Urban Streets and Squares: World Landscape Design

Author: (Spain) Chevo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-09
Features: This book is a part of the series "World Landscape Design," aimed at discussing and interpreting the most interesting and noteworthy landscape engineering projects in modern urban planning. As stated in the remarks of the prestigious Spanish Decorative Arts Promotion Association (FAD) award, the scope of urban landscape includes "squares, parks, roads, land boundaries, gardens, and other factors that constitute the urban landscape." This definition explains why the projects included in the book have been selected. Moreover, these examples further demonstrate a set of similar scales and principles that justify their selection. They all align with the theory proposed by Robert Irwin, who has been revered as a standard doctrine, regarding the fourth dimension, which states that a project should be determined by the characteristics of the site (material, cultural, historical, and human). By studying the set of recognized and solution-oriented methods repeatedly used in modern urban landscape design, the ambiguity of the above conclusions can be improved and made clearer: when intervening in historical objects, their connotations must be respected, with particular attention to local characteristics, while often it is necessary to improve or alter the surrounding environment. Natural resources (light, water, plants, and minerals) should also be utilized in the design, but their biological rhythms (dynamism, the passage of time, seasonal changes, etc.) must be considered. We should bring art into the social and cultural driving force of urban landscape, far beyond disciplinary concepts, and also into the daily lives of ordinary people—those who benefit from landscape design.