Landscape urbanism (Waldheim)
What it is
Landscape urbanism, named in the late 1990s and consolidated by Charles Waldheim's 2006 reader, proposed that landscape rather than architecture should be the basic medium for organising the contemporary city. Drawing on figures such as James Corner and the winning Downsview Park entries, it argued that flexible, evolving ecological and infrastructural systems were better suited to dispersed post-industrial regions than fixed building masses. Designers emphasised process, surface, flows and indeterminacy over the composition of objects. The approach was applied to reclaimed industrial sites, brownfields and large open landscapes.
Why it matters
It reframed large-scale urban design around ecological process and infrastructure, influential in the regeneration of post-industrial and waterfront sites. Landscape urbanism shaped a generation of park and brownfield projects and provoked debate with the New Urbanists.
Plans it shaped
- IBA Emscher Park (Ruhr) (1989–1999)
- Turin Lingotto & Spina 3/4 Redevelopment (1990s–)
- Paris Rive Gauche (PRG) – 13e Arrondissement (1991)
- Melbourne Docklands Masterplan (1997–)
- Parque das Nações (Lisbon) (1998–)
- San Antonio River Walk Redevelopment (1998–2013)
- Oslo Bjørvika / Barcode Redevelopment (2000s–)
- Turin Spina 3/4 (2000s)
- Harbin Songbei New District (2000s–)
- Île de Nantes (2000–)
- Oslo Fjord City (2000–)
- Osaka Nakanoshima Redevelopment (2000s–)