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Proceedings (editor)2015Peer reviewed

History of the Future : 52nd World Congress of the International Federation of Landscape Architects : Congress Proceedings


Ignatieva, Maria (ed.); Thorne, Nigel (ed.); Golosova, Elena (ed.); Berg, Per (ed.); Hedfors, Per (ed.); Eriksson, Tuula (ed.); Menzies, Diane (ed.)

Abstract

For the first time in the history of the IFLA World Congresses, this 52nd Congress was held in the territory of Russia with its extensive natural, semi-natural and man-made landscapes. The dramatic story of the region gives the international landscape architecture world amazing examples of revitalisation and reconstruction of ‘lost’ landscapes. "History of the Future” theme caters for a wide range of interests on the challenges and opportunities of the past, the present and the future for landscape architecture and landscape architects: 1). East to West: methods of integration and innovations in modern landscape architecture 2). Historical and ‘Natural’ Landscapes in the 21st century - conservation, reconstruction and restoration; research for integration into modern urban and rural landscape 3). Green-blue infrastructure and sustainable urban development This proceedings consists of the peer-reviewed abstracts in English and Russian and 50 full peer-reviewed papers in English submitted by the 304 authors from 35 countries. The 52nd IFLA World Congress ”History of the Future” was held in St. Petersburg, Russia on the 10–12 June 2015, and is an initiative supported by IFLA, ALAROS, Saint-Petersburg Administration, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Saint-Petersburg State Forest Technical University. All selected papers came through the review process organized by the Conference Scientific Committee and supported by numerous reviewers from the Landscape Architecture academic community. This year’s theme “History of Future” shows a diverse array of strategies and activities which cities, regions and landscape architects are doing, with respect to nature, cultural and everyday landscapes from all over the world. Examples of presented articles provide a wide range of research and practical projects. Quite a few articles explore the main subtheme of the congress “Green-blue infrastructure and sustainable development”. For example one of the articles is dedicated to the Resilient Cityland concept and explores ways to re-integrate urban and rural areas as well as investigates the potential of green-blue structure values in cities in the Baltic Sea Region (10 cities are part of a regional initiative to quantify the benefits). This whole range of articles deals with specific case studies of green infrastructure and explores their interdisciplinary character for example research of golf courses researching social aspects and potentials to support multiple values including biodiversity, or for example waterfront renovation project in one of Russian cities. Many articles touch upon different important aspects of green infrastructure such as walkability in everyday urban landscape and school garden development. A lot of attention is given today to the problems of urbanisation and related issues for example in a big megapolis such as Sao Paulo, or densification and the search for sustainable housing solutions in Moscow. Water and green area aspects are so acute in many countries that it is not surprising many articles share local experiences and new innovative projects on the wisdom of saving water. Presented papers touch upon new innovative techniques and methods such as Perceived Sensory Dimensions which can be used by landscape architects and urban planners to create more pleasant and healthy urban areas or the Garden City and Green Roofs design with its ecological design wisdom. Another Congress subtheme “East to West: methods of integration and innovation in modern landscape architecture” sparked great interest among authors. One of the manuscripts is dedicated to exploring philosophical ideas of integration of Western and Eastern ideas in landscape architecture, another - urban rehabilitation of an historic site German colony in Haifa, Israel, and another researcher explores Anglo-Chinese gardens in Ukraine. An enthusiastic response occurred among presenters for the topic of Historical and ‘Natural’ Landscapes in the 21st century - conservation, reconstruction and restoration; research for integration into modern urban and rural landscape”. The group of articles in this proceeding covers a wide range of themes from the multiple use of heritage archaeological site management in China, to discussing integration of spirituality, nature and culture of Calvaries in Slovakia and the poetry of Chinese wetlands. Case studies on urban, rural, cultural, and natural landscapes from Japan, China, India, New Zealand, USA; Mexico, Cyprus, Australia, Greece, Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Lithuania, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Spain and Russian suggest a pleasant journey for all readers.

Keywords

landscape architecture

Published in


ISBN: 978-5-7422-4877-4
Publisher: Saint-Petersburg State Polytec University