Forecasteden : The Natural City

 

The elevated walkway around Qunli National UrbanWetland. This storm-water project on the easternoutskirts of Haerbin City in northeast China is a nationalreserve

  

Landscape urbanism is a theory of urbanismarguing that landscape, ratherthan architecture, is more capable of organizingthe city and enhancing the urban experience.

 

Landscape urbanism is credited to have grownout of the Harvard Graduate School of Design,where architect and professor Kongjian Yureceived his doctorate.

 

Yu is the founder of Turenscape, aninternationally renowned landscapearchitecture, urban design, and architecturefirm in Beijing, China.

 

In an interview with Italian architecture magazineDomus, Yu talks about his design principles,and why an ecological approach to infrastructure is a natural fit in the post-modern world.

 

“Our cities depend on these unsustainable pieces of infrastructure. It’s a poor approach tourbanisation. My idea is that nature can provide even better service, for free. That’s how wecan define nature as infrastructure.“

 

Is embodying ecology the best land use approach for redesigning our cities for tomorrow? Read thefull Domus interview with Yu here.

 

Reading Yu’s ideas also reminded me of the contrasting cultural thoughts on land use traditionally inthe East and West.

 

Approaching land use with the idea of man’s dominion over the resources of the earth (West), orin maintaining the land as the laws of both Heaven and Earth dictate as to help one improve life byreceiving positive qi (East), has a significant impact on sustainability.

 

From：http://forecasteden.com/2012/01/31/the-natural-city/