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PUBLISHER Darkhorse Design Ltd T (0)20 7323 1931 darkhorsedesign.co.uk tim@darkhorsedesign.co.uk EDITORIAL ADVISORY PANEL Stella Bland, Head of Communications, LDA Design Marc Tomes, Landscape Architect, Allen Scott Landscape Architecture Peter Sheard CMLI, Landscape Architect.
Harnessing the power of landscape professionals to influence the landscape of power
John Stuart-Murray FLI, Landscape Architect. Jaideep Warya CMLI, Landscape Architect,The Landscape Partnership. Jo Watkins PPLI, Landscape Architect. Jenifer White CMLI, National Landscape Adviser, Historic England.
LANDSCAPE INSTITUTE Commissioning Editor: Paul Lincoln, Executive Director Creative Projects and Publishing paul.lincoln@landscapeinstitute.org Copy Editors: Jill White and Evan White President: Jane Findlay PLI Interim CEO: Jane Swift Landscapeinstitute.org @talklandscape landscapeinstitute landscapeinstituteUK Advertise in Landscape Contact Saskia Little, Business Development Manager 0330 808 2230 Ext 030 saskia.little@landscapeinstitute.org
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Landscape is printed on paper sourced from EMAS (Environmental Management and Audit Scheme) certified manufacturers to ensure responsible printing. The views expressed in this journal are those of the contributors and advertisers and not necessarily those of the Landscape Institute, Darkhorse or the Editorial Advisory Panel. While every effort has been made to check the accuracy and validity of the information given in this publication, neither the Institute nor the Publisher accept any responsibility for the subsequent use of this information, for any errors or omissions that it may contain, or for any misunderstandings arising from it.
Landscape is the official journal of the Landscape Institute, ISSN: 1742–2914
Sylvia Crowe published the Landscape of Power in 1958. Publicity for the US edition stated: ‘The impact of industrialization on the world's landscape has hardly begun. Only in close-coupled nations such as Great Britain can we see the world's future pattern: a landscape increasingly punctuated and criss-crossed by power grids, giant new structures...’ This edition of Landscape pays tribute to Crowe’s legacy and, as the UK government struggles to meet its obligation on carbon targets ahead of COP26, it considers the current impact on the landscape of the infrastructure of power generation. Hal Moggridge celebrates the legacy of Colvin and Crowe [page 15]. Luca Csepely-Knorr highlights the benign impact of the Central Electricity Generating Board not only on the landscape but on the development of the profession of landscape architecture, saying that, ‘The profession of landscape architecture, both within and outside the Board itself, was instrumental in the realisation of the CEGB’s vision that “conservation is everybody’s business” and a moral duty as well as a statutory one..’ There is a lesson for today’s landscape advocates seeking to heal the landscape in the context of a much more complicated legal framework. The need to address the relationship between the landscape and the generation of power is illustrated by Marc van Grieken’s argument that as wind turbines become larger, their relationship with the landscape requires a new aesthetic
[page 24]. The contradictions in designing for climate emergency are well illustrated by Rebecca Knight and Paul Macrae who address the safety implications of how turbines are lit as well as the challenge of building a power grid big enough to link the new generation of turbines [page 30]. Simon White looks at the role of seascape sensitivity studies [page 32] and Alister Kratt asks what the stalling of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project reveals about the UK’s approach to large-scale infrastructure [page 36]. Much of this edition is relevant to the climate emergency agenda, from helping practitioners to save energy [page 46] to the account of the LI’s Greener Recovery Festival [page 40] and our most recent publication Landscape for 2030 [page 63]. However, making a difference on the issue of climate emergency requires not only an appreciation of the landscape of power, but also a realisation of the power of the landscape practitioner to influence change. Paul Lincoln Commissioning Editor
2021 Issue 3
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The Landscape of Power Cover image: Pylon by the Woodhead Reservoir, Peak District National Park. © David Henderson
© 2021 Landscape Institute. Landscape is published four times a year by Darkhorse Design.
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