Urban no 3 by Petter Åkerblom

Contents PUBLISHER Rolf Johansson editorial staff Ylva Dahlman, Petter Åkerblom Production, DESIGN, prepress Lillemor Berg, Ulla Holmberg, BIZ&ART proof Lars Johansson, Mallverkstan i Uppsala WRITERS Beatrice Andersson, Lillemor Berg, Per Berg, Ulla Berglund, Håkan Blanck, Annika Borg, Anna Lindgren Dahlin, Ylva Dahlman, Åke Daun, Malin Eriksson, Tuula Eriksson, Anna-Karin Gävert, Per Hedfors, Åsa Hellström, Anna Johansson, Mikael Johansson, Rolf Johansson, Ulrika Knutson, Felix Melin, Kerstin Nordin, Mikael Propst, Emily Wade, Petter Åkerblom, Ann Åkerskog PHOTO ON COVER Erik Johansson PHoto, ILLUSTRATION Beatrice Andersson, s. 50–51 Per Berg, s. 60–61 Thérèse Egnor, s. 59 Malin Eriksson, s. 44 Tomas Eriksson, s. 8–9 Anna-Karin Gävert, s. 49 Helen Helmfrid, s. 6, 10 Viveka Hoff, s. 85 Maria Ignatieva, s. 41 Anna Johansson, s. 52 Erik Johansson, s. 80–83 Mikael Johansson, s. 53 Rolf Johansson, s. 19–24 Eva Källander, s. 76–78 Mikael Risedal, s. 74 Stewen Quigley, s. 10, 16–17, 27–30, 32–34, 36–38, 42, 55–56, 66, 68–69, 70–75, 90–91, 94, 98 99 Emily Wade, s. 47 Other photos are taken by teachers and students TRANSLATION Niclas Qvarfort, Richard Hopkins, Karen Ekström

PRINT Trydells Tryckeri AB ISSN: 2000-5792 Eco-labelling Trydells Tryckeri AB is eco-labeled according to ISO 14001. The entire production process is environmentally certified with Lic nr 341091. No responsibility is taken for unordered material. This magazine may not be copied. Refer to the source when citing this material.

URBAN no 3 on the web: www.slu.se/urbanen URBAN no 3 the Swedish edition: www.slu.se/urban Urban - a magazine about attractive urban and rural landscapes, is aimed at landscape architects, students and potential students, subscribers, consultants, contractors and the general public.

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The encapsuled imprint of evil The art of stimulating participation Greeting rituals in the urban space Venice – city in water From wild perennials to strategic city planning Many strings to one’s bow This is how we want to live! Researchers meet around green-blue cities A day in spring What places are important to you? Large scale intrusions in the landscape Hello Sweden! Students abroad To create is to play The new green compact city Active life and safe circles I love candy Perspectives on theory and know-how Play, laughter and deadly serious Inspiration, realism & illusion Press items The Landscape Architect Program A selection of Master Theses Research themes at the Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU We work at the Division 3

Breaking the bounds

Tuula Eriksson Head of Division of Landscape Architecture, Department of Urban and Rural Development, SLU

he drawing board, the ruler, the ink pen – the architect’s most important tools, symbols of the profession – where have they gone today? The architect’s more sharp ability to use digital technology to present ideas via 3D-models, animations and YouTube develops with an explosive force. But how far will it go? When is it no longer a question of architecture? Where is the limit? In this issue of Urban the question is put to the test via Erik Johansson’s image creating. Both the cover and article express his visions. Just like architects, who use the picture as the primary means of expression when they want to show how a place can be transformed from what it has been to something different, Erik Johansson uses digital technology. Here are his ambitions joined with those of the landscape architect, although Erik Johansson’s visual art takes a step far beyond what is possible or even desirable for changing the landscape into. Testing the limits is part of the nature of a landscape architect. Ylva Dahlman writes that it can even be dangerous to create. Everyone does, of course, not like the result. The architect’s proposal can invoke bad blood, challenge the will of the people and question accustomed perceptions. But sometimes this can be the intention. For example in Berlin where they preserve the traces of the boundless horrors of war and deportations for the future, even if strong and unpleasant memories are brought to life. Ulrika Knutson writes about this – about evil’s encapsulated imprint which is brought up in Berlin - but also tells us about a corresponding imprint which perhaps should exist, but does not exist, in Sweden.

URBAN is published once a year since 2010 by the Division of Landscape Architecture. The aim is to focus on important issues where landscape architects in one or another way participate in creating better physical and social conditions for human life and activities in urban and rural settings and on the countryside. The ambition with the magazine is to reflect what the line of business, and our university can do together according to learning, doing and communicating know-ledge and best practice. URBAN is aimed at landscape architects, students and potential students, in addition to subscribers, consultants and contractors, and to those interested in the general public. The Division of Landscape Architecture has about forty employees, 250 students mainly at the Landscape Architect Program and a turnover of SEK 36 million (4 million Euro) a year (research, education, internationalisation, cooperation and extension).

But once again – where is the limit? What should the urban spaces tell us? When is it architecture, when is it art and when does it become something else? This time URBAN gives much space to internationalization – our strongest sign on how traditional boundaries have been challenged. The world shrinks in many ways and the borders are erased. Students choose to place parts of their education in the global surroundings that we become increasingly more a part of. Research becomes increasingly more dependent on international collaboration. Our Division has taken several important steps in this direction during the year. We have participated in a Nordic research symposium on landscape architecture theory and work methods arranged 18th – 19th of April 2012 here in Uppsala, together with FUSE and our colleagues at SLU Alnarp. The event was characterized by fantastic stories from several landscape architects who were among the pioneers, those who decades ago opened ways and founded the basis for the profession by trial and error and extending the boundaries of the subject. During the year we are also hosts for the international ECLAS-conference Green Infrastructure which has attracted almost two hundred participants.

The conference really breaks international borders: it is held at two districts with study visits in three countries – St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Uppsala – and is attended by researchers from some forty (!) countries from all over the world. At the same time, one of Sweden’s most popular educations has turned fifty years. It started in 1961 as a part of the horticulture education to ten years later become an independent educational program. It is important not to be complacent just because it is popular to educate oneself to a landscape architect. Here we have a big responsibility. But it is not only the university’s responsibility. For the years to come we will therefore further develop our collaborations within the field. We will arrange new forums for trans-boundary discussions on the education quality and prioritized research areas. We also want to continue the collaboration with the colleagues at SLU Alnarp as well as other universities within and outside Sweden. We want to increase the level of ambition by an increased collaboration with our partners – and not least by further developing and strengthen the regional collaboration between SLU and the field. Ultuna, May 2012

THE ENCAPSULED IMPRINT OF EVIL By Ulrika Knutson, Freelance Journalist residing in Uppsala

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In Berlin it is not possible to build history away. There are those who have tried, but history always returns and gets attention. The earth cracks, and evil pours up from the ground. Also the victims are there; the ground itself testifies in Berlin.

o matter how you look at it Berlin is a European city of the twentieth century. The names are heavy with history: Unter den Linden, Brandenburger Tor, Reichstag, Bahnhof Zoo, Berlin Alexanderplatz. In 1945 Berlin was in ruins. Die Trümmerfrauen, "ruin women" performed the labourious and often dangerous task of cleaning the rubble, sorting out everything useful: bricks, nails, carpentry and ironworks. During the 1950s arose a new Berlin, or rather two, from the ruins of the old one. East and West Berlin competed in modernity and splendor, they turned agressive storefronts against each other, covered their tarnished back streets. But it was not possible to erase the war, either in the east or the west.

The tourist who today strolls along in the blocks around the famous Humboldt University is walking in former East Berlin. History whispers in a thousand small details; shell splinter and bullet craters in the nineteenth century fronts, and everywhere are small holders for red banners and standards, and electric wires for speakers: Achtung! The message has ceased, but the silence speaks. Berlin’s city planners, architects, landscape architects and artists also let the ground speak. Not far from the Humboldt University is Bebelplatz. The visitor may have passed many times without discovering a rare memorial, placed under the traveler’s feet. Beneath a glass pane on the sidewalk the underground library opens, which consists of mere empty bookshelves. This

is the place of a large book burning the tenth of May 1933, when Nazi students set fire to books by Marx and Freud, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller. 70 000 Berliners stood in the rain and watched how the flames consumed 25 000 volumes. – Where books are burned people will soon be burned", wrote Heinrich Heine at the time. Also his poems were burned. The underground library is a work by the Israeli sculptor Micha Ullman.

blocks, where the height varies between 0,2– 4,5 meter. An area that previously was no man’s land. The landscape parks in Berlin today are many. They have also been able to use the old empty zone between east and west Berlin. A contributing factor is that the pressure on the city land is not yet as big as in other European major cities – the Berliners do not populate their city by themselves. Naturpark Südgelände is another such area. Here, an old marshalling yard has been left untouched, and nature has successively taken over this lost land.The

If you walk between Platz and Brandenburger Tor at dusk and squint you would believe you had come to an old burial ground. The flagstones are tightly packed together. But visitors who walk amongst the stones finds themselves led down into the ground, while the stones grows high around them. The stones finally obscure the view, the visitor is pulled into a claustrophobic labyrinth. With just a few steps one has made a personal descent into Hades. The American architect Peter Eisenman’s Holocaust Memorial was opened in 2005. The 19000 sq.m. area contains 2711 concrete

high water tower is a landmark in the park, rusty wagons and locomotives remains as they were left at the end of the war. Herbs and shrubs grow freely. The variety of species both in flora and fauna has grown remarkably abundant. Also in Südgelände the ground and place carries their symbols within themselves. Here the wagons were switched during the war years, which during night time became a cornerstone in the Holocaust’s gigantic infrastructure. This was death’s marshalling yards less than seventy years ago. In Berlin you constantly have to reflect on history,

and on the memorial art itself. It is true that the west Germans were forced to reflect after the war. A collective memory work, of which obligatory parts were about the Nazi crime against humanity. For the sake of humanity the Berliners were forced to remember, and tourists who came to Berlin would also be reminded. The Berliners never got to decide to remember history, as opposed to so many other countries in Europe. One could do the mind experiment and ask how

if not to remember a worse past, something to keep a distance from; a poor, materially sparse country, at a lower level of development. Swedish history is a story of peace and progress, but also about concealment. The Scandinavian history and mythology nourished the big German dreams with colorful examples. Does it affect our viking ships, dragon ornaments and chieftain mounds? Our legislation was adjusted during the years when adjusting was in vogue. We demanded that Jews from Germany kept the stamp ”J” in their passports. In 1938

existing landscape parks in Sweden could be designed. What traumas would they expose and process – how would our minds wander in the landscape? What places would be used, where in the ground would our evil pour out? It is strong words as answers to difficult questions, but these are questions that Berliners ask each day. First one has to establish that the Swedish memory is diffuse, the historical consciousness is limited. At the risk of generalizing, you could say that Swedes rushed forward, towards modernity. Sweden rarely looks back,

we introduced, after being prompted by Nazi Germany, a ban on ”Jewish rituals”, prohibiting kosher slaughtering. Not primarily out of concern for animals, but to torment the people. Examples of adjustment are many, but examples of compassion and courage are not missing either. When the Germans occupied Denmark the majority of Danish Jews were saved, by a mass evacuation in small boats over Öresund. Are there memories left of the saved and the saviours along Skåne’s shores? Can traces of the good deeds also be sensed in the sand?

In what other areas would evil pour out from our ground, pedagogically clarifying? I can not escape the nagging feeling that Stockholm City would need a memorial landscape park. Polish and German tourists on a visit in Stockholm were shocked at ”riksgropen” at Sergel square, where the mortar dust settled after the demolition of Klara: – Oh my god, Sweden got out of war completely safe, but now you bomb your own city centres? Why are you doing this? The Swedish opinions were not as articulated. The faith in authorities was strong, you trusted those in power, said the musician Olle Adolphson in an interview: – The aesthetic sense of the Swede has not been so developed. You could imagine the reaction if one were to demolish in French cities… "Sweden, play your himlaspel, you who is called an experiment” he sings in 1960, in Waltz on Sergels square, the dream of happiness waltz. It continues: "How was it meant? It was a game of a people, it was not meant at all. If we stand still, we feel ill, when seeing our shame." How could Olle Adolphson’s reminder be portrayed in a landscape park, in the middle of the concrete?

In the humanitarian field there are of course no lack of memories which poison long forgotten and overgrown places. The Baltic extradition in January 1946 is a known tragedy in Swedish history, which passes Ränneslätt in Eksjö and continues to Trelleborg. Considerably less known is that thousands of Soviet soldiers who had been prisoners of war of the Germans, were extradited to the Soviet Union. On October 10th 1944, 900 soldiers in Gävle harbor waited for a safe transport to new prison camps in Siberia. What do the docks tell us about this? What do the whispers from the spruce trees tell us about all the camps in Hagaström, Krampen, Lissmo and Storvreta? Finally. Every Swedish city or village owns a place related to the unnamable and the outcasts. Where there lived travelers or residents, sometimes residents for hundreds of years, but none the less singeld out, either with harrassments or goodwill. This goodwill of society that has taken every expression, by socks for poor relief, by demolitions, displacements and forced sterilization. How do we portray these memories in a concrete landscape? The names are there and challenge the forgetfulness of our enlightened time: Tattarbacken, Rackarberget, Slarvtjället. 4

THE ART OF STIMULATING PATICIPATION By Felix Melin, Landscape Architect at Funkia AB, Stockholm

eople want to affect their surroundings and feel that they are part of a context. How can the landscape architect create outdoor environments that meet this demand? The artist Olafur Eliasson and landscape architect Stig L. Andersson create places that stimulate involvement and a sense of participation. Olafur Eliasson is today one of our most acclaimed artists. A recurring theme in his art is natural phenomena and his works often consists of situations in which the visitor’s experience is in focus. A central idea is that the visitor should feel that he or she can affect the situation that the art constitutes. His thoughts are clearly apparent in the work Your Watercolour Horizon that consists of a water mirror placed in a round room. The water reflects the light that falls on an enclosing wall. When the water is completely still a straight ray of light becomes visible. When someone enters the room and steps on a floor plank the water shakes and the 12

waves being produced are then seen as wavy light. Via the floor visitors stimulate the water to move and thus affect their environment. Eliasson says that when you can affect a place you feel like a part of it. The places which are varying and changeable he calls “including”. Static and non-changeable are to him “excluding”. The Danish landscape architect Stig L. Andersson has a similar reasoning and says that people becomes involved in a place if the physical components react to what they are doing. He sees variability as one of the landscape architect’s most useful tools. In contrast to building architecture, which is about static objects, landscape architecture is about dynamic arrangements that change over time. Andersson creates outdoor environments where people, the weather and the physical environment interacts and is given an opportunity to affect each other. The square Solbjerg Plads in Frederiksberg is a concrete example of his thoughts.

Here, circular depressions in the ground collect rain water, forming pools. This way the rain is permitted to change the place more than in other places in the city where all rain water is channelled into drains. When someone walks or cycles through one of these water pools, tracks of water are created on the dry surface. Visitors can in this way affect the place. Eliasson and Andersson both works from the idea that a place which is changeable and varied can make visitors feel an involvement. To, by physical design, evoke a sense of involvement is a design tool that could be used by more landscape architects. The degree of affection and variability could become obvious starting

points to refer to, both in the analysis and during the design of outdoor environments. Today, landscape architects often try to bring about a sense of involvement and commitment through citizen meetings where proposals for the design of their local environment are discussed. These meetings often have difficulties to attract people and it is impossible to gather all the people who will use the place in the future. Even if the project, by means of its content, becomes like many at the meeting has wished it is not certain that they in the end feel involved. Maybe it is that people do not feel involved in a place until it can be affected at the moment they are a part of it. 4

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www.liljewall-arkitekter.se

hi, good day and hello greeting rituals in the urban space then and now By Åke Daun, Professor Emeritus in Ethnology at Stockholm University as well as writer with a particular interest for the Swedish mentality and the social, collaborative oriented and (often) unselfish human

omo sapiens are social creatures. Historically, we would not have been able to survive without support from a social group or a tribe. This became especially critical when we left life of the East African jungle and moved out on the savannah – an area which we were forced to share with carnivorous animals. Paradoxally residents of the big city live in a kind of solitude. It arose from anonymity, physical exposure and the increasing indifference of the surroundings. Therefore greetings are important for our well being, for example to neighbors in the block – also to those unacquainted, but who we recognize on the sidewalks. What has this got to do with landscape architecture? Greeting. What does the word mean? Everyone may not be thinking of the original meaning: To wish

someone health (salve in latin). A word which is also the origin of a salve, which we apply on wounds to heal, bring health. Greeting phrases seem to have the same significance in all languages. Sometimes a nod can be enough. Consider how the absence of a greeting can be interpreted: as a rejection, or a broken contact. The senses of hearing and eyesight provide the brain with information that is the source for impressions – which in turn initiates thoughts, emotions and actions in relation to our social meetings. The meetings of the city environment have their own cultural history. Even in the 1950s one used to greet others without any greeting phrases. Body language is as known also a form of communiation. To only lift the hat was polite in an urbane sense and

schoolboys took wordlessly off their peaked caps. For the bareheaded, a common alternative was a light bow (boys bowed, girls made a curtsy). Adults accompanied with an appropriate smile and facial expression: happily surprised, humble, friendly, loving. When women met it could be sufficient with a slight turn of the head and a smile. The ”greeting signals” of strangers can in evolutionary terms be described as a way to communicate non-violence: ”I approach you with friendly intentions” To take off the hat associates to ”take off the helmet”. The knight exposes his head and shows that he trusts his adversary’s peaceful intention. Greeting customs vary more now than previously and thus can be quite difficult to understand. How do I best greet people at this meeting? In Sweden we have

for a long time said “hej” (originally from ”hei” in German, an expression of happiness), and in the 2000s often ”hallå” (borrowed from English) . Then of course we do not take off either a hat or a peaked cap. In recent times greetings in Sweden have become more intimate in character than those on the continent, which are dominated by handshakes (especially frequent in France). Young Swedes communicates with mutual hugs, young men often with “bear hugs” and back-patting. Men meet some women with a variant of French cheek kissing. But the greeting should be appropriate! Especially amongst older people, who wish to be without any “intrusive” body contact. But why have there been these changes? The answer lies in the changing relationships between people. In the forefront of which go the young innovators who

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Greeting phrases seem to have the same significance in all languages. Sometimes a nod can be enough. Consider how the absence of a greeting can be interpreted: as a rejection, or a broken contact.

culturally have been inspired by “new trends”. Most are however imitators, who slavishly and happily look round and follow the new trend. The neuropsychological explanation can be found in the so-called mirror neurons. The current urban environments are sociallyethnically-nationally-linguistically-subculturally mixed. Add to this the widening cultural gap between generations, even between younger and older siblings, which are discussed in my latest book. As a result the value of experiencing a sense of belonging has increased!

The British city plan ideas which reached Sweden after the war aimed for a strengthened neighborhood that could withstand political propaganda. Free time facilities in apartment blocks was then an idea among Swedish city planners. The Community-Movement had a renaissance with the 1970s ”byalag” in Stockholm and Göteborg, but the sense of anonymity soon prevailed. Today, sidewalk catering seems to have been accepted by the traditionally reluctant authorities. We also see tendencies that the city planning, at least in the

Architecture makes a difference Architecture is a vital resource in a sustainable society. If urban development is your business, architecture will give you the tools for creating a good environment with high quality of life and added value. The Swedish Association of Architects is your partner for this important task.

city centers, leads to features such as wider sidewalks, informal meeting places, pedestrian streets and more glazed places when the cold weather takes over. When the city center is thus made attractive for pedestrians there is an increased opportunity for greeting acquaintances – or why not, greet anyone? The next step could be demands of free time facilities in new apartment blocks and why not bicycles for all residents. “Hello, is it time? Drive carefully!” 4

The Swedish Association of Architects has long experience to draw on and can advise and support you in the development of architectural policies and visions, in architecture competitions and in the procurement of architectural services. We can help with both strategy and process. Contact us for an open-ended discussion early on, a discussion which can yield inspiration and a happy outcome. Visit us on www.arkitekt.se

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Stortorget central square, Gävle, Andersson Jönsson Landskapsarkitekter AB, winner of the 2011 Siena Prize. Photo by Kasper Dudzik.

venice city in water By Rolf Johansson, Professor in Landscape Architecture – Design Theory, Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala

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To build a city where there was no building material is impractical. To build a city without drinking water should be impossible. But Venice exists.

e was right, the Greek philosopher Thales. He said that all life has its origin in water. The art of building cities also have their origins in water. The first cities emerged at the great rivers of Euphrates and Tigris, the Nile, Indus and Huang He. And that was thanks to water. The floodwater made it possible to irrigate, and a supply of drinking water is necessary to establish a city. When trade began the city residents could work in other activities than agriculture and were no longer dependent on irrigation. But they could not be without drinking water. Roman engineers further developed the ancient Eastern art of building large scale drinking water supplies. It was then possible to build cities anywhere

that the surrounding mountains had a supply of spring water. The roman system of connecting to the natural water supply let spring water flow through the cities only by using nature’s own forces, and was applied throughout the entire empire. Venice was established in the 8th century in a lagoon. There are no nearby mountains and the whole city is bathing in undrinkable salt water. To build a city where there was no building material is impractical. To build a city without drinking water should be impossible. But Venice exists. Was Thales completely wrong? Between the 4th- and 7th century the Roman Empire suffered waves of invasions from people from the north and east. The regular population had a habit of escaping out in the lagoon until the coast was clear

again. Goths and Huns were good horse riders, but they had no skill with boats, and disappointedly remained on horseback while the Venetians rapidly disappeared out into the lagoon with their flatbottomed boats. But in the 6th- and 7th century came the Lombards, the long beards, and they stayed. Then the Venetians also stayed – out in the lagoon. The first permanent settlements were not where Venice is today, but on other islands, mainly at Torcello further to the north. Hunting, fishing and salt production were the main sources of income. The building material had to be brought from the mainland and it was to a large extent taken from old buildings. Later Torcello was abandoned and once again the valuable building material was taken for reuse. Venice’s

buildings are full of building fragments that have been reused many times. The cathedral in Torcello remained and is now one of the oldest buildings in the lagoon. Between the years 800 and 1300 Venice developed into a capital in a Mediterranean kingdom based on trading dominated by spices, coloring materials and silk from east to west – and mostly metals traded in the opposite direction. Venice was strategically located at the meeting point of the trade routes at sea, over the Mediterranean to the east and on land over the Alps to the north. During the Middle Ages Venice was one of Europe’s largest cities. The Venetians became successful merchants because they were good at building and using ships, but the trade value was also strengthened by that they rather

The four horse statues in bronze at the St. Marcus Church is presumably created in the 4th and century and without doubt stolen from Constantinople in the beginning of the 13th century.

In Torcello, the first bigger settlement in the lagoon, there is today not more than some dozens of inhabitants. The Cathedral was founded 639 A.D. and is one of the oldest remaining buildings in the lagoon. On the buildings you can see plenty of ancient details brought over to Torcello from the mainland.

Campo Ruga, a square where the rain water was collected into a underground water cistern from where the water was taken by buckets from a well.

Map of Venice from the year 1800. The water canals were the most important for transports. Only the Rialto Bridge is marked on the map, probably because that it is a shopping street rather than a bridge.

negotiated with trading advantages instead of political or military advantages. It is not a coincidence that Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice about the merchants in Venice. They were good at bargaining, but were also shameless thieves. For example when becoming enemies with the old ally Constantinople the Venetians plundered the city in 1204. They took everything they could get of artistic value. The two gigantic columns that support The Lion of Marcus and St Theodore at St Marcus Square are from Constantinople. As is the grand bronze lion on the front of St Marcus Cathedral and many other treasures. There are many features in Venice’s city pattern that are completely unique. The water roads were the most important for moving around in the city and the Venetian palaces’ main entrances are turned towards

the canals. During the 19th century many canals were closed down to create a walking network and streets were even widened in the spirit of Hausmann. As recently as 1854 there were only two bridges over the Canal Grande. Then the third was built Ponte dell’Accademia. Not until recently was the fourth built, designed by Calatrava (the designer of Turning Torso in Malmö). It is located close to the train station. The canal network is still much more lucid and easier to orientate in than the pedestrian network, that is completely labyrinthine. The connection to mainland by railway came at the beginning of the 1840s. Until then it was only possible to get to Venice by boat. But how was drinking water provided? There was no drinkable water and no spring water nearby. What is left is to collect rain water. Every city district in

Piazetta di San Marco. The two enormous columns for the Lion of Marcus respectively Sankt Theodore, are robbed from Constantinople. Venice has no town wall and of that reason no town gate. The Piazetta functioned as main the entry to the city from the sea, and the colomns could be described as a kind of town 23 gate. On this picture the square is under water as a consequence of a flooding, that occurs frequently.

The water is Veniceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prerequisite and threat.

Venice has a square, campo. Under each campo was built a waterproof cistern that was filled with sand. Rain water is collected on the stone paved square which slopes towards drainage wells. It is filtered through the sand and stored there until brought up with buckets in a well in the center of the square. Not until the 19th century did water start to be piped from the mainland and the wells were sealed. Water today threatens the city. The ecological balance in the lagoon has been disturbed by ground water outlets to industries, filling in of canals which

decreased the water circulation and dredging of channels for large ships. Venice is now flooded some hundred times per year. Piazza San Marco is often below water and the Venetians bravely lay out footbridges and sell boots to save the mass tourism. Venice is sinking and the water is rising. 4

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From wild perennials to strategic city planning By Anna Lindgren Dahlin, Freelance Journalist

engt Andrén instantly makes it clear that his role as a landscape architect is not about setting your own mark or making your own imprint. Instead it is about developing the city environment for human’s welfare. – If Uppsala becomes better to live in, first then I am content, he says. Three years ago Bengt Andrén came to Uppsala as the Director of the Community Development Office. Since the end of the year his function has evolved to become director at the new office for social progress, which includes what was previously the real estate office, recreational and nature agency, streets and traffic office as well as the housing and urban development office.

– In this role it is included to work on commission by the community’s politicians – all major decisions are taken by politicians. You have to accept that situation if you are to work in this environment. My assignment is to create a collaborative climate among the parties working in the city building. Collaboration, that is what I am good at, I think. When Bengt Andrén reflects he is today quite close to what he hoped to work with as a newly qualified landscape architect. That it is a career which demands you to play a role which has a responsibility to many things is no secret. – Sometimes I get really scared and think couldn’t they find someone better? But apparently they couldn’t! he says and laughs.

In his childhood home in Vargön, outside Vänersborg, the family was politically interested and one was encouraged to speak one’s mind. This had an impact on Bengt, not least in the choice of education. – In my future profession I wanted to be part of a process where you are involved and decide how something should be done. I also wanted to go to Uppsala. At a time when it was not that easy for an academic to get a job, it still looked positive for landscape architects, according to the study and careers adviser at school. So it came to pass that the landscape architect education at SLU in Uppsala, was where he started in 1974. The education was not quite as Bengt Andrén had expected, it was more about plants than about society. His examination paper would as well be about something entirely different than what he first intended with the profession. It concerned the subject wild perennials. I thought that I would do something which I did not know already. I tried to find flowers that could be planted in housing areas, but did not require that much attention. At the end of the 1970s the profession was very much focused on that if you were to do something of

use to society, it was by contributing to the restoration of the environments in the failed million programs. Sture Koinberg was, according to Bengt Andrén, the landscape architect who was best at such restorations, and he became one of Bengt’s employers during the first years of his career. When Bengt Andrén had worked at small offices for ten years, and the work had been about drawing McDonald’s drive-through restaurants, he started thinking: What am I doing and why? It all felt meaningless. He applied for and got an appointment as a planning architect at Södertälje city council, where he eventually became manager for the planning division. After this he applied for the post of planning manager for the suburbs of Stockholm, areas which provide homes for about half a million people. – I thought: A landscape architect will never get this job, but I was wrong. And the public space, that is the space between the houses, really is too natural for a landscape architect to plan. Bengt Andrén speculates on the future of the profession and believes that to a large degree it will be about constructing housing in the cities. Then, the water is a big question. Cities are growing but we want to decrease the pressure on the treatment

plants and be able to continue using existing water works. This will require investigations and projects, as well as asking how we can maintain a high flow of water. Bengt Andrén considers it a privilege to work in a city with the pressures found in Uppsala right now. And of course much has happened since he was a student here. He is impressed with the newly completed Gunnar Leches’ park, in front of the old station building: how they risked keeping the large space, how they furnished the park and not least the good architectural work. He looks forward to the expansion of the Åhlén building, a controversal department store in the city centre, and also how Uppsala University’s new administration building will look, which will be built between the Botanical Garden and Uppsala Castle. – It is a position that is worthy of a significant piece of work. It will be so good it will be talked about. He has another promise, that contributes to a city which is better to live in: – We will try to recapture the city squares. St Erik Square and Fyris Square will have been returned to the people before I quit or kick the bucket, whichever happens first. 4

EMPLOYER SUMMARY ›› Sven Hermelin, who opened Sweden’s first landscape architecture office

FAVORITE PLACES ›› Villa Gamberaia, a renaissance garden in Florence. ›› Het Loo in Holland, a newly built park which is identical

›› Klaus Hugo Haendler, garden architect

to the baroque garden that was there before. ”It is

›› Sture Koinberg, landscape architect

possible to see that which is old now, look like it is new.”

›› City of Södertälje community, plan architect and later manager for the plan division ›› City of Stockholms community, manager for the planning of Stockholm suburbs ›› City of Uppsala, head planning and later director for the office for social progress

›› Princess Gardens, Edinburgh. ”I became fascinated by the lawns – how they were maintained, and the topography.” ›› Stourhead Park, England, established in the 1700s. ›› Skogskyrkogården, Stockholm. ”A world class park.”

Underbara uteliv. På HAGS vet vi att de mest uppskattade utemiljöerna skapas genom ett gott samarbete. Vi erbjuder ett mångsidigt sortiment av utemöbler som skapar hållbara och inbjudande park- och stadsmiljöer. Möblerna finns i flera färg- och materialalternativ.

HAGS Birka längs bryggan vid Kulturhuset Spira, Jönköping. Design Jan Wickelgren.

www.hags.se

MINERA SKIFER Foto John Tizzard

EN KLASSIKER FRÅN NATUREN Trumlad Skifferkross av Offerdalsskiffer. Vacker till planteringen, uppfarten eller i trädgården.

Tel +46 (0)63 208 60 mineraskiffer.se

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MANY STRINGS TO ONE´S BOW

the profession where many interests are united Av Anna Lindgren Dahlin, Freelance Journalist

hen Bibbi Leine was studying landscape architecture she took a year off for an internship in Enköping. There she was commissioned by the former city gardener Stefan Mattson to draw a proposal for one of Sweden's first pocket parks. She remembers that she thought it was entirely reasonable when it was later decided that her proposal would be built. – Today I can understand that it was quite special for a student to carry through a proposal for a new park, she says and laughs. It was useful to be out in the field as a student, she thinks, as she really wanted to be a biologist or house architect. – But when I began my studies, I did not know that this education existed. It was hard to get information, so I contacted Ultuna to learn more. The course was perfect for me – my interests joined in this education.

Inherently I believed that I would work with other things after graduating: nature planning, such as national parks. She forgot afterwards that about national parks, although later in life she has actually worked with two different contests on entrances to national parks, including the entrance to Skule Forest on the northern Baltic coast of Sweden in the “Höga Kusten” area. The best thing with the profession she thinks is the breadth. To have a job that includes giving proposals, planning, communicating, visualizing and perhaps making pictures or a drawing which she later presents. She likes to work with sustainability and nature. For the most part it has involved public projects, but also here the scale may shift from large to small. Recently there has been some work with the layout of harbor environments. It gets increasingly more common across Europe, says Bibbi Leine, to take

harbor environments and build houses and establish residence areas there. She has among other things worked with Visby and Sundsvall harbors. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I like to work from an existing value of the location, such as for example water. It is of course gratifying to work with sites near water, because it often looked quite bad in the harbors earlier. Bibbi Leine seems to be the type of person who makes sure to include many of her interests in her profession, and she likes to work on a broad scale. At the beginning of her career, whilst working as a landscape architect, she attended an art school in Italy during a few summers and studied graphics, sculpture and painting. She stayed at White Architects, during which time she participated in several contests. Periodically Bibbi combined the work at White

Architects with teaching landscape architecture at Ultuna. She liked this combination very much and later agreed to go to Japan for a year and work as a teacher at a university for architecture and design. Since 1999 she has worked at Landskapslaget AB in Stockholm. The work assignments are, just like she wants them, varied. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I direct the projects, draw by hand oe CAD, work with photoshop, I practically work with everything. Among the projects that she directed and is especially satisfied with, she mentions Sundsvall and the proposal for the layout of free areas at the old harbor. First there was the construction of a public garden, based on a request by the people of Sundsvall. A park which has been featured in both books and the magazines. However for the most part she works in Stockholm

with projects related to building housing. One example is the new city district Annedal. – There are many new parks and we have been involved with an existing oak wood on a hill, with lily of the valley in the clearings. We have been working with the layout from the entirety to the small details and could then refine the parks, streets and locations with different characters and content. In the future Bibbi Leine thinks that the landscape architects role will broaden towards the communicator, someone who is involved in processes and make visible the context when something should be changed. – We can get people to understand what alternatives there are and what these alternatives involve. But mainly we are going to work with the same things that we work on today. Landscape architecture has become a more clear profession in society during the 25 years that I have worked.

favorite places ›› Haga Park in Stockholm, most of all the pelouse. ›› The Moss Gardens in Kyoto. ›› Nature: ”It most often surpasses what we create.

There you get experiences all the time.”

Employer summary ›› Gotland municipallity ›› White Achitects, Stockholm ›› Teaching at SLU Uppsala, Collage of Arts and KTH ›› Guest teacher at Hokkaido Tokai-universitetet,

Asahikawa, Japan ›› Landskapslaget AB, Stockholm

Vi är nyfikna på dina idéer Tyréns är ett av Sveriges ledande konsultföretag inom samhällsbyggnad. Våra medarbetare skapar lösningar inom stadsbyggnad och infrastruktur för en hållbar samhällsutveckling Kanske är det dina idéer vi behöver för att utveckla morgondagens lösningar inom samhällsbyggnad. Vår nyfikenhet tar oss vidare, vill du vara med och forma framtiden? Besök oss på www.tyrens.se/karriar

This is how we want to live! By Mikael Propst, Science Journalist

eighbours you can trust. Good residential areas and the functions one needs. The appearance of the landscape. These are factors that people value in their living environment, according to research in the third and final part of the neighbourhood studies that SLU has directed since 1992. This time the researchers selected 1940s and 60s areas around the Baltic Sea. Per Berg, Tuula Eriksson and Madeleine Granvik, researchers from the department for landscape architecture at SLU, have focused on Sweden and Denmark, together with Danish colleagues. Corresponding studies have been made in Russia, Poland and Latvia in collaboration with research colleagues in these countries. Tuula Eriksson is responsible for the studies of the 1960s areas in both of the Scandinavian countries. The main object was Eriksbo, outside Angered centre in the Gothenburg area, and Bröndby Strand which is a suburb west of Copenhagen on the north shore of Køge bay. Among the reference group was also the 60s area Gottsunda, Uppsala. – We tried to find patterns that were representative for the million programs. We found some similarities, but also big differences, says Tuula Eriksson.

When Eriksbo was built it was hard to get people to move there. The problem culminated during the 70s when many apartments were left empty. – But at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s there was a change. Eriksbo formed a cooperative union and started several different types of attractive activities in collaboration with the landlord Familjebostäder. These were based on activities in their own ambient environment. A residential area can quickly change character. The generation that once had grown up in the area in the 60s was positive, saw that it was child friendly with attractive yards and they now moved back there. Important factors in the changed view was also that those who controlled this city district with rented apartments invested to get stores, associations such as for example a 4H-farm ( a kind of city farm), green structures with spice- and herb gardens and seating. Not least, the area had maintenance and the young people could get work during summers through this. – It was a new board of directors who believed in the area and saw what needed to be done. The population is now mixed, where a large part is senior citizens in smaller apartments and families with children in larger apartments. When the area was

considered as attractive came the turn-round, says Tuula Eriksson. She emphasized the importance of that there is a convenience store in Eriksbo and many activities. And to the park areas, and the adjacent very beautiful natural areas as well as the 4H-farm come families with children also from other city districts. The theatre in Angered centre contributes with cultural values, as well as the single fact that the actor Sven Wollter once lived here. – What is important? To feel a kind of pride and a ”we-identity” – it seems to be central. But the residential area also has to function during workdays. It

will for example meet at the midsummer party, flea market and Christmas traditions. But if you are afraid of the neighbour these functions will not be used, says Tuula Eriksson. Tall buildings around a yard can become a deterrent by creating shadows and increasing the wind speed around the houses. There are many examples of similar areas where the well being increased after thinning out the houses and even cutting their height. – In St Petersburg and Copenhagen the neighbourhoods are often divided into blocks. There are not many gathering points, which creates the perception of different groups. In Bröndby, where the Danish are a

should be a safe place and the functions one needs should be available. But it is not enough with “necessary” functions such as for example a laundry room and a bus stop for people to like it. In attractive areas arises a curiosity; one likes to move around in the local area so therefore the landscape design is important. People chat with each other when given the opportunity for natural meetings, they use seating and playgrounds outside and perhaps barbeque together. In an active residential area that offers different activities one

minority, the cultural clash is often substantial. It concerns young people and crime but also stories about ”us and them” where separate events are enlarged. Tuula Eriksson describes when immigrant associations in Malmö arranged activities that visualized the cultural diversity. Every association in an area, characterized by oppositions between Swedes and immigrants as well as within the immigrant groups, exposed their culture by placing out tables with food and play music that represented their country. The

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event attracted many and created discussions. It became a success! And the positive curiosity about the neighbours had awakened! – I know from many good examples that it is possible to break socially cemented attitudes and disputes in residential areas. But it requires credibility and being established with people to drive the issues. When Tuula Eriksson compares with the studied 40s areas in for example Kungsgärdet in Uppsala, Kyrkbyn in Gothenburg and Vigerslev Have in Denmark, there are essential differences. – When the original tenants moved out the house value increased at the time of sale. There were more cars on the streets and big terraces. But the original idea with common activities and local associations was minimized and ebbed away when new families without roots in the small housing area moved in. The young people who move in are not so interested in community associations and rounders is no longer played together

with the neighbours. The generation change brings new demands and needs. – Our hope is that the research will lead to knowledge so that social planners of different categories take part of the experiences and qualities valued by the residents and that are necessary to make good housing, says Tuula Eriksson. 4 FaCTS A comparative investigation was undertaken of twelve residential areas around the Baltic Sea. In the project residential structures were mapped via surveys, complemented with in depth interviews and observation studies. Residents, tenant associations, real estate managers and social planners are included in the study. Research leader: Professor Per Berg. Responsible for sociological parts: Sociologist Tuula Eriksson. Research Council Formas has financed the three neighbouring studies (GRAS 1, GRAS 2 och GRAS 3).

Researchers meet around green-blue cities Ученые обсуждают зеленую инфраструктуру городов By Mikael Propst, science Journalist

or professor Maria Ignatieva the Baltic Sea is not an obstacle. That is why the conference begins in St Petersburg and ends in Uppsala. Could it be more natural when you have your origin in Russia and are now working at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, SLU Uppsala? The annual, international conference for landscape architects ”ICON-LA” will for the first time this year be an EFLA regional Congress. It has got the theme Green Infrastructure: from Global to Local and is organized by the St. Petersburg Administration, European Federation of Landscape Architects (EFLA), St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University (FTU) – this time together with SLU. Elite researchers in green infrastructure from all over the world, including SLU, will attend. – This conference has been my “baby” for six years. I was the innovator from the start, but the framework has been developed in collaboration with Per Berg, Tuula Eriksson and Rolf Johansson at my Department, and FTU in St. Petersburg, says Maria Ignatieva. The start for the regional conference will take place

the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg, where among other events there will be a visit to the restored gardens from the time of Peter the Great. The participants then take an excursion in Helsinki, before taking the boat to Stockholm. There will then be visits to Hammarby Sjöstad and Haga Park. – Stockholm is one of the leading cities for greenblue infrastructure, and it is the same in St Petersburg. We have chosen the best examples. To visit Uppsala was an international request from the latest conference. Here the second part of the scientific presentations will be held, the first part will be host by St Petersburg. Green infrastructure is first and foremost a network, which connects green areas. It is also a transfer and communication. We used to say that the landscape architect has an umbrella-like profession; it includes urban planning, design, plant material, engineering and social aspects. Maria Ignatieva says that it, for example, can involve small-scale green areas, like small Japanese gardens which functions as spots of biodiversity in the

Saint Petersburg.

big cities of Japan. Green infrastructure contributes to solutions for traffic problems by creating a friendly environment for pedestrians. Both the green and blue infrastructures also provide ecosystem services. – A purpose of this conference is to get more people to understand the value of green infrastructure, exchange models and new ideas between the scientists and show the breadth of what we are doing within the research. Maria Ignatieva says that cities which are characterized by a sustainable design have invested in connecting green areas, creating green corridors and building resistant citylands. This means creating functional, dense, living city areas for mixed use which stimulates more senses. These are based on a European planning tradition with advanced and eco-friendly, small scale green areas.4

FACTS The conference Green Infrastructure: from Global to Local, 11-15 June 2012, with representatives from 38 countries, is supported by the research council Formas, SLU (Landscape Architecture Unit, Department of Urban and Rural Development and Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences),the city of St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University. The conference has seven subthemes:

›› Green Infrastructure in different scales ›› Green Heritage ›› Green-Blue infrastructures ›› Built-Green infrastructure and their interactions ›› Green infrastructures: ecosystem services, ›› The link between green and social infrastructure ›› Transportation and green infrastructures

a day in spring By Annika Borg, Doctor of Divinity, Public Debater and Priest

very year I used to remind myself that I should really experience the early summer. Stand under an apple tree in full bloom, not miss the time when the cowslips blooms. Enjoy the lilacs. Pick lily of the valley when they unfold as a white sheer carpet. Besides the enjoyment of picking the flowers and placing them, and smell smelling their scent in the rooms, the actual picking is also about something inalienable. It is something that belongs to the very core of the soul. It has to do with the attitude to life. Of course it is almost trivial to every year experience the light and abundance of nature as a miracle. But every year I get proof it is an experience that I share with many. I remember one of the first days of spring this year, when I took my bicycle along the water in Stockholm to a meeting. It was like making a tour across a desert that had begun to bloom. In the extensive park along the waterside people and animals actually looked like newly opened flowers. It was small children in sun hats, pale elders on benches with walking frames beside them who blinked as if reborn in the warm sun. I met a

parrot in a harness on a young manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shoulder, joggers who smiled and sweated, couples who strolled. Everything breathed peacefulness. There was not a problem anywhere, this was actually the impression. No one tinged angrily when you unexpectedly slowed down your pace, no one walked with fast determined steps and looked into the ground. Everyone seemed to look around and just like me embrace every detail of this wondrous first real day of spring. It was like we all communicated the same message to each other: we deserve this, this is life. A seriously ill friend called later on the same afternoon and told me that she had been sitting in the shade on her balcony and been able to enjoy the weather and scents. The peacefulness had been with her as well. Such a day is completely invaluable, good. It almost felt like just a day like this would counterbalance all the heavy days. A colleague said that the sensation of being able to bring coffee out in the garden cleared the stress of mortgage interest rates and the future. Things will be fine, he thought and took a sip of coffee while feeling a sense of calmness within him.

In the evening I could hear how people gathered in the square next to the house where I live. Someone had brought chairs and I sat for a long time and listened to laughter and soft voices. It is just that kind of day that our voices stop being frost bitten and finds another tone. Perhaps we have even forgotten that this is how we actually sound. A moment like this can make a world of difference, turn the perspective right, find a link within us so that we will live long on the memory of how it can be when everything is just right and in unison. When other thoughts than the usual ones take place. Late in the evening I watch the news and read the paper that I did not had time with in the morning. My eyes fix on a note about how young girls are sold for trafficking in Saudi Arabia and an article on the tormented population in Syria. And then I feel how all those other things - the anger and frustration â&#x20AC;&#x201C; start to get a hold and whirl around within me. But then everything stops. The dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiences of peace and light enable me

to meet the world, the reality and difficulties in another way, and not descend into discouragement. There is always something to do about things, there are always those who see and act, life is good and people want the best for each other. These thoughts pushed away the dark ones. All that was needed was that first bright spring day to ease the mind. And more will come. For many years I have not had the time to enjoy the light. And also not taken time to pick flowers. And I felt a sting of melancholy. But now there will not be many more years as they inalienably disappear into the pages of a calendar. The calendar does not give clues to the actual life. Those clues are somewhere else. And as conscious as I am that I will often fail with my intention, I am certain that every year I will get a new chance.4

What places are important to you? When citizens can paticipate in the planning process By Malin Eriksson, Research Assistant at the Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala

ne pin after the other is placed on the map outside the local food store in the residential area Lindö in Norrköping. After a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon, and some more on Saturday, hundreds Lindö residents of all ages have stopped to mark places that are important for them-

nettles there, I am at home when I am there – I grew up in the countryside”. Just west of Lindö are plans for a new traffic route. One of the alternatives would mean that a high bridge is built in the area between Lindö and central Norrköping. But what does it mean when big roads are built

selves – or for the area as a whole. White pins for places being used on special occasions, yellow for places with a view and so on. The maps have a varied pattern of multicolored pins. Every place has its own meaning, just like one of the local residents testified about one of the pinholes: “In Spring I use to pick

through people’s everyday landscapes? How can the planners acquire the knowledge and values of those who live in and use a landscape that they consider their own? And what qualities would this mean for the continued planning of different types of landscape structures?

In Lindö we are testing the map pin method, which has been developed to be fast and simple so that as many as possible should be able, want and take time to participate. It makes it possible for those citizens affected by the decisions to give their view on the landscape in a much earlier stage of the planning than what is otherwise praxis today. The method has been developed within the research project Better landscape analysis for the transport sector. The project has its base in the European Landscape Convention and has as a goal to ensure the landscape analysis quality and clarify its role in the planning process. The current project is a collaboration between SLU Uppsala, SLU Alnarp and VTI (The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute) and the work is lead by Ulla Berglund, SLU Uppsala. The goal is that at the end of 2012 having produced a guide with concrete advice and good examples for procurement and implementation of landscape analysis that follow the European Landscape Convention. 4

In June 2011 there was an opening ceremony at Gävle hospital for three new inner courtyards with different themes. Earlier these were empty spaces with only concrete slabs, now they make room for play, rehabilitation and coffee brakes. Architect: Thorolf Hedlund, Johan Skoog arkitektkontor ab. Client: X-Fastigheter, Landstinget Gävleborg

JOHAN SKOOG arkitektkontor ab www.johanskoogarkitekt.se

BUILDING - INTERIOR - LANDSCAPE 45

large scale intrusions in the landscape By Håkan Blanck, Sweco and Emily Wade, Landskapslaget, Stockholm

construction and the adjoining land – which we can call the frame – is designed. Those who live along the planned railroad project, their experiences, access to stations and possibility to cross the tracks, becomes central design tasks. The goal is often to limit the impact on the surrounding landscape and sometimes to bring out the landscape experience throughout the construction. In some cases it is also to emphasize the construction. In the landscape architect’s toolbox for design are among other things slopes, intersections, walls, mounds, bridges, noise screens and vegetation. Ten years ago there was an explosive increase of mobile telephones and thus a development of 3G-masts. In Sweden voices were raised against this new infrastructure in our landscapes. Telephone masts that were placed high in the landscape, are visible several kilometers away and so became a public concern. One began to ask what would happen with

vertical

horizontal Railroads go straight through the landscape. The purpose is to save time and energy. Bends and elevations worsen the capacity of the railway. This is something to avoid, also when the landscape is undulating or contains sensitive environments. Therefore much time is spent estimating the impact of where new railroads can be constructed. It is then the big context of the landscape that is in focus – ecology, land use and housing, recreation and landscape image, roads and other infrastructure. Based on certain fixed points (for example stations) and within certain frameworks (technical guidelines, noise investigations, EIA, economy, etc.) different alternatives are tested in plan and profile. The landscape’s conditions affect the placing of the railroad, and how the railroad will affect the landscape. What is important is to identify where to proceed carefully and in which environments the railroad should be developed with a higher ambition level. But it is not until the route is determined that the railroad

unique environments such as intact moors and views of mountains when the landscape image was disturbed by these newcomers. The government therefore commissioned Swedenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s municipalities and county councils to produce a guide for building permission administrators for a mast in the right place. The central question was how the landscape image would be affected. Structure, land use and experience values were surveyed and ten landscape image types were identified. For each landscape type a description of characteristics, visual influence area, visual sensitivity and occurrence was produced. Six years later the masts have in many places become an

obvious part of the landscape in the day and at night they watch over us, each with a blinking eye. Masts occupy a small space but can change the landscape image over a larger area. In open intact landscapes the silhouette is an important characteristic and a mast becomes a a large scale interference. The localization of the mast decides how it will be perceived. But what is constructed and built today will in time be an accepted and culture bearing feature in the landscape. Minimized interference of the landscape should be nuanced with the new values that can be created. 4

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Hello Sweden! students abroad

Living the dream! Anna-Karin GĂ¤vert is a last year student at the Landscape Architect Program at SLU Uppsala. Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, 2010â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2011.

took the chance. I changed the bicycle ride to SLU, Uppsala with the constant headwind for the Car and Corn Mecca in the American midwest. During the academic year 2010/2011 I studied at Purdue University. An adventure in every way but also a challenge for a pedestrian to get to places in a society planned for the car. It became a journey for understanding â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but also to value similarities on different sides of the Atlantic. It is hard to know how to summarize life as a student outside the borders of Sweden. Most of all it

creates perspectives. Not primarily on the profession, where the landscape architect illustrates future changes, but rather on creating an understanding of the current world and its differences. It was clear to me that life, as well as the city, the education and the people, can appear different based on the conditions prevailing around the world. The adventure also included a visit to Millenium Park in Chicago, MFO Park in Toronto, Central Park in New York and other fantastic city rooms that I have earlier only seen on pictures. Living the dream!

Wien and Berlin – wy choose? Beatrice Andersson is a last year student at the Landscape Architect Program at SLU Uppsala. 2010-2011: Erasmus exchange at Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna). August – October 2011: practicing at MAN MADE LAND, Berlin.

ine months in Vienna and three months in Berlin turned into an intensive year full of impressions that I am still processing and am still inspired by. It was a journey from the city of traditional parks, to the most modern street art and newest landscape architecture. To study abroad was not to escape the education in Sweden or for studying amounts of courses in different Austrian dialects. I knew that the studies and practice would change my weekday and make it more marked by the culture of the locations. The experiences that I value most from the foreign studies have not so much to do with lectures or the practice assignments. They are about staying and living in a new city. To constantly

observe and be a part of city life and to see how outdoor environments are used and how they are valued. In Vienna I lived next door to the city park of Schloss Schönbrunn. I went there several times a week and could follow the park from when the leaves began to be colored red in September, to the grey winter months when the park and tree structure was the most clear and it was possible to see straight through labyrinths and paths. In the spring groves bloomed with yellow star of Bethlehem and gigantic magnolias and in the summer the entire rose garden. The dynamics were also in the strict maintenance, among joggers, tourists, events and festivals. What fascinated

me most in Vienna was to see how the traditional parks, most of all the city park Auggarten, was really used every day by the Austrians. In Berlin I never stopped being a tourist. Every free moment I went out on a bicycle to have time to get to a new city district with more landscape architecture. Just about always I had to stop on the road when I discovered something different; a characteristic inner courtyard, street art, some exciting activity or an abandoned green area which had been anonymously

cared for. To see parks in effect and really used by the city residents was inspiring. My favorites were to be the airfield Tempelhof that became a public park in May 2010 and the completely new city park Park am Gleisdreieck. I could spend several hours in both parks and just watch all the activities. The experiences in both cities have made me go sight seeing more at home, to go exploring, to choose detours. For it is clearly worth the time to be lost in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home town.

funkia landskapsarkitektur www.funkia.se 51

A Canadian town gave memories for life Anna Johansson is a last year student at the Landscape Architecture Programme at SLU Uppsala. Bilateral agreement, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada during the autumn 2011.

ince the start of the education in landscape architecture my goal has been to travel abroad and study. The aim was initially taken at Australia, but because of cancelled places the selection was limited. So when I got a place in Canada I was quite uncertain. Who had heard of Winnipeg? Not me at least. By Canadian standards this city of 700Â 000 people is a small town (!). Now, afterwards, I can only say that the exchange was among the best things I have done in my life.

I found my everyday life in Winnipeg, gave me a fantastic stay and I am incredibly happy with this challenging travel. To get the most possible out of my stay I tried to think of what one would want with the exchange â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to experience the culture, develop skills, compare educations and meet new people. An exchange should be a development both professionally and personally. Regardless of where you go you will get experiences and memories for life. In the end it really is what you make of it.

Cultivation in Tokyo Mikael Johansson is a last year student at the Landscape Architecture Program at SLU Uppsala Explores the green structure of Tokyo in spring 2012.

oon the cherry flowers will bloom here in Tokyo, and I am here to study. I traveled here to explore Tokyo’s green structure. I am mostly interested in the small-scale growing initiatives that I find at the most unexpected places and which gives the city district a green character. My city district is similar in structure to most areas in central Tokyo’s outer areas: An outer ring of high buildings along the larger roads and an inner, fine-meshed weave of free standing houses of two to three floors linked by winding small streets and alleys. The houses stand close to the road and the border between the street and the private sphere is sometimes diffuse. Like a silent agreement of where to be or not. The structure has its base in the regulations for how a plot can be built. It permits, among other things, only one building per plot as well as a minimum distance of half a meter between the edge of the plot and the building. In the outer area is the local park which together with temple gardens adds to the green structure. Both are semi-private with opening hours and visiting rules.

Thus, there is no strictly public land. At the exhibition Tokyo Metabolizing, which was shown during the twelfth architecture biennial in Venice, this city structure was described as ’a porous structure containing garden plants’. It is here – in the space between the buildings and between houses and the street – that the citizens grow their garden plants. By investigating these characteristic areas we can better understand the larger contexts. Buildings in Tokyo have a relatively short life span, 25-30 years, which leads to a constant transformation where small initiatives can change the structure on a larger scale. Can the private green initiatives expand and become a larger part of the city? Maybe the pot plants growing in the suburbs can eventually lead to a greener Tokyo.

to create is to play By Ylva Dahlman, Senior Lecturer at the Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala

rchitects create all the time, the new, the not yet experienced. Despite the freedom and infinite possibilities it is easy to get blocked by accustomed patterns and behavior. What do such obstructions consist of and how can we get past them? Creating is an activity but also a condition that involves paradoxical contradictions. It can even be dangerous to live a creative life. The two biggest traps are the wishfor approval and the desire to be original. Both risk going towards exaggeration and lead to an inability to act or to nitpicking in details. Creating requires space. In the age of antiquity temenos, closed holy places, suspended the surrounding world’s laws and norms and applied special agreements. The psychotherapist CG Jung used the term to describe the room where mental processes can be brought into the light and be made conscious. Something similar is

needed in creativity. A special place for the freeing thoughts. But to create is not always so simple. For many the creative work begins with bringing order to their own temenos – clean the desk, archive files or make coffee. If later, when the creativity has begun, there is confusion, paralysis or creative cramp it can be overcome by recreating order in the temenos. Creating requires freedom. With improvisation exercises we can remove our obstructions. But it will only work if we base the improvisation on our own creative processes, not if we try to follow the formula of others. It does not mean to be free from rules – but quite the opposite. Following the rules for creating is on the other hand not so easy. They are often complicated and sometimes even hard to formulate. But they have the quality that we will always know ourselves when breaking them. Creating is the direct opposite to

››

There are, it seems, two muses: The Muse of Inspiration, who gives us inarticulate visions and desires, and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say “It is yet more difficult than you thought.” This is the muse of form. It may be then that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction, to baffle us and deflect our intended course. I may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to the real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.

Wendell Berry, poet och writer. From Poetry and Marriage/ Standing by Words 1983

do “anything”. At its best creating feels like expanding a moment of creativity so that it reaches infinitely further. It is the same as when time disappears in an intensive game. What is important then is not what we do but how we do it. Lewis Carroll invented the word galumphing (probably a mix of gallop and triumph), which among other things can be described as play energy, to do the unnecessary just because it is fun. For example, to jump instead of simply walking around. To play and improvise is effective to free us from earlier, often arbitrary, restrictions and widen our mental action radius. And it is only then that it is possible to create something new! Creating requires creativity. But to be creative does at the same time involve a risk. To follow your own staked out path and abandon parents, departments, teachers and friends as role models means a fragile

balance between tradition and personal freedom, between being stubborn and being open and perceptive to changes. We then have to treat our rational knowledge and the intuitive knowledge, which has its source in everything we know, everything we are and which has a capacity of leading to absolute certainty. Here is the difficult challenge in creating, to find and stand up to your ideas, which do not lie on a rational base, and what we believe to be certain of. The challenge is daring to stand up for what is important, to curiously follow where this leads, letting go, fail, accept your obstructions – but also try to remove them. Creating outmost means to play, to dare to lose face and be foolish and be honest to oneself. Only then do you experience the disappointments of failure as well as the wonderful breakthroughs. 4

Landskapsarkitektkontoret URBIO vill föra naturen närmare människan genom att integrera nya former av natur i staden. Varför? För att berika människors livsmiljöer, gynna hälsa och välbefinnande, skapa klimatpositiva effekter och på samma gång utveckla den biologiska mångfalden! Läs mer om våra idéer på: www.urbio.se & www.hållbarstad.se 57

close spacious sensual

the new green compact city By Per Berg, Professor in Landscape Planning at the Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala

he future city is the same and yet completely new. It is crowded with people, but it is closer to commerce, offices and culture. It has most of the same streets, places and squares, but there is a significantly more resource effective mix of pedestrians, cyclists, trams, busses and micro-cars. The city of the future is compact, but also spacious – along lively streets, living houses and in attractive environments are sensual experiences as important for city life as work and transports. The future city is green and smart – everywhere. Street trees and multifunctional city rooms create a continuous network with foliage shade, scents of the season, crowd noises and water play and offers everything from pulse and playfulness to peace of mind and rest for the body. The European cities of today are dense and moderately high. The city building ideal has throughout history most often been four storeys for common habitation and up to five when there are stores and services at street level. In the beginning the city was

also integrated with its surrounding green areas. City and country developed interactively. Also big cities like London and Berlin had still in the 1920s large-scale ”green wedges” and ”blue lanes” (parks, green areas and watercourses) that intertwined the city with the countryside at the four points of the compass. But with the car, welfare and globalization many cities have with time been built over and the contact was lost with the surrounding cultural landscape’s forests, fields and water. The Nordic cities are still quite integrated with their surrounding areas, especially in the historical core, but here the development in the current situation seems to be heading in the opposite direction compared to the continent: In Frankfurt, Paris and Brussels there is a strengthening of the investment on green city rooms. Despite that the same credo echoes in Central Europe as here about densification as a way towards greater sustainability – the densification is done differently at the continent than in the North. Here the green wedges are exploited, which made

Clichy Batignolles: The reconstructed railway brownfield in the North part of Paris was planned – like Hammarby Sjöstad – to become the Olympic Village (for Olympic Games 2012), but was disappointingly outcompeted by London. But the plans of a new eco-district are currently developing and will be finished by 2013. When it is ready the green areas will make up to 10 hectares. This is in turn a part of the total goal of developing 300 hectares new green areas inside Paris. In the new city district park – much space has been set aside for everyday outings for residents with baguettes and wine. The City district park Clichy Batignolles have been planned for the management of storm water and by that also for creating water mirrors in the park landscape. There are both play grounds and a skate park in the new city district park. A sensitive windmill contributes to the watering maintenance of the park. 59

Copenhagen the city of bikers. From a booklet with pictures and texts about all the world’s capitals, published by Åhlén and Åkerlunds publishing house, 1936. All since then Copenhagen has developed one of the world’s most advanced bicycle network – in the city as well as in the suburbia and intertwined with the green county fingers. This network of pathways offer Copenhageners to bike in clean air through parks and green links to all directions in the city and its hinterlands – to workplaces, schools, service points and cultural sites.

Velib in Paris. Velib is an immensely popular, time-efficient and (for the Paris residents) cheap transport system, with bicycle stations in a dense network all over the Paris map.

It is comfortable and safe to bike in Vauban, which has created a remarkably efficient mobility within the area – but also with strong bike links to the Freiburg centre. Along all bike- and pedestrian pathways – large efforts have been made to create foliage shadow and attractive ”greenways”. Image: Varis Bokalders

the Nordic city planning famous. In Europe there is instead desire to increase the share of green areas in the city. In Paris the goal is to increase park- and green areas with 13% before the year 2019. Paris is exciting in many ways. At the same time as the development of a couple of bigger parks and a large number of small parks, the ambition is to decrease the distance between different pleasure- and service functions. It is made by complementing the habitation, but mainly via a clear redistribution of transports from cars and metro to bicycles and walking. With the immensely popular Velib-system (rental bicycles) the distance will decrease drastically while the bicycle network is developed. This has resulted in planners discovering the significance of the green areas and the city trees to create an attractive transport environment for the cyclists (greenways).

Zürich has one of Europe’s most advanced high-quality, public transport networks. It is based on a high-frequent time-table (2-4 minutes) for the trams and which on the average arrives at central stops within 1-2 minutes or “sofort” (immediately). The tram network is linked to a comfortable system of pedestrian- and bicycle pathways, squares, sidewalks, and park/water promenades.

The pedestrian-bicycle network structure connects with the green structure since the 1950s in Nordic cities but has more and more made an impact on city transformation in Dutch and German suburbs (Houten and Culemborg outside Utrecht and Vauban in Freiburg and Südstadt in Tübingen) and also in city centres in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Austria. In Copenhagen there are green bicycle networks at county level and down on a local level in the city centre. The twenty five criteria for ecological adaptation defined in a noted EU-study of seven European cities and the twelve criteria of the EU Green Capital Award are all about transformation to renewable energy, cycle systems and a newly awakened mixed city (”mixeduse”). But also more and more is about compact building based on an advanced green structure in the city centre

In Zürich it is comfortable to be a biker, tram rider or walking person and increasingly uncomfortable to be a private motorist. In daily newspapers editorials complain about the abuse of motorists: ”it is not fun to drive a car anymore - now pedestrians need to wait no longer than 20 seconds until they get a green light” (in Uppsala at the most frequented bicycle/pedestrian passing it takes typically 90 seconds (!) to pass the street during rush hour).

integrated with gray road zones and a complete bicycle network. This leads the city development to create safe, beautiful and attractive city rooms with light and air, plants, animals and water – and with many people. In this rising green and blue infrastructure are service stations not only for cars but also for pedestrians and cyclists. Strategically placed bicycle houses appear in increasingly more cities. Embedded into the growth are ”nodes” built with stores, bicycle stands, workshops, bicycle rentals, cafés often in direct connection to railways, tramways, busses, taxis and rental cars – like in Freiburg. This service can also be located under the local train platforms – like in Houten and Malmö. With increased cycling, the introduction of planning for pedestrian areas, and the current ”ITS-explosion” (Intelligent Transport Systems), the conditions are changed for several functions in the city. For example,

The new and internationally renowned eco-district Vauba, close to the centre of Freiburg. Here you can find a pedestrian-bicycle-tram dominated traffic system, renewable energy solutions and plus-houses (the houses produce a surplus of electricity), but also an advanced green structure in four scales. Note particularly the green transition zone in the left side of the picture, where there is a designed creek, apple gardens, leisure gardens, playing grounds, riding ranges and stables and a number of other functions intended to make the boundary zone â&#x20AC;?sluggishâ&#x20AC;? against further exploitation in the zone. Image: Varis Bokalders

the traffic planning for public transport is helped enormously via clear and constantly updated information at stations, stops and directly into smart-phones. This speeds up the change into a convenient transport system with good and easily accessible traffic information. Right now there is an exciting development when ITS connects to all other services and cultural events in the city. To take the car becomes more and more inconvenient, expensive and time consuming while public transport, walking- and cycling become both attractive and more effective and time saving. What we experience today is an internationally expanding trend that fragmented and spread cities and suburbs develop to be more collected and compact. At the same time they are greener, more traffic safe,

socially safer and more attractive as living environments. The future cities are green and compact, but paradoxically also lighter with more social integration and therefore safer. They are less resource demanding, climate smart and have every opportunity to also benefit comfort, well being and public health. Something that benefits cultural development contributes to feeling at home in the city wherever you live, travel and work. But then we have to take this city development ideal seriously â&#x20AC;&#x201C; also in Sweden. 4

VI SÖKER FLER SOM VILL VARA MED OCH FORMA SVERIGE Inom landskapsarkitektur och stadsbyggnad är Tema en av de största aktörerna i Sverige. Vi medverkar i alla skeden, från program och utredningar till färdigt resultat. Våra uppdrag sträcker sig från Luleå i norr till Malmö i söder. Nu söker vi fler engagerade medarbetare som vill vara med och forma Sverige.

Vill du bli en av oss? Vi söker: • Flera landskapsarkitekter till våra kontor i Stockholm, Malmö och Uppsala. • En erfaren miljökonsult i stadsbyggnadsuppdrag samt en handläggande planarkitekt till vårt kontor i Stockholm. Läs mer och gör din ansökan på www.temagruppen.se.

2 3

1. Förnyelse av Slussen, delområde Land. Foto: Dieter Stöpfgeschoff 2. Dragarbrunnsgatan, Uppsala 3. Gå-City, Västerås 4. Norra Kajen, Sundsvall 5. Ribersborgs strandpromenad, Malmö 63

ACTIVE LIFE AND SAFE CIRCLES The elderly as a resource in sustainable accommodation By Per Berg, Professor in Landscape Planning and Tuula Eriksson, Sociologist with focus on accommodation issues, Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala

he elderly keep increasing in society. In government investigations this has been described as a growing resource problem, where fewer workers should support more senior citizens. Among the younger senior citizens many are expected to be active travelers and consumers. Older senior citizens are less mobile. They have a bigger need for simple and close social services and a safe local environment that is attractive to the senses. But both younger and older senior citizens can contribute to the city and countryside changing into a more environmentally friendly, resource-economic, healthy and more sustainable society. This is what our research is about. The question is how much the elderly can and want to help with the change? The younger elderly can theoretically contribute with time, power and experience. The older elderly can tell about their lives and play an important part in maintaining social networks in the neighborhood. We study how the elderly want and can get partly new roles in four common urban

types in Uppsala: the City centre, Kungsgärdet (small house area), Tuna backar (“people’s homes houses” built for ordinary families after WWII) and Gottsunda (block house area from the 1970’s). We will also compare the city centre’s neighborhood in four urban areas: the “big” city of Gothenburg, the intermediate sized city Uppsala, the small city Trollhättan and the village Vattholma outside Uppsala. Residents and those who administrate the elderly accommodation are interviewed, as well as the senior citizens organizations PRO and SPRF. We also interview different participants who plan and in other ways have an influence on the accommodation and interests of the elderly. What is a good accommodation for the younger elders – i.e. who are mobile and active – and what is a good accommodation for the older elders? It is important to learn more about and to better understand how the elders can and wants to help with developing their neighborhood. The questions that we

The elderly can play an active role both in the care of children and to tell about their lives â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to share their wisdom. One century and four generations separates the two in the picture.

In the block J채rnbrottet in Gothenburg the elderly participated to halving the energy demand (to 90 KWh/sq. km) by having the accommodation company Poseidon insulate walls and floor structure, change windows and install solar collectors. They have also formed a gardening union for the new greenhouse which is a popular place for coffee breaks, as well as a mini allotment area on the former lawn in front of the house which was built in 1950.

With more elderly citizens we need in the near future to design the outdoor environment in a more conscious way to ease accessibility and to offer several sensory experiences near the accommodations. 66

ask are about how we can conserve physical resources such as energy, water and material – but also economical resources like accommodation costs, care for established environments and informal collaborations in the neighborhood. We, for example, want to know if it is common that the elderly help each other and if they share the use of machines and tools. Would they consider keeping watch on apartments, bicycles and children in the block? We investigate how the elderly recognize biological values such as plants, animals, green entrances, yards and adjacent green areas. How they look at services and the availability of resources like stores, pharmacies, banks, libraries and medical centers. And how they experience the social aspects in their living environment, for example the relations with their neighbors

and between the generations. We also investigate the significance of the location’s cultural identity (history, art and traditions) and the elders views on aesthetic resources such as visual- auditory- scent and other sensory impressions. To discuss with those concerned is a good way to work for producing and assuring the quality of nuances and depth in the knowledge being developed in the project. But as is common for a researcher, we alternate interviews and discussions with surveys, site observations, studies of texts, maps and pictures. In this way we believe that we can contribute to new approaches among planners, architects, residents associations and senior citizens associations and by politicians who wants to understand how to make use of the advantages of the increasingly aging society. 4

Vi skapar landskap och miljöer med stark identitet och funktion – i går, i dag, i morgon.

Stora Tullhuset – Fotografiska Museet, Stockholm I samband med ombyggnaden fick Tengbom Landskap i uppdrag att gestalta och projektera de två torgen som omger Stora Tullhuset. Projektet erhöll ROT-priset 2011.

I love candy ets

By Kerstin Nordin, Lecturer at the Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala

hing

ou if y e av to h d oo ts g e e sw

need

et som

re candy sto a e r e h t sweets fast buy

s it good for children to buy Saturday sweets? The question was brought up when I went through the results from a study conducted in Täby community 2012 with children in the age 11-18. On a map showing their favorite places in the community, an area with several markings caught my attention because it did not seem to be a playground, school yard, sports field or garden. The area is wedged between the railroad and a residential area. What is it that makes this a favorite place for so many? In the study, 600 school children participated, all of the pupils replied to a computer survey with seven questions and a map. The pupils replied by drawing and making marks on the digital map, and by selecting reply alternatives or writing their own text. The survey was conducted in the school, during school hours. A supervisor from the municipality was there to receive the children, help them get started and answer any questions. Thanks to this we know what roads children take to school and use during their free time, as well as which places they often are. We also got to know the

ang to h d o go

hea out C

places that children thought were dangerous or unsafe and what were their favorite places. In addition, the students contributed with suggestions for improvements. What can we learn by this? Well, that when we work with the planning and design of the urban environment, we should take advice from experts on children’s outdoor environment – the children themselves. The children’s everyday landscapes are much more than playgrounds and gardens. They have knowledge and suggestions on everything from traffic areas to shopping malls. They can instantly describe features on a map and in their own words tell you what they experience, such as dangerous or favorite places – on private land as well as the community’s land. They have proposals for maintenance implementations and major changes. They have qualified opinions on adult and youth behavior. The favorite place that caught my attention turned out to be a barrack building where they sell everyday goods and sweets. By the comments that the children

swe

ds y frien m h t i be w ts and e e w s y can bu that I

Facts Täby municipality performed a study in 2010 with about 600 school children, 11-18 years old. The project ”Plats att växa” used a method ”Children maps in GIS” developed by Ulla Berglund and Kerstin Nordin at the Department for Urban and Rural Development, SLU Uppsala.

HUS

LANDSKAP HUS

HUS LANDSKAP LANDSKAP HUS

HUS LANDSKAP LANDSKAP

www.barngis.slu.se

wrote themselves, it appears to be the sweets that attract them. The thought occurs to me, perhaps it is not only the sweets that led to it being marked as a favorite place – but the fact that they can get there without an adult and make the purchase themselves. Researchers in progressive psychology have shown the importance of children having the possibility to gradually explore and control their local environment. To on your own be able to get to the store and buy milk or sweets, is a part of the development of a child. The children with the candy store as a favorite place live at most one kilometer away and can get there by walking- and cycle paths without crossing big traffic routes. Thus it is not only the city park administration that has a responsibility for the children’s everyday environment. It can also be the business enterprise, store owner and environmental inspector! It can be very good for the children and youths to buy Saturday sweets close to where they live. 4

På ÅWL är vi både arkitekter och landskapsarkitekter. Vi arbetar tillsammans eftersom resultatet blir bättre om stadsbyggnad, hus och landskap tänks som en helhet från början.

www.awlark.se/landskap Arkitekter 69

andskapsarkitektur bygger traditionellt inte på boklig bildning, utan på utvecklingen av en yrkesspecifik handlingskunskap. Källorna till kunskap är därför till stor del andra än publikationer. Influenserna kan vara föreläsare, medarbetare, samtal, diskussioner, upphovsmän, anläggningar, exkursioner etcetera. Mot denna bakgrund är det begripligt att teorier inom ämnet sällan uttrycks explicit, trots att de är viktiga för kommunikationen inom och utom

Perspectives on Theory and Know-how in Landscape Architecture By Per Hedfors and Petter Åkerblom, Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala

ach profession is characterized by traditions. Practical experiences and tacit knowledge play a big role when new generations enter the profession and make it their own. Landscape architecture is no exception. This profession is to a large degree based on the development of profession-specific know-how. The sources for professional knowledge are therefore to a large extent located outside publications. Sensual experience is an important base for professional skill to evolve. The influences during the time of study are for example mediated via excursions, study visits, landscape experiences, practical garden- and construction work. During periods of office training, the landscape architecture student is introduced into the work site’s

organization, working conditions and business ideas. Against this background it is understandable that the theoretical base both for professional practice and the subject of landscape architecture can be perceived as unclear, despite its presence in lecture, seminars and essay writing. To find out what theories have been tested or developed within the discipline during more than 50 years that the education has existed in the Nordic countries, landscape architects from the Nordic countries were invited to the symposium Urkunder och Husgudar (“Records and House Gods”)in Uppsala 18-19th April this year. In focus were publications and the authorship that had the largest significance for these landscape architects own development. That is to say

››

What I myself has ended up on in my reflections is an exposé of literature and people that to me has conveyed a useful ”theory/tradtion of thoughts” which I encountered during my search from youth to old age. My generation had to be very inquisitive; there were few tracks that were laid out for us. Olav R. Skage

what texts have inspired or given lasting knowledge for their professional practice. The following quotation by Olav R. Skage – one of the pioneers and lecturers – shows some of the wings of history: – What I myself has ended up on in my reflections is an exposé of literature and people that to me has conveyed a useful ”theory/tradtion of thoughts” which I encountered during my search from youth to old age. My generation had to be very inquisitive; there were few tracks that were laid out for us. During the symposium it was apparent that the need for knowledge in landscape architecture theory is central for both research and professional practice to develop. The theoretical understanding is important both for communication within the discipline and with other subjects and professional areas. More and more often we have to use theoretical frameworks to better understand – and be able to develop – the activities that

landscape architects are involved in. This is found in a world that shrinks constantly and where the assignments are more often international. Theoretical approaches become more important both for students and practitioners to develop terms and design concepts. In the academic world the theoretical framework is central for example in the formulations of educational programs and research applications. It has simply become necessary to articulate a subject specific theory to ease the communication with others and make us landscape architects understood. The symposium Urkunder and Husgudar was arranged 18-19th April 2012 at SLU Uppsala in collaboration with the research program FUSE (Future Urban Sustainable Environment) at SLU, as a stage to visualize the theoretical development within the practical oriented subject of landscape architecture. The research program FUSE works to support planning

Per Hedfors

Clas Florgård

and organization of energy effective urban areas based on a land economy which saves land for cultivation of food and commodities while improving the living quality and contributes to sustainable environments. FUSE achieves this by initiating faculty comprehensive research in collaboration with industries, interest organizations and authorities. Responsible for the symposium was Per Hedfors, landscape architect and assistant professor, Caroline Dahl, planning architect, professor emeritus Clas Florgård and professor emerita Eivor Bucht. Lecturers were Nina Marie Andersen, Thorbjörn Andersson, Magne Bruun, Eivor Bucht, Per Hedfors, Göran Johnson, Ib Asger Olsen, Olav R. Skage and Ragnhild Widgren.

Caroline Dahl

Eivor Bucht

In the panel for the concluding discussions were Ulla Berglund, Eva Gustavsson, Sture Koinberg, Ingbritt Liljekvist, Irja Persson, Anders Sandberg, Bengt Schibbye, Marit Silins, Torbjörn Suneson and Pär Söderblom – with Eivor Bucht and Clas Florgård as moderators. Presenter: Caroline Dahl. The symposium was documented with video and material from the symposium will be published on FUSE:s homepage www.slu.se/fuse, and also be reflected in an upcoming issue of Nordic Journal of Architectural Research which is based on the same theme. 4

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play, laughter and deadly serious By ร sa Hellstrรถm, Project Manager at the Environmental Department in the City of Malmรถ, working with issues on sustainable urban development for children and young people

or children growing up in India, this large country with its enormous population, the difference between rich and poor are huge. What are the conditions here for childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s play and development? There are children everywhere but they seldom play in places which to us are traditional â&#x20AC;&#x153;children placesâ&#x20AC;?. They play where they are at that moment, which can sometimes be on the sidewalk and sometimes in the middle of roads and streets with a risk to life and limb. I am in Cubbon Park, Bangalore. The only playground there is has an admission fee. Here you only find parents who can afford to spend money on traditional playground play for their children. Most children in India do not live in the mega cities but in the countryside and in smaller communities and survive on very limited means. There have never been so many children in the younger ages who now go to school. This means that many residential areas are

empty of children during the day, but later overflow with children after school. But this does not mean that there would be places for play or outdoor activities in the school grounds or around the school. Some schools do not have a playground at all, others have a cemented spot to play, and nothing more. At other schools, half of the grounds are occupied by the unfenced, common toilet out in the open. It is of course relatively warm during the school day. But this does not prevent children to play and being outside during the breaks in the morning. The money invested in schools is as a rule spent on education. The need for new schools increases enormously each year, but for play and outdoor activities there does not seem to be time, money or thoughts. Everywhere I go I see street children, children who do not go to school, who do not have families and are homeless. They gather around the train stations to have somewhere to stay and live. These children spend most

of the days outdoors. It is deadly serious to get food for the day and shelter for the night. In the middle of all this seriousness it is difficult for an occasional visitor from our part of the world to understand how the children can be so happy. You rarely see sad faces. Rarely hear complaints. Rarely hear nagging. Many children are incredibly thin and dirty – but still shine like suns. The clothes are filthy

and seldom whole – but the girls have fresh flowers in their braided hair and long skirts or dresses. The boys are always dressed in shorts and a jersey or shirt. The children few toys but play with except what is around – or with each other. Here, the social exchange between children is in focus. Always with a smile on their faces. 4

Hållbar

design

energieffektiv

arkitektur

ekologiskt

skötselplanering

energiberäkningar, köldbryggor

byggande

e n e r g i d e k l a r at i o n e r

l o k a lt o m H ä n d e r ta g a n d e av d a g vat t e n e n e r g i e f f e k t i v

utomHusmiljö

b e ly s n i n g sunda

m at e r i a l

miljöklassning

för

människor

lCa-beräkningar

i t- s t r at e g i e r

miljöinventering

t r ä d g å r d s r e s ta u r e r i n g radon

solfångare

byggnader

oCH

landskapsarkitektur

anläggningar

byggnader

styr-

termografering d e ta l j p l a n e r i n g ,

provtryCkning

tillgängligHet oCH välj

reglersystem b ä s ta

solCeller

besiktningar

möjliga

geoenergilager

energikälla värmelagring

miljökonsekvensbeskrivninginomHusmiljö & m at e r i a l tion

projektering

geografiska

i n f o r m at i o n s s y s t e m

Hållbart byggande värmelagring

sunda

Hus

trä- oCH stålkonstruk-

laserskanning mätningsteknik

visualisering

k u lt u r m i l j ö v å r d

projekteringsledning

geoHydrologi

landskap

geoteknik

lCC-beräkningar

byggledning

projektled-

ning

arkitekter ingenjörer w w w. b j e r k i n g . s e

0 1 8 - 6 5 11 0 0

inspiration realism & illusion graffic artist erik johansson By Lillemor Berg, writer and designer, Uppsala

belysningskonst På Götaplatsen med Poseidon i centrum, har vi på Ramböll utformat ljussättningen för att skapa en trygg och inbjudande miljö även kvällstid. Våra landskapsarkitekter, landskapsingenjörer och fysiska planerare skapar miljöer över hela landet där sambandet mellan plats och människa stimulerar till spännande möten och upplevelser.

www.ramboll.se

artist who inspire Erik Johansson ›› Salvador Dali – Spanish surrelalist ›› M.C. Escher – Dutch graphic Artist ›› René Magritte – Belgian surrealist ›› Rob Gonsalves – Canadian painter ›› Jacek Yerka – Polish painter ›› Shaun Tan – Australian illustrator ›› Mattias Adolfsson – Swedish illustrator

foto: ulf celandeR

›› Sven Nordqvist – Swedish illustrator and author

Eriks tips for inspiration

rik Johansson, is a young and talented photographer and artist, who with humour and a twisted sense of realism breaks the boundaries between illusion and reality with his images. He was born in 1985 in Götene, a little town in Västergötland, but now works in Berlin. Whilst developing his own personal style as an artist, he is also an entrepreneur, with commissions in the advertising industry. Erik Johansson was educated as a computer scientist at Chalmers, but he is self taught in photography and digital imaging through the concept of “learning by doing”. In this way he has become skilled at retouching images, and plays with the possibilities that digital techniques offer in a highly creative manner. He regards the digital techniques as tools without boundaries, only limited by where your imagination can take you. The subjects of his work vary and include landscapes, urban environments, everyday life and expressive scenes, all with a surreal twist. In many of the images Erik Johansson produces there is an ironic undertone and a touch of criticism of society. His art is a striking mixture of humour and melancholy. Much of his inspiration comes from everyday life and is directly taken from his surroundings. According to Erik, the remaining inspiration comes from seeing reality from a different perspective. In a similar manner to which the surrealist painters work, Erik Johansson integrates paradoxes and mixes impressions from different sources. His way of working is more like that of a painter than it is a photographer. During the spring of 2012, Erik Johansson had an exhibition at the Photographic Museum in Stockholm. His images have also been widely spread on the internet and have grabbed attention all over the world. Erik is also one of the creative talents selected by the company Microsoft for a project called Generation 7. Thanks to that, during the summer of 2011 Erik got the opportunity to realise an idea for creating a large scale illusion in the form of a 32 by 18 metre image in the centre of Sergel Square in Stockholm. The project was called

http://thisiscolossal.com http://inspire.2ia.pl/ http://www.yerkaland.com

Mind Your Step and is documented in Erik Johanssons blog www.alltelleringet.com. The cover of this number of Urban has been created by Erik Johansson. 4

Walking is also a mode of transport

o walk is the most common and the most environmentally friendly way of transporting oneself. The majority

– but of course not the longest – trips in our cities are made on foot. And surely, then walking ought to be an obvious starting point for traffic planning? Instead the opposite is true.

The planning has for a long time had the car as the main

feature. Now, when sustainability and health is more in focus

Key-words from a workshop held by Björn Abelsson, City of Sundsvall, 2012.

PRESS ITEMS

walk stray stroll toddle wander march promenade saunter prance pace linger ascent skip hurry muddle swirl dance waltz

steal rush stride climb traska trail swift jump leap bounce drag shuffle asa shamble sneak linger step plod

wade flounder stamp stump stagger struggle slip float glide run rusa scoot race jog hare hang dabb

the interest has increased for “active transport”. Many research projects, governmental and municipal initiatives are studying pedestrian- and bicycle traffic with the goal to better adapt our cities for those who travel by their own power. But walking is also much more than transport and exercise, and pedestrians do not require a vehicle. This is perhaps the reason why projects about walking- and cycling in the end are mostly about cycling.

The Traffic Administration has noted this and now

supports a research project on the development of “walkable cities”. SLU is one of five parties that work in the project, where walkability and all forms of walking are being studied.

Ulla Berglund

Din växtleverantör i Mälardalen 84

www.eriksbo-plantskola.se

Facts The project ”Planning and design for increased walking” will be conducted until the spring of 2013, and will result in a guide for walkable cities. The focus is on Sweden’s small- and medium sized towns with Luleå, Östersund, Västerås, Älmhult and Båstad as examples. The work is directed by Charlotta Johansson at Luleå University of Technology. The participants from the Division of Landscape Architecture are Ulla Berglund (associate professor) and Malin Erikson (research assistant). Ulla and Malin have a particular responsibility for a partial study with focus groups and participant mapping. Read more in the report ”Här går man” (Swedish with English summary) www.slu.se/sol/rapportserier/2011_3

BVK

Landscape gardens under microscope

BEVATTNINGSKONSULT AB

andscape gardens emerged in England in the middle of the 18th Century. In reaction to the prevalent gardens in

the formal French classicist style, Landscape gardens were designed with inspiration from nature. Gardens were shaped in the forms of the woods, lakes, streams, meadows and pastures of the surrounding cultural landscape.

Prominent in Landscape gardens were recurring

expressions of the literary, philosophical and political ideas of the times– as for example a reaction against French autocracy, the enlightenment’s scientific achievements as well as an emphasis of the individual’s significance in social life. These ideas were often expressed in the forms of statues, buildings and monuments placed along gently curving nature-like paths.

Earlier research has described the philosophy and design

of the Landscape gardens that were created in Sweden on commission of King Gustav III (1771-1792, born 1746). This PhD project will describe and analyze Landscape gardens in Sweden from the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th Century. Research questions that will be addressed include: What architectural elements did they

Vi utför konstruktion & design kontroll & besiktning av bevattnings- & fontänanläggningar

contain (walking paths, vegetation, water features, enclosures, buildings, sculptures and monuments)? What design principles did they express? Who used the gardens, how were they used and how did the users experience the gardens?

The PhD project will also address what literary,

philosophical, political or other ideas that were expressed in these gardens, as well as how these ideas relate to the ideas expressed by Landscape gardens in certain other countries.

Do you want to help? You are welcome with questions,

thoughts or tips on gardens to study to Viveka Hoff, viveka.hoff@slu.se

Viveka Hoff

Facts The PhD project is researched in the field of history of landscape architecture. It will study Landscape gardens, mainly with focus on gardens in central Sweden/Uppland and the region of Bergslagen. PhD student: Viveka Hoff. Main supervisor: Professor Maria Ignatieva. The project has recently begun and is estimated to finish in 2016.

BVK Bevattningskonsult AB

Box 740, 182 17 Danderyd85 08-522 778 79, info@bvkab.se, www.bvkab.se

Spiring Spira

he wide demands of our time concerning sustainable development and environmental management affect

spatial planning on many levels. Spira is a recently established research group that is engaged in interdisciplinary social science research and education in the field of planning. Our research focuses on different kinds of planning contexts and practices with the task to manage environmental perspectives and/or perspectives of sustainable development. Key themes for the research are learning and change in planning and policy practices, where, among others, discourse, power and implementation theories are used.

Preferably we study the norms, values, interests and

power relations and how they are constructed, prioritized and communicated by policy and planning parties and stakehol-

Landscape as Soundscape

e are now developing a tool to characterize current and future sounds of the landscape (Soundscape

ders. Spira studies spatial planning on a national, regional and

Characterisation Tool – SCT). With the help of a mobile

local level and investigates issues such as policy implementa-

application you will be able to put sounds into words and

tion, environment and landscape assessments processes and

make sound recordings as support for memorizing. The

regional development planning. The main goal is to

information can be used in landscape analysis, environmental

contribute to knowledge of high relevance for both research

impact assessments and site analysis, but also as support in

and planning practice.

the design work. The entries that you make with the

Ann Åkerskog

FACTS SPIRA is located at the Division of Landscape Architecture and has seven members (2012): Ann Åkerskog (group leader), Tim Richardson (visiting professor), Tuija Hilding-Rydevik (associate professor), Sylvia Dovlén (researcher), as well as the three PhD students Antoienette Wärnbäck, Mari Kågström and Kerstin Nordin.

application can then be downloaded to the office computer and with associated software, you will get support to structure comparable texts. The tool can also be applied to music, in the class room and in many other ways wherever hearing and listening reigns.

The Swedish Transport Administration is financing the

project led by Per Hedfors, assistant professor, Division of Landscape Architecture, SLU Uppsala.

Plants selected for swedish climate www.eplanta.com 86

Per Hedfors

Tensta Parkour Grontmij Landscape Architects in collaboration with

Opens in June 2012 Stockholms stad, GIH and the Parkour Academy

WSP LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE - Innovative, experienced, sustainable