Ambition biotop och succession
en studie av nutida naturinspirerad landskapsarkitektur
Fresh Kills park and the The High line park in New York, Downsview park outside Toronto the birch landscape at Shiphol Airport have something more in common than being big new park landscapes.They all include thoughts and images about ecology. These images are neither typically nature picturesque nor typically garden stylish. In Sweden we have the biotopes of Ankarparken, the new design of Kristinebergsparken. At Chelsea Flower Show in England Swedish nature put in a garden format is winning awards. There are some new ecological influence in the air. Investigating this trend, I try to understand the phenomena, in theory as well as in practice. The study is limited to the context of parks and how these are experienced.
Thoughts from the term ?landscape urbanism? put together with theory about biotope construction and design form the theoretical base of my thesis. I refer to and reflect upon that base in the first part of the report. The landscape urbanists highlight the processes of landscape as an inspiration when working in the dynamic urban situation. The claim that the term landscape, as well as the word nature, today too often is connected to what´s rural and anti cultural. Instead, in terms of ecology, it could be a creative force in forming new shapes for sustainibility. Another theoretical and less abstract input to the theses is one about biotope design and contruction. It´s based on knowledge about ecology as well as about design.
Ankarparken in Malmö and the yet not constructed Kristinebergsparken in Stockholm are two examples of the kind of parks I name biotope- and succession parks. I interview people involved in those projects. Their opinions and mine are summarized in two stories following the first theoretical one. The studies show a gap between a conceptual biotope concern in the design and an actual knowledge about ecology in the built situation. Another aspect of great importance in parks with dynamic ambitions is how maintainance is coped with.
In the final part of my thesis I link the studies of biotope- and succession parks to the design of a park outside Kungsbacka, Gothenburg. I discuss three aspects which I think are of certain interest - acceptance for change, reference pictures and the importance of scale and the relation between the visitor and the site. The thoughts have in common that they are all about formulating the purpose of the park, in an experience perspective. That, I think is a crucial question, which I think always need a site specific answer beside the ecological motives of the park.