A Dialectics of Ecology and Design in the Reform of Contemporary Landscapes

In the face of the impending crisis of the biosphere, the debate in the design disciplines has been attracted to the disciplinary precincts of ecology and its dynamics, while the notion of landscape continuum tends to englobe that of territory. The intention to contaminate traditional land transformation approaches with sustainable approaches derived from landscape ecology has been recorded. At the same time, a particular focus on the study of the metabolism of territorial entities has emerged beside the traditional interest in the study of their morphology. This paper tackles the theme of the special issue on ‘Constructed Natures: Shaping Ecologies through Landscape Design’ by adopting the recurrent method of human sciences, via discursive analysis of literature and case-studies. First, the paper characterizes the origins and reasons for the ecological crisis. Secondly, we review the recently growing interest developed in the landscape design disciplines for the ecological/metabolic aspects vis-à-vis the traditional focus on morphological/compositive aspects. Finally, we review three case-studies representative of distinct contemporary approaches to landscape reform responding in distinct manners to the impending ecological crisis. The compared analysis of the case-studies identifies strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches. The paper’s conclusions summarize the profile of a virtuous approach to the reform landscape apparatuses and draw possible lines of further research and experimentation in the field of landscape design and its relationship to ecology.