PRECEDENT STUDIES

Introduction

This precedent study examines three projects and dissects the strategies engaged in creating meaningful landscapes within complicated or divided contexts. There are countless approaches to embedding meaning into landscape design. Some methodologies reviewed within these projects include symbolic or metaphoric exemplification, satirical or ironic art, harvesting local materials, and community engagement. The Freedom Park, the Walled Off Hotel, and the Melon Neighbourhood Commons demonstrate that creating connections and new memories with place does not need to involve western modes of memorialization. Western, top-down commemoration strategies often include national museums and memorials that often highlight the names of victims engraved on some structure. This notion is especially critical in the lens of this graduate project, in which there is a desperate need for approaches rooted in community, narrative, and collective struggle.