DECOLONISING LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE & THE WORK OF SALIMA NAJI
Vincent Lulzac, 20 December 2020
Introduction
This paper is the result of a long and difficult but enriching thinking process It started a year ago, after deciding to write about “race and landscape architecture” I wanted to investigate the politics of exclusion in the design field and find ways to design meaningful spaces that would speak to and do good for everyone I quickly got lost in writings on inclusivity and exclusivity in design, but I couldn’t really get a grip on it Something wasn’t feeling right and I needed to think more fundamentally about the profession and practice There is a gap between the practice of our predecessors that we are being taught, and the type of projects that we will be working on in the future, considering the social and environmental crisis we are facing This change will be long and not without difficulties, but there is a lot to explore
2020 has been shaken by the raising awareness on institutional racism, decoloniality, and decolonisation. It is important to say that these questions were present and discussed way before 2020, but in the last year we have experienced a snowball effect that has made us question many established ideas It has made us more aware of the worldwide wound created by colonial history and brought to light all its consequences that still impact our lives today I would argue that landscape architecture has a close bond with coloniality and modernity and I will argue that our role is not only to create sustainable and inclusive designs , but also to re-think the way humans engage with nature I believe that we should communicate and enter into dialogue with the non-human by decolonising landscape architecture
But what does it mean to decolonise landscape architecture in practice? By sharing my discoveries and personal experiences I will try to show how landscape architecture is fundamentally rooted in coloniality. In order to do so, Part I will look at the essence of landscape architecture, what does it mean from a decolonial point of view? How has modernity created a separation between human and nature? Part II will introduce the work of an architect, Salima Naji, based in Morocco. Exploring how her work, in the context of a sub-Saharan oasis, is a good example of what it means to develop a decolonial approach to architecture and landscape architecture. Part II will summarise some key ideas and discuss how these discoveries might influence the work of landscape architects in the future.
Part I - Decolonising landscape architecture - what and why?
Today the practice of landscape architecture is complex, with many layers There is a quote that says: “If everything exists within landscape, then landscape architects must learn to design everything” (anon) This work involves many different disciplines: architecture, geography, sociology, ecology, agronomy, botanics, civil and structural engineering, horticulture, industrial design, art and more But landscape architecture has a history which is important to understand because it will help us to explain why we need to decolonise landscape architecture
Landscape
The word landscape has its origins in the Germanic languages The oldest reference found is from the 13th century from the old Dutch word ‘lantscap’ becoming later ‘landschaft'' in German ‘Land’ refers to a land, a territory or a region and ‘schaft’ from ‘shaffen’, refers to the action of creating or making Landscape in the 13th century refers to the act of making the territory, it implies the soil (the environment) but also the people that made it It is important to notice that this word already expresses a sort of separation between the human and the non-human (here the land), and also implies a dynamic of power of humans over nature, or even humans as superior to nature The human makes and creates the land
In the 17th century, the renaissance Dutch artists introduced the word ‘landscape’ as a representation of a ‘scenery’ in their paintings. The landscape as a visual representation of nature. They were interested in the visual characteristics and the symbolics of territories. Later the word would be adopted into the English language. Here the word refers to the identity of a land.M. Antrop expresses that by saying: “Landscape expresses the (visual) manifestation of the territorial identity” (Antrop,M. 2013). It is interesting to note the switch toward a very ‘visual’ idea of the landscape. For most people still today the concept of landscape is associated with something visible, to an image, but in fact landscape has more representations, ideas, thoughts, beliefs and feelings. The idea of ‘landscape’ introduced in this period is still present today. We think of landscapes as something pleasant, beautiful and somehow immobile Therefore, the word ‘landscape’ from western languages already implies a form of separation and domination
Landscape Architecture
Landscape architecture as a term has existed only since the beginning of the 19th century But the practice of landscape designer, previously called gardener or engineer or architect, has a longer history In most books on landscape and garden history the first examples spoken about are from the antiquity in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia: for example, the royal garden of Persepolis, or the gardens of the Achaemenids in Persia. These gardens are considered as the first form of landscape architecture in western thinking. What is interesting here, is that these gardens are private and royal gardens, that were the result of top down interventions. They were spaces of ‘nature’ made by humans and owned by humans. This brings us back to the roots of the word ‘landscape’. The human is making the land and the power dynamic is of the human superior to the territory, by this aspect of ownership.
The second interesting aspect is that these gardens are described as beautiful, pleasant, refreshing places. The garden of Thebe in Egypt is described in A short story of the urban garden and landscape by Michel Pena Michel Audouy as “a space for pleasure, the private garden offers shade, fresh air, and walkways. It abounds with flowers and with fruits''. Here we see the influence of renaissance thinking, where the aim of the landscape/garden is to be pleasant and visually attractive for humans. In fact, in 1828 G.L. Meason used the term ‘Landscape Architecture’ for the first time, in reference to architecture set in the context of Italian landscape painting, later reused by several authors and finally associated with the profession for
the first time in 1854 (France) and 1860 (US) (Antrop, M. 2013). We can clearly see the relation between painting and the profession of landscape architecture.
This is relevant because it shows us clearly how the concept of landscape architecture as we know it in Europe is a recent and western idea. It was introduced in the late 19th century to name the profession of designing gardens. In this western understanding of landscape architecture there is a connection between landscapes and gardens and an idea of land ownership, human domination and aesthetics where man takes a central part. The landscape and the human become two separate entities This made me realise that the practice of landscape architecture is rooted in ideas of the superiority of man over nature Now my question would be, how can we go beyond this and where can we find inspiration to rethink the profession towards a more balanced relationship?
Decolonial thinking
Decoloniality or decolonial thinking is a thinking movement that looks at the production and transmission of knowledge in western countries It breaks the idea that western knowledge is universal and superior. Mignolo speaks about ‘epistemic reconstitution’, which means, studying and being critical of sciences and scientific knowledge and finding new ways of knowing, thinking, living or speaking.
In order to understand decoloniality it is important to describe what it isn’t Coloniality/Decoloniality are different from colonisation/decolonisation Peruvian sociologist Anibal Quijano describes colonisation as “Western imperial/colonial expansion that started with Christianity, Castile and Portugal mainly with the conquest and colonization of the Americas We are not talking for example about Roman colonies and the Roman Empire That is another story Rome was imperial but not capitalist Modern/colonial empires (Western Europeans) were the founders and managers of a type of economy we today name capitalism” (Mignolo, W 2017) After this followed Dutch, French, English, German and Italian imperialism and the conquering of other continents
Coloniality represents the imposition of knowledge under christian theology, western sciences and philosophy (modernity). Quijano argues that coloniality and modernity are indivisible. One needs the other, and therefore coloniality can’t be stopped if modernity continues. In this situation we talk about modernity as Michel Foucault describes it: “modernity as a historical category is marked by developments such as a questioning or rejection of tradition; the prioritization of individualism, freedom and formal equality; faith in inevitable social, scientific and technological progress, rationalization and professionalization, a movement from feudalism (or agrarianism) toward capitalism and the market economy, industrialization, urbanization and secularisation, the development of the nation-state, representative democracy, public education” (Foucault, M. 1977).
Mignolo emphasizes Quijano’s theory and argues “Coloniality is the dark side of western modernity ” (Mignolo, W 2017) There is also a difference between decolonisation and decoloniality Decolonisation is part of the past, where colonised countries fight for their independence from western imperial power “Decolonisation was the current expression during
the Cold War to refer to the struggle of decolonization in Africa and Asia. The goal of decolonisation was to take hold of the state” (Mignolo, W. 2017) Decoloniality is part of the present. It is the struggle against the power of western thought and ideology. The concept of modernity/coloniality is really important here Western modernity has spread around the world and has caused the uniformisation of knowledge It has erased and excluded all forms of communication with local knowledge and imposed western ones You can see how this is a problem in our research on a new representation of landscape architecture Most of the alternative thinking on human/nature relationships have been erased by the colonial machine
Colonialism and environmental crisis
If we push even further we could argue that imperialism, colonialism and the climate crisis are closely related. Eyal Weizman explains that “the current acceleration of climate change is not only an unintentional consequence of industrialization. The climate has always been a project for colonial powers, which have continually acted to engineer it” (Rabie, K. 2016).The domination of western knowledge over local knowledges was orchestrated in order to exploit and get the maximum benefits out of the lands. This has made local knowledge and the
understanding of local systems and societies almost disappear.This phenomenon has had a huge impact on nature. “As historian Richard Drayton explains, imperialism – the expansion of empire – was ‘a campaign to extend an ecological regime: a way of living in nature’. Entire landscapes had to be subjected to control and exploitation. Overuse, pollution and deforestation were the norm” (Voskoboynik, D.M.2018). The intense exploitation of the land combined with the complete misunderstanding of local ecological systems has greatly participated in the destruction of our environment.
The practice of landscape architecture is obviously crucial in the struggle against the environmental crisis We are designing a future environment for humans, therefore we have a responsibility in reconnecting the two entities of human and nature In order to do so, we cannot continue looking at a model that has failed us so far We need to look for alternatives and the idea of decolonising landscape architecture is one of those alternatives
One of the first steps of decolonial thinking is to understand your position in the ‘colonial matrix of power’ to reuse Quijano’s expression. The following section will show how discovering other perspectives on ‘landscape’, especially non-Western visions of the landscape, has opened my eyes to the different, more ethical, sustainable and healing ways we can understand our relationship with nature.
Aboriginal understandings of culture/nature
Deborah Bird Rose was an Australian anthropologist who studied aboriginal communities for almost 30 years. She was very interested in their relationship to their environment, the land, the territory and nature. When she talks about the western approach to man and nature, she refers to a binary system where culture and nature are separated and where humans are superior to nature and nature serves humans. Here we can recognize some ideas from the first paragraph on the representation of the landscape through western ideology in which the nature/landscape is a reflection of humans and not its contrary. Deborah Bird Rose argues that: “The organism and its environment modify each other” (Bird Rose, D. ,Robin, L. 2004). This means that humans modify their environment as much as their environment modifies them.
Then she explains that aboriginals believe there is no such thing as nature or culture Everything is about ‘life’ and everything is connected, unified as a whole, the country (the non-living elements) and the country men (representing all living individuals, humans but also animals and plants) If we look at these communities from a western scientific point of view, they are different species, different entities, even from different scientific disciplines The aboriginal approach is not valid to us because it is not scientifically proven But on the other hand the separation of disciplines and the separation of nature and culture makes it impossible to find the connections The aboriginal beliefs are rooted in spirituality, observations and stories that are transmitted from generation to generation over centuries while western societies rely on scientific knowledge that has been rationally proven over a short period of time. Here we can see the problem: western thinking has an approach possessive to science, whereas the aboriginal approach is a much more humble approach, acknowledging that there is always a part of the unknown. As Deborah Rose Bird argues: “from the proposition that incomplete
knowledge is an obstacle to be overcome, to the proposition that incomplete knowledge is a condition of any participant in a living system” (Bird Rose, D. ,Robin, L. 2004).
This is a good example of decolonial thinking By learning about the aboriginal communities and their beliefs, we are able to place ourselves into what Quijano called the ‘colonial matrix’ and become critical about the western approach to nature The reading of that book was for me an eyeopener and a starting point in a long process of questioning the whole idea of landscape architecture and of the relation between man and nature that I have been taught As we saw in the first paragraph, these concepts were embedded in my vision and ideas and rooted in my western education They are now weakened The second part of this paper will look at the work of a Moroccan architect whose work has helped me to find answers and placed the first stones of what could become the new foundation of my vision on landscape architecture
Part II – Case study: Salima Naji and the case of a sub-Saharan oasis
Part I has explained why we need to decolonise landscape architecture and how we might be able to do that. We are now going to look at a case study that will provide us with more practical answers related to the current practice of architecture and landscape architecture Part II will look at the work of Salima Naji, a contemporary architect based in Morocco
In 2019 Naji began working with the Dutch landscape architecture office Inside Outside on a sub-Saharan oasis project in the region of Tiznit, Morocco. This specific case study will be used as an example of a contemporary decolonial approach to the practice of architecture and landscape architecture
The work of Salima Naji
Naji has been engaged in promoting sustainable architecture since the beginning of her career. Respect for local culture, the use of local materials, and their integration within the local environment are key aspects of her work. She studied the techniques and aesthetics of traditional Moroccan architecture for many years. Like her mentor Hassan Fathy, she involves local communities in her projects, for example in the renovation and construction of buildings. This means she ensures the transmission of techniques and values that these architectures represent. The local craftsmen and builders find their place again in a meaningful contemporary architecture. Ancestral building techniques and materials such as rammed earth, stone, wood, and palm tree sticks are re-discovered and sometimes adapted Naji reinvests in traditional vernacular techniques and the genius of local crafts are brought back to light
She is the author of multiple books on vernacular architecture in Southern Morocco including Art et architectures berbères (Berber Art and architectures) in 2001, Portes du Sud (Gates of the South) in 2003, Greniers collectifs de l’Atlas (Collective granaries of the Atlas) in 2006, Fils de
saints contre fils d’esclaves (Sons of saints against sons of slaves) in 2011, and Architectures du bien commun (Architecture of the common good) in 2019.
In this last book she makes some interesting points on the relation between the colonisation of Morocco and the architectural dynamics that exist in the south of the country. Tensions related to identity in Morocco, which are inherited from colonial history, are still very damaging. In architecture, the intelligent traditional techniques based on available materials adapted to the harsh climate and difficult reliefs are slowly being replaced by standardised, European building techniques, brightened up with some pseudo-Arabic decorative elements, often far from their land of origin.
Salima Naji explains that when the colonists arrived from Europe, they disregarded these ancient architectures. They didn’t see the genius of humans, generation after generation, developing intelligent survival techniques adapted to the land and the climate. They saw folkloric and primitive constructions, only made of local materials because there were no other materials available. The colonists imposed their European tastes and techniques to an environment completely unadapted. This imposition of ideology distorted things by mixing in European modernity and its value system. The traditional architecture was considered as a local heritage to preserve and excluded from any form of modernity. We can relate this to Quijano’s principle of modernity/coloniality discussed earlier.
This conflict between the two architectural influences is still present today in people's mentalities. The local materials and techniques are associated with rurality, dirtiness, poverty and failure, whereas the concrete (the most common European building material) is a sign of success, education, cleanliness and wealth. The aesthetics have also been shaped by the colonial history of Morocco. Many of the traditional crafts and arts that we find in Morocco today are not the result of a long cultural heritage but the fruit of western fantasies of Arab-Moroccan aesthetics This is what Naji calls “Disneylandification”: the process of a few targeted areas (monuments) being renovated ostentatiously and kept alive to fulfill the fantasy of western tourism, while the amazing and more subtle architectural heritage of Morocco is slowly dying across the rest of the country
In order to resist these waves of ideological imperialism, Salima Naji has engaged in the renovation of multiple historical sites in the Atlas and Anti-Atlas region over the last decade. These renovation projects include mosques, ksours (villages), the medina of Tiznit and multiple igudars (collective granaries) in Amtoudi, Innoumar. These sites are not only valuable for their monumental features, but also for their collective character and the heritage they represent. These sites are communally owned. They are the symbols of an era when the wellbeing of individuals and their environment was the result of a healthy community. The architecture of the common good. Today many of these villages and their ecological balance has been corrupted by individualism. Naji fights against this with her architectural practice.
The case of a sub-Saharan oasis
Sub-Saharan oases are very interesting places to study. Their small size, the hostile landscapes (dry Anti-Atlas mountains) and climates (big variations in temperature), are conditions where settling requires a great power of adaptation. This power and intelligence has been developed by Moroccan communities over millenaries. The limited amount of water available becomes a central element in the ecosystem of the valley. The water, the vegetation, the architecture and
the population (human and animal) work as a whole. The villages were built as units, with every house supporting the next one. And the same goes for the agriculture and the repartition of water. The only way of providing irrigation to the fields requires a common effort of building a network of channeling or an Agadir (Granary). The whole well-being of the valley relied on the well-being of human/non-human and human/environment relationships. In this Moroccan context the landscape is a house, a garden, a farm, or a bath. The landscape is the community and the community is the landscape. Here the humans and the land co-exist, they are equals. This is far from the western idea that man creates, controls and dominates nature that was explained in Part I
These ecosystems are endangered. For a few generations we have seen a movement of the youngest Moroccan’s towards the big cities. The cities attract youngsters and the rural areas lose popularity. After their studies, these young graduates stay in the cities, get jobs and become richer. Sometimes these educated, rich people return to their hometowns, but very often there is a need to show success to the rest of the community, and this often translates into the construction of “modern” concrete houses The ancient villages are slowly becoming deserted, the fields neglected and the communal buildings and spaces forgotten As we just saw before, the whole balance of the system relies on the well-being of a community of care and solidarity With the communities shrinking, the equilibrium that was built over generations is crumbling The last families trying to resist and keep the engine alive can’t keep up without the support of the whole community and with the new negative forces of individualism Electrical water pumps bringing the water directly to the houses are slowly drying out the oasis This process is a sad reality but unfortunately an inevitable one In order to survive the oasis needs care, interest and money
Rural tourism, a tool to revive dying landscapes
Far from the beach hotels and golf resorts, a new type of tourism is growing in Morocco A growing number of tourists are now exploring the rural areas, looking for the jewels of the backcountry These tourists are seeking a more sustainable, intelligent, and immersive type of experience They are interested in discovering the traditional Moroccan landscape and are usually willing to pay if it is ethically driven There is an interesting opportunity here
Atelier Salima Naji and Inside Outside were asked by the regional society of tourism of the region Souss Massa to study the Oasis of Valée Yissi (14km) and propose a design strategy to make the valley more suitable for visitors The team came up with the concept of “acupuncture intervention” The idea was to revive a number of communal spaces in the oasis, as attractive places for tourists but also as gifts for the local communities These places used to host meetings with the men of the valley Maintenance work, business, quarrels and more were discussed there A total of 6 attractive circular places are dispersed along the main road, they provide information on every theme of knowledge that the valley and its inhabitants have to offer The circular places are made out of local material, local workforces and traditional techniques The building site is carefully following Naji’s expertise
These places would be reborn as meeting and gathering spaces for locals but also places of exchange between locals and tourists. The local women’s association would receive visitors and share information, as well as being involved in the commercialisation of local products. The idea behind these small interventions was to create a sort of snowball effect, where the interest of visitors would revive the pride and the feeling of connection between the locals and their land. It also aimed to enhance a regeneration process of the whole oasis, including water management and agriculture. The abandoned villages are traditionally renovated as guest house villages, where the owner would receive some benefits as well as the association of local workers who would maintain and run the business Under the guidance of a well-intentioned partner, this oasis could become a beautiful and revived place, preserving the traditional Moroccan landscape and pleasing the expectations of a rising green tourism
The analysis of Salima Naji’s practice shows that it is a good example of the complexity of coloniality in landscape architecture and architecture. The forces of modernity/coloniality are difficult to see in European countries due to the fact that it is already part of these societies for decades In Morocco we can currently see modernist philosophy reaching the most isolated places such as Oasis of the Anti-Atlas and destroying what is left of true cultural heritage What interests me in Naji’s practice is the decolonial aspect of her work but also the fact that she places this in a contemporary context Her work is decolonial because it is the result of long years of studies on traditional and modernist techniques, it is both acknowledging the weakness of what some call progress and the valorisation of ancient non western cultures By protecting and transmitting values and heritage she gives weight back to the vernacular in the balance of interest And adapting the ancient techniques to produce contemporary architecture is proving to the world that modernity and traditional techniques are not incompatible Notion that was largely spread through colonisation She understands the current economic situation of her country and uses it to the advantage of her work, for example using tourism as an activator She also tries to protect traditional Moroccan values, such as the connection of architecture to its cultural and natural environment and the protection of communal places and practices These are valuable and important values, but they are not necessarily specific to the context of Morocco They are significant lessons to keep in mind in all architecture and landscape architecture projects if we want to work ethically and stop destroying our environment
Part III - Conclusion
This research was for me an amazing adventure It has pushed me to question myself and has oriented me towards a kind of thinking and practice that gives me a feeling of freedom In Part I I questioned the essence of the profession of landscape architecture by looking into its history and studying the history of the words and terminology behind it This helped me realise how my perception of landscape architecture was shaped by words The practice of landscape architecture is rooted in the separation between culture and nature and the result of that work is actually harming our planet more than helping it I always remember Dirk Sijmons saying during one of his lectures that we should not think that we are part of the solution because we are probably part of the problem
The practice of landscape architecture has changed and is changing.The type of commissions are changing and the number of regulations on sustainability, growing. But the fundamental ideas underpinning the practice somehow remain the same. Landscape architecture is rooted in an idea of domination. Of man dominating nature, where nature exists to serve human needs and desires. The aesthetic associated with this is one where nature and landscape must be controlled and made to fit a certain European idea of beauty and pleasure. This left me with the question of how to re-define the profession and my relation to it.
This question took me into a world of decolonial thinking. Decolonial thinking is aimed at justice and liberation, and looks at the production and transmission of knowledge in western countries. It breaks the idea that western knowledge, cultures and traditions are universal and superior. It invites people into self-analysis and critique in order to free themselves from a destructive western epistemology. Another way of being on the path of decoloniality is to look at non-western cultures and non-western philosophies and recognise the value of other ways of knowing, thinking, living or speaking Accepting that non-western knowledge is as legitimate and valuable as western knowledge is a first step in critical thinking and an opening up to new possibilities
This is what happened when I read the story of Deborah Bird Rose and her relationship with Australian aboriginal communities. She explains how aboriginal people have no separation between nature and culture The two separate concepts make no sense in their philosophy She also highlights the fact that our relation with our environment has become nearly non-existent Compared to our destructive and imbalanced relationship with nature, the aboriginals have a much humbler way of thinking and being in their environment This process of destruction, hidden behind modernity, is today being criticized more than ever, in the context of environmental and social crisis These other understandings of nature are crucial for a landscape architect who wishes to design sustainable and ethical future landscapes
In Part II I looked into the practice of the architect Salima Naji in Morocco, using a case study to explore the translation of these ideas into contemporary architecture and landscape architecture practice Morocco is an interesting place to observe the opposition of cultural and social forces Modernity, imposed as the only way during colonialism, is putting very special cultural, social, and environmental values and heritage in danger This is what Salima Naji’s work is about Through her architecture practice she conserves, protects and re-transmits important values that have nearly disappeared By doing so, she brings back to light the genius of local cultures, shows that modernity is not the only way forward and she proves that traditional and modern are not incompatible, breaking the imperialism of modernity
By studying the Moroccan context at large, she understood that every human action and realisation was intelligently engineered and integrated into its environment The human and its environment - culture and nature - seemed to be interconnected and bound together in unity By now it is clear that western modernity has slowly broken this symbiotic relationship, and we saw how the case of a sub-Saharan oasis is a good example of this rupture It is important to
say that we could not and will not come back to what the world was before colonialism and modernity since these ideologies are now embedded into our societies. But this doesn't mean that there is no hope. We should not try to recreate the past, but move into the future differently, with knowledge from the past that might inspire us with ways to live that do not cause the destruction of the life that surrounds us.
What Naji and Inside Outside did was try and save a lost heritage. The Agadir (granaries) is an architectural example of this, and the sub-Saharan oasis is a landscape example. These places were symbolic in many ways. They were symbols of unity, of communities coming together and developing survival techniques. They were symbols of common good where the idea of ownership was opposed and where the land was not possessed by individuals but used by all. They were also symbols of locality. The materials, techniques and aesthetics were local and specific to their environment and were not aiming to serve some ostentatious egocentrisme, but to respond to challenges in the most local and ingenious ways possible. Protecting these monuments physically is also protecting the values that they represent Learning about these changed my perspective of my own practice and are now part of the way I understand the changing nature of landscape architecture
Now I face the challenge of applying these values to contemporary landscape architecture in the western European context that I live and work. I am certain that it is possible, but I’m not sure exactly how The example of using emerging green tourism as an activator in Morocco is an example of a contemporary adaptation But there are no universal rules Every case and every location must be analysed carefully in order to find the most suitable strategy that will transmit these values
As a final note I will say that this research was a breakthrough, an eye opener that has revealed some deep sunken contradictions. The biggest part of the work was not finding the answers but finding the questions by developing critical thinking skills I hope this paper is the beginning of a long process of questioning and thinking critically that will shape the landscape architect that I aim to become
Vincent Lulzac
Decolonising landscape architecture & the work of Salima Naji
Tutoring: Arjen Oosterman
Editing: Hannah Vollam
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