Landscape Architecture and the Green Deal Dare: Five Successful Experiences in Urban Open Spaces

Abstract

The present work focuses on European cities’ environments and open spaces, aiming to demonstrate how, through landscape architecture, it is possible to respond effectively to many of the ecological and social hardships that the Green Deal aspires to alleviate. It was signed in 2019 by all of the member countries of the Union, seeks to reverse the climate change trend by establishing a series of goals for improving environmental and economic quality for 2030 and 2050 and also aims to enact social justice in rural areas and in the urban environment. Landscape architecture, which is the art of combining the physical and immaterial elements in cities’ open spaces, is taken in this work as the method of interpreting the existing environment. The description, together with the narrative analysis of five selected site-specific urban renovations projects carried out in the last 15 years by some of the main contemporary landscape architects, such as Micheal Desvigne, Peter Latz and Gilles Clément, demonstrates, by means of their empirical experiences, the benefits of the landscape design. It is able to match both the ecological need expressed in the Deal and to respond to the ambition of an open and rightful city, as called for by the theories of Sennet and Balmori. In order to reach the just transition and to leave no one behind, and to meet and to implement the Green Deal objectives, the new, positive and long-lasting explained transformations require the consideration of landscape design, in all its material and immaterial components, as a theoretical synthesis capable of obtaining a practical application in fighting climate change, and it should be considered and included in city management policies and in the Deal, too.

Trends in the development of modern architecture and landscape-architectural environment of Rostov-on-Don and China, considering cultural traditions

“…The results of fifteen years of experience of leading designers in the effective solution of social and environmental problems are presented. Promising positive plans of the "Green Course" have been built to combat the transformation of negative climate phenomena [10].…”

Industrial neighborhoods in desert cities: Designing urban landscapes to reduce sandstorm effects in Mussafah

“…Emerging urban landscapes with jogging tracks, trees, and cycling paths in Mussafah (Figure 1C) have created an urban ecological environment that supports residents' health and wellbeing through venues for physical activity (Xiao et al, 2020;Afrin et al, 2021;Tan et al, 2021). They also assist in temperature amelioration, especially from the high 40 °C temperatures experienced in summer, and provide the benefits of a healthier lifestyle and a sense of identity for the community (Anderson, 1977;Lin et al, 2018;Boros and Mahmoud, 2020;Olivetti, 2022). Introducing such landscape elements in industrial neighborhoods enhances public health and quality of life for its residents (Chiesura, 2004;Mekala et al, 2015).…”

Just Transition or Just Transitioning? Potentials and Limitations of Urban Growers’ Adaptations to the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…To this effect, a just transition in the food system may pose a unique set of challenges that are distinct to how food as a commodity and cultural product is produced, marketed, and consumed, when compared to other natural resources such as fossil fuel or water. The JT framework has been successfully applied to landscaping in Europe [32] and there are cases of national and regional policies adopting the JT framework in energy or disaster risk reduction [33,34]. By contrast, urban gardens have proven to be more than just a space for food production as they contribute to ecological and social sustainability [35], while local and regional food systems are deeply connected to the global value chain, especially in the Global South [36].…”