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About Landscape

T he multic ult ur a l me a nings of l a ndsc a pe · China A ffore station progr a m for de ser t s · Canada a f t er oil sa nds e x t r ac t ion · indonesia ore mining l a ndsc a pes · Egypt g ated cit y in the desert · Australia plundering the kimberle y region · Europe l a ndsc a pe a nd legends · USA l a nd a r t at t he columbi a ri ver · Mexico ecologic a l pa rk for me x ico c i t y · Tajikistan pa rk in a n remot e mounta in r a nge · India re viving a desert · japan preserving cult ur a l l a ndsc a pes · South Africa Fa rml a nd versus de velopment

about

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Cover: Namib Desert Photo: Annette Kleisun

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The meaning of landscape differs around the

D iedrich B r u ns

Betsy H enning

world. In Western cultures, landscape is often defined

16 The Multicultural Meanings of Landscape

72 A Confluence Of Cultures

by viewing it (photo: Dovre Mountain area in Norway).

The understanding of landscape in different cultures

A land art project at the Columbia River, USA

K athry n M oore , B r u no Mar q ues

21 Breaking down Silos and Compartments The International Landscape Convention

I ñ aki E che v erria, Jonathan H ajar

79 Texcoco Lake, Mexico City: Landscape as Infrastructure

Dag Jenssen

Ecological park as a work in progress project

C hristophe Girot

24 About Topology

An integrated comprehension of landscape

84 Up on the Roof

A nthony Wain

A park for the city of Khorog in the harsh

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Impressive landscapes like the one at Seljord

Rosetta S arah E lkin

Lake in Norway often attract tourists through their

30 Green Wall Infrastructure in China

tales about supernatural powers.

3-North Shelterbelt Program: The afforestation of deserts

Tajik Pamir mountain range

A kshay Kaul

88 Reviving a Desert Landscape

K elly Nelson D oran

Rao Jodha Desert Park in Jodhpur, India

37 After Extraction The legacy of the Canadian oil sands industry

Yuko Tanabe

Robert Schäfer

93 Foodscape – Cultural Landscapes in Japan

P u spita Galih R esi

About the relationship between lifestyle and landscape

42 Indonesian Mining Landscapes The reclamation of ore mining sites in Mimika Regency,

Papua

99 Save Cape Town’s Pantry

G areth H aysom

The Philippi Horticultural Area near Cape Town is threat- Ore mining has brought about irreversible changes in the landscape of Mimika Regency, Papua. Along the

Akshay Kaul

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banks of the Ajkwa River, the reclamation of deposit areas created during mining is generating a new landscape.

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During the monsoon season, shrubs and ephe-

M anu el A lvare z D iestro

ened by the development of new settlements

49 New Cairo Photos of an emerging gated city in the desert

M ichael Howard

merals create green spots in the meagre landscape of

56 Larger than Landscape

Rao Jodha Desert Park in Jodhpur, India.

Plundering the Kimberley region, Australia

P eter F j å ges u nd, Tone Telnes

62 Landscapes and Legends

Currents 6 Competitions, News, Personalities 104 Projects, Obituaries, Books

109 Authors

An EU project about the importance of telling stories Manuel Alvarez Diestro

111 Credits/Imprint C hristian A ndersen

68 Small Means – Big Experiences The “Places in Landscapes” project in Denmark

The desert near Cairo is being dug up in order Robert Schäfer

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to build new housing estates. New Cairo will be

Puspita Galih Resi

totally segregated from the Egyptian metropolis.

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The Philippi Horticultural Area provides food for

Cape Town and jobs.The fields are now under threat because developers have set their sights on them.

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Rosetta Sarah Elkin

Green Wall Infrastructure in China The Chinese 3-North Shelterbelt Program is the largest afforestation program in the world, extending across over 40 percent of the country. The project is being recommended as the most effective strategy to combat desertification and dust storms. At this scale, planting is certain to have extensive ­effects on both the local territory and the region. A critical view on a complex landscape issue.

The Tarim Desert Highway crosses the Taklamakan desert for 550 kilometers. It was built to access the region’s vast oil reserves. The single species shelterbelts planted under the auspices of the 3-North Shelterbelt Program protect the road from encroaching sand.

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Puspita Galih Resi

Indonesia is a country abundant in minerals. Throughout the archipelago gold, diamonds, tin, and coal have been mined for more than one thousand years. Now the reclamation of mining sites has become a challenge, as shown by the case study Gold Mining in Mimika Regency, Papua.

Indonesian Mining Landscapes

In order to restore the site to a natural state, hydroseeding techniques are used. Top: Hydroseeding at the overburden area land reclamation site in the highlands at Grasberg, a large gold and copper mine. Opposite page: Mosses as pioneer plants should accelerate primary succession.

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In general the local population in Papua uses its forest expanses as a habitat, for traditional culti­ vation or hunting, and for the gathering of for­ est products. Farming practices consist of the shifting cultivation of food crops at a subsis­ tence level for the local production of carbo­ hydrate sources and vegetables. The local popu­ lation in lowland areas utilises rivers, wetlands, and the ocean for fishery. Their carbohydrates are sourced from sago, and coastal residents do not usually cultivate crops.

Since 1972, when the first mining conces­ sions were awarded by the public authorities, mining activities have brought about serious changes in both lowland and highland land­ scapes. Rapid regional development in the low­ lands has brought about the transformation of Timika City and other towns and villages and created a new regency, known as Mimika. The new ­Regency of Mimika developed modern ­activities and facilities in order to support the mining culture. Facilities owned by the mining company have been built, and include the ­seaport and airport, a power plant, a modern town, an ­industrial park, and a highway that serves as ­access for cargo transported to the ore mills. All of those facilities are utilised for the ­local population’s benefit.

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Iñaki Echeverria, Jonathan Hajar

TeXcoco Lake, Mexico City: Landscape as Infrastructure The Texcoco Lake Ecological Park in Mexico City is a work in progress. Step-bystep, a large park is developing through a Celilo Park and Chief Timothy Park are two proposed projects. At the Celilo Falls (left) a walkway will be installed, inspired by the dipnet fishing planks Native American fishermen once built (center, photo by Del Burkhart from 1941).

Right: At Chief Timothy Park Maya Lin will restore native grasses and wildflowers and shape a large earthwork.

The primary artwork is the Celilo Arc, a 500-foot cantilevered walkway inspired by wooden dipnet fishing planks, built over the river by ­Native American fishermen before the falls were inundated. Installations, also designed by Maya Lin, will entice visitors to see historic film footage, hear sound recordings, and “read” the riverbed. The artwork and interpretive visitor’s plaza will be completed in 2015.

flexible masterplan.

Chief Timothy Park, Clarkston, Washington State Also not yet completed is Chief Timothy Park in Clarkston. This island in the Snake River, at the far eastern edge of Washington State, is the only Confluence Project site that still resembles what the early explorers saw as they passed through: an arid, grassy steppe.

Here, Maya Lin will restore native grasses and wildflowers and install a large, stone-rimmed earthwork: a “listening circle” sculpted out of a natural amphitheater located at the top of the island. Its shape is inspired by a Nez Perce blessing ceremony in which women sit facing north, the men face south, and tribal elders face east, with no one allowed to pass ­behind them. A passage from Lewis and Clark’s journal will be inscribed on the basalt ribs of the arc.

Confluence project, columbia river, USa Client: Confluence Project 501c3/Public Access Artist: Maya Lin, New York Land Bridge, Vancouver: Jones + Jones Architects Area: 6 sites along 437 miles of river in Northwestern United States Realisation: 2002 – in progress (expected date in 2015) Cost: 32 million US dollars

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As the Confluence Project nears completion, the full power of its v­ ision emerges. Visitors pass from one artwork or site to the next, prompted to consider how the intersection of rivers, cultures, communities, and environmental forces continually shape the land and the people who live on it. The Confluence Project serves as a model for how to expand understanding of place in history using art and landscape as a catalyst.

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Akshay Kaul

Rao Jodha Desert Park at the foothills of Fort Mehrangarh recreates landscape types of the region: hard rock with lithophytes, the landscape of gravel and the regional sandy landscape.

Reviving

A Desert Landscape

The dry landscape of Rao Jodha Desert Park in Jodhpur, India, has been restored. A regional study helped in selecting the plants. They were grown in a special nursery for the park.

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The Rao Jodha Desert Park marks a watershed in the history of Indian landscape. It crosses the conventional definition and boundaries of landscape intervention. It uses in-depth ­research and fieldwork to understand the natural history of the park. It redefines the scope and vision of a typical project by introducing processes of ecological restoration in an ­uncharted and uninitiated territory. It inculcates stewardship of land by reviving native plant habitat in a rocky volcanic landscape through demonstration plots and by training people to raise saplings, plant and maintain them in the new landscape. Further, it ­assumes a leadership role in educating landscape architects and people at large about the aesthetics of indigenous landscapes through publication, websites and trail walks in the ecologically restored desert park.

The Rao Jodha Desert Park is located in the city of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on the intense lava bedrock at the foot of Fort Mehrangarh. The landscape of this part of the Western Thar Desert is characterized by residual outcrops of igneous rhyolite surrounded by windblown sand and dunes with saline depressions. Some parts of landscape have ranns, desert salt pans that are remnants of water bodies. The ­climate in this region is dry and hot during summers and extreme during the winters with sparse rainfall and, at times, strong winds. A ­variety of sand dunes – the parabolic, transverse, longitudinal and the crescent-shaped barchans – are common not far too from here. The region predominantly supports scrub and thorny vegetation. The project lies within the 200-hectares behind the 400-year old fort wall and ­extends over an area of 70 hectares. ­Ecological restoration of the park started in 2006 after the fort walls were refurbished a year earlier. ­Before then, the landscape was largely ­­a wasteland overlain by thin flows of rhyolite and ­invaded by the very ­aggressive tree, ­Prosopis

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