Brandt, Stephanie, 2014, Living landscapes, in: Crăciun, C., Bostenaru Dan, M. (ed.), ‘Planning and Designing Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes’, Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht
- Author : Brandt, Stephanie
- Year : 2014
- English Title : Living landscapes
- Published in Book : Planning and Designing Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes
- Abstract in English : An essay based on a series of panel discussions concerning the politics of public space, the potential of public art to engender creative participation in political and cultural life of cities and experimental or subversive urban practices, as organized and curated by Stephanie Brandt and Carol Mancke under the title of ‘Living Landscapes’ in autumn 2009; hosted at The Building Centre, Store Street, London and sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture, AIA. - An at-tempt to reflect and document some of the most critical thoughts, future predic-tions and proposals regarding potential Living Landscapes as outlined within this context. Including contributions from Dr Malcolm Miles, Professor of Cultural Theory, the University of Plymouth, GB; Dr. Luis Arenas, Department of Philosophy, University of Zaragoza, Spain and Co-Founder of the research group (In-ter)sección between Philosophy and Architecture; and Jean-François Prost, artist-architect, Montreal, Canada and initiator of the collaborative research platform Adaptive Actions. Living Landscapes investigates the notion of space as not simply being some-thing defined by physical mass, but also as a repository of accumulated actions. – Acknowledging the fact that contemporary cities are in constant flux and change, - and communities no longer easily defined it addresses questions about how our landscapes are lived on, in and through? And how these landscapes and environ-ments are revealed, imagined, animated and experienced by, in and through use and interaction? Following Malcolm Miles, public space has conventionally been regarded as the location of political life, or site of a public sphere. Today, when privatised spaces of consumption encroach on public space, it is necessary to defend public space as open to all elements of a free society. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman goes even further, arguing that the task of critical theory now is to repopulate an effectively evacuated public realm. ‘We will propose a possible conceptual topography of what is going to be called "fragile spaces". They are public spaces of disagreement and conflict, but also of mutual support. They are spaces, which do not represent but interpret: they interpret needs, deficiencies, shared hopes. …’ Luis Arenas
- Outline in English : Introduction Public space and politics