nature works in this way; each part has its place and contributes to the health of the whole. Indeed it is better to understand the natural processes and act accordingly, McHarg contends throughout the book, than to subjugate nature.
He argues for a search for 'fit' environments. He refers to Lawrence J. Henderson's³ assertion that there is a necessity for all organisms to find the fittest available environment, adapt it, and the self to accomplish better fitting (McHarg 1996: 244).
Successful 'fitting', therefore, requires two things: selecting a most favourable environment and subsequent modification - both of the environment and the inhabitant. When this creative process is accomplished, the reward is health. According to McHarg, the human equivalent of this process is ecological planning and design - the search for fit, healthy environments (1996:244-245).
Can urban environments be adapted to achieve a "better fit"?
Suppose we assume that sustainability incorporates the survival of the human race. In that case, we can be confident that present and future generations will need a healthy environment's vital life support functions. These functions are called 'critical natural capital' and cannot be substituted by human capital. So to achieve a better fit, we must first be sure that the resource consumption and waste generation associated with urban development patterns do not threaten critical natural capital because current practices are not sustainable.
Christopher Alexander et al. (1987) proposed the idea of urban areas "growing whole". Although their theory is not directly connected to natural processes, their concept is "organic" in nature, and one could argue that it supports the ecological model.
They propose a discipline of urban design which is "different, entirely, from the one known today. ... creating wholeness in the city can only be dealt with as a process. It cannot be solved by design alone, but only when the process by which the city gets its form is fundamentally changed (Alexander et al. 1987:3)."
What is that change ...?  Alexander et al. suggest that every act of construction and increment of growth in the city works towards creating wholeness. "More fully, the [single overriding rule] will require the following of the urban process: Every increment of construction in the growing city must be designed to preserve wholeness at all levels, from the largest level of public space to the intermediate wholes at the scale of individual buildings, to the smallest wholes that occur in the building details" (1987:29).
When they say that something grows as a whole, they mean that its new growth emerges from the specific, unique "structural nature of its past" [context]; and that its "internal laws" [processes] govern its continuation and what appears next (1987: 17-30).
Are these ideas supportive of McHarg's ecological model, or another description of the adaptation process or 'better fitting'?
The model for adapting urban form then is this:  first to understand the processes (natural, cultural and economic) and context, then find the fittest available environment for the given activity(s) and finally, adapt the environment (physically) and the self (behaviourally and culturally). The process is incremental and integrative. This done, we will have achieved 'better fitting' urban environments which grow towards 'wholeness'. 
Alternatively, suppose we construct buildings, urban spaces, roads, or landscapes in ways which do not respect process or seek to preserve wholeness at all levels. In that case, we might face the fate of another astronaut who chooses to ignore the vital natural life support functions onboard his capsule .... only to find his journey is doomed to failure."
 
In my April 2023 column for this newsletter, I wrote about the importance of 'first principles' and how they have guided our profession since its inception. The ideas expressed by McHarg and Alexander in their respective books are as relevant today as when they first described them. They provide a framework for the discussion of current environmental and urban issues – one that can go far to remedy the problems facing our cities today.
 
Graham A. Young
09 May 2023
 

Notes:
1.            McHarg, I. (1996). A Quest for Life, New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2.            Alexander, C., Hajo, N., Anninou, A. and King, I. (1987). A New Urban Design Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3.            Lawrence J. Henderson was an American physiologist, chemist, biologist, philosopher and sociologist who authored several books in the early 1900s, including The Fitness of the Environment and The Order of Nature.

IFLA World Congress 2023, is set for 28-29 September 2023 at Nairobi and Stockholm, with post-congress tours on 30 September 2023.  There will be a Pre-Congress trip on 25-27^th September 2023 to Naibosho Conservancy at Maasai Mara guided by the lead landscape architect for the Eco-Master plan, Hitesh Mehta.



The website is constantly being updated with all the details you'll need to have a well-rounded experience in September. Subscribe to IFLA2023 newsletter for regular updates, such as who the keynote speakers will be and after-congress activities, how to become a sponsor, and information about issues of practical nature such as visa, accommodation, accessibility and more. Visit the official IFLA2023 website, https://www.ifla2023.com and follow and like the Instagram and Facebook pages for more updates. Registration is currently ongoing here.

 

For its 75th anniversary, IFLA is producing a coffee table green book that covers the history and timeline of IFLA.

This is an open call for submissions of landscape images is open to all landscape architects from across the globe. For its 75th anniversary, IFLA is producing a green book that will also contain several landscape typologies. IFLA is calling for submission from landscape architects and allied professions across the globe to submit photographs of landscapes from your regions. So if you have landscape images whether they be a project you've done, somewhere you've visited or somewhere much more local to you, we want to see them and we want to publish them in the 75th anniversary green book. Please submit to greenbook75@iflaworld.org

ROSA BARBA CASANOVAS INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PRIZE: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

CALL FOR CONTENT: IFLA AFRICA NEWSLETTER
 

To better feature the news, updates, and work of the IFLA Africa members and community, the Newsletter Committee are looking for contributions from our National Associations and Individual IFLA Africa members in the following areas:

Format:

We look forward to your contributions!

PAST EVENTS

MED_NET SPRING MEETING 2023 – LANDSCAPE DIVERSITY: All Landscapes, One Landscape
By Ikram Saidane
 
Group Photo, Med-Net meeting 11-14 May Alicante
 
The IFLA-Europe Med-Net conference was held in Alicante Spain at Casa Mediterràneo. It was hosted by the “AEP Asociación Española de Paisajistas “and the Interreg WAVE project (Water-linked heritage Valorization by developing an Ecosystemic approach). In parallel to this event, the 2022 IFLA Europe Exhibition “Reconsidering nature” was organized, showing large and small scale realized Landscape Architecture projects, being in harmony with nature and using nature-based solutions. The meeting brought together delegates from countries bordering the Mediterranean like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Israel, Lebanon and Tunisia. Ikram SAIDANE participated in this meeting aiming to develop a network based on sharing experiences and exchanging knowledge about the common cultural and environmental values and challenges. Under the theme Landscape diversity, the role of landscape architecture, as an academic and project discipline was discussed. Many innovative Landscape project examples, not only in Spain but also across the Mediterranean, including urban, rural and maritime contexts, with significance for sustainability, and collective memory were presented. The presentations as well as the exchanges that took place sought to show new ways to ensure resilience through the valuation of nature and ecosystem services, to provide qualitative and healthy landscapes, as well as preserving collective memory, heritage and culture. It was also about creating places that anticipate social and economic well-being of Mediterranean communities. The conclusions focused on the leading role of the Landscape Architects in the planning and design of innovative and more balanced landscapes, responding to today's changing demands and adapting our environment to new climate scenarios.

IFLA Europe 2022 Exhibition “Reconsidering nature” at Casa Mediterràneo
 
Technical visits in Alicante.
On the sidelines of the Med-Net conference, several technical visits were organized by the AEP in the Alicante region, first to the island of Tabarca, the Santa Pola saltworks, the park « Marjal.» and the Palmeral de Elche...
 
Park “La Marjal” (the Marsh) is an example of  hydraulic performance: indeed this flood park contains a retention reservoir for stormwater with a capacity of 45 000 m3. In case of heavy rains, such as those that have caused floods in Perez Gil Avenue, the excess rainfall is diverted into the drainage system at the end of the avenue and poured over the surface of the large pond until it overflows its banks and floods the park gradually. Once the rain has stopped, retained water is returned to the drainage system by means of sluice gates to be discharged at sea or to the water treatment plant.

Retention basin in Park “La Marjal’, San Juan beach, Alicante
 
“Huerto del Cura “Garden was declared a National Artistic Garden in 1943. Located in the historic palm grove of Elche, Alicante,  it is part of the UNESCO World heritage. Huerto del Cura contains 1000 date palm specimens (Phoenix dactylifera). Moreover, the palm grove is home to 70 different species of exotic palm trees belonging to the same family as the date palm: the Arecaceae. We also observed other trees typical of the Mediterranean which correspond to the layered vegetation so characteristic of palm groves, including fruit trees, in particular olive trees and citrus trees.
What is really original and differs from the traditional palm groves that can be seen in North Africa is the presence of a rock garden with a cactus and succulent collection, typical of the driest regions of our planet but which have adapted to this microclimate of an oasis.

  
 Cacti collection and the ‘imperial palm’, a botanical phenomenon with 7 heads which has become the icon of the palm grove of Huerto del Cura, Elche.

UPCOMING EVENTS
 

• South African Landscape & Ornamental Horticulture Convention (which includes ILASA) will be holding, Wednesday 7 June & Thursday 8 June 2023. LINK

Global temperatures will surge to record levels in the next five years, fuelled by heat-trapping greenhouse gases and a naturally occurring El Niño event, according to new calculations and projections by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
The impending impacts and the consequent requirements for landscape architects to respond with adaptation techniques has never been greater. Consequently, I believe it is essential that our profession has a clear and current understanding of the speed and potential impacts that the next decade will bring, particularly to Africa which includes many of the most vulnerable countries.
Firstly, it is more or less assured that the annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will be more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one year if not more. It is certain that at least one of the next five years, and the five-year period as a whole, will be the warmest on record.
This does not mean that we will permanently exceed the 1.5°C level specified in the Paris Agreement which refers to long-term warming over many years. However, The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is sounding the alarm that we will start and perhaps continue to breach the 1.5°C level with increasing frequency. A warming El Niño is also expected to develop in the coming months and this will combine with human-induced climate change to push global temperatures into essentially uncharted territory. These conditions will have extreme impacts on urban heat, drought and water management, public health and food security.
The chance of temporarily exceeding 1.5°C has risen steadily since 2015 when it was close to zero. However, for the latest models, for the years between 2017 and 2021, that likelihood has increased substantially and will be 100% certain in the next five years.
Key points

 
In addition to increasing global temperatures, human-induced greenhouse gases are leading to more ocean heating and acidification, sea ice and glacier melt, sea level rise, and more extreme weather.
As you may remember, the Paris Agreement sets long-term goals to guide all nations to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 °C while pursuing efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5 °C. That scenario will not be realised. Furthermore the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that climate-related risks for natural and human systems are higher for global warming at 1.5 °C than at present but lower than at 2 °C.
Both these predictions are essentially a “call to action” for the landscape architecture profession to both identify appropriate ecological adaptation techniques particularly for preventing coastal zone erosion, biodiversity protection, extreme urban heat reduction  and unprecedented flooding response. As a profession, if we can respond to these 4 inevitable challenges, then we will have addressed the basic requirements of our calling as stewards of the environment.