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Overview - Art Ecology Planning. Art Planning and Ecology:. Artists and scientists working together thinking and acting upon ecosystems and social systems at a planning scale. We work on the concepts, forms and discourse of post-industrial nature and its relationship to the public realm.
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Art Planning and Ecology: Artists and scientists working together thinking and acting upon ecosystems and social systems at a planning scale. We work on the concepts, forms and discourse of post-industrial nature and its relationship to the public realm.
Ecology: The totality or pattern of relations (networks) between organisms and their environment
Ecosystem Restoration An integrated approach to ecosystem restoration embraces the complex goal of nature in the context of contemporary urban culture. This demands and understanding of nature and its related aesthetic components by both experts and communities. The primary goal of restoration is an aesthetic one to restore the visible environmental quality of the area. A.D. Bradshaw
A Definition of Public • ... in certain more civic perspectives, the distinctiveness of the public realm (or public sphere) may have more to do with the significance of solidarity, of public spirit, of participation in a process of active citizenship and collective self-determination. But, in either case, the public realm is commonly defined, above all in opposition to the private realm of the market and civil society. • Article Brain, D., From Public Housing to Private Communities: The Discipline of Design and the Materialization fo the Public/Private Distinction in the Built Environment. University of Chicago Press,
The Foundation These concepts are informed by evolving ideas of socially-based art and planning within the context of 30 years of environmental-art practices. We need a foundation of social art, on which every individual experiences and recognizes himself as a creative being and as a participant in shaping and defining the world. Everyone is an artist. J. Beuys The practice is rooted in emerging ideas about reconstructive postmodernism. ...to make the transition from the dominator model of culture toward an aesthetics of interconnectedness, social responsibility and ecological attunement S. Gablik
… the concept of sculpting can be extended to the invisible materials used by everyone. THINKING FORMS- how we mold our thoughts SPOKEN FORMS- how we shape our thoughts into words SOCIAL SCULPTURE- how we mold and shape the world SCULPTURE AS AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS; EVERYONE is AN ARTIST.
Historic approaches to natural phenomenon CMonet, 1865
Urban restoration regeneration reclamation healing ASonfist, 1978
Reclaiming land - art as infrastructure -infrastructure as public space HBayer, 1979
An Urban Brownfield, reclaimed as agricultural symbol. Denes, 1982
Reclaiming land - revegetation Hfeigenbaum, 1985
Undersea habitat construction BBeaumont, 1980
Ecology and human infrastructure systems Mierle Laderman Ukeles, 1983
Art and habitat LHull, 1990’s
Symbolic chemical intervention BSimpson, 1990
Symbolic cultural intervention at the heart of the state H&N Harrison, 1996
Infrastructure as ecosystem VNgo, 1990
Bioremediation, art and science to restore damaged land MChin, 1990
Homeostasis Concept based on a Water Model of the Keynesian Economic System developed at the London School of Economics in 1952
The artists quest for balance between basic needs and creative aspiration Compositional balance - the individual framed by the window placed against a natural hillside Conceptual balance - the natural forces within the body the natural forces outside the body Ecological balance - the role of water in the landscape is not unlike the role of water in the body. We can talk about the natural world supporting our societies lifestyle and economic well being, indeed one’s fate is connected to the other, hanging in balance… so to speak Levitate
Research Question: Can artists working as cultural agents affect the public policies and private economic programs, which mark and define urban places and ecosystems? Given the issues of scale, the power of private interests and the state both invested in a development/growth model, can the artist develop a public realm advocacy that expands the creative act beyond the authorship of the artist? I believe we can, and this is the hypothesis, which provides the foundation for the work of our team.
The waterfront is our greatest regional resource Citizens lack the the power and are often seen as lacking the knowledge necessary to participate equitably in the discussion of complex issues of this regional resource. The waterfront is the site of complex opportunities and constraints. The discourse is historically defined by a limited set of interests with the economic power to harness expert knowledge in their own interest. This is not an argument against the expertise or functionality of professionals, or the function of capital, but against the privileging of that expertise and interest to the exclusion of other knowledges and interests.
Planning Method Social Learning/Communicative Action Social learning and communicative action - is a concept informed by Habermas continuation of the critical project of the Frankfurt School - it marks a potential new equilibrium in which the knowledge of citizens begins to achieve a status comparable to that of professionals in a process of mutual learning. (M. Miles) The emphasis is less on what planners know, and more on how they use and distribute their knowledge; less on their ability to solve problems and more on opening up debate about them. In this model planning is about talk, argument and shaping attention. (L.Sandercock)
Three Rivers - Second NaturePartnerships to expand the intellectual content of the Public realm 2000-2005 A partnership with: Three Rivers Wet Weather Inc. A Partnership ALCOSAN AND ACHD Funding provided, by the Heinz Endowments
Three Rivers - Second Nature A Five Year Program A protocol is developed in year one, then repeated Moving along the main rivers and into feeder streams
Areas of Effort Years2001200220032004
Three Rivers - Second Nature From Resource Extraction To Resource Celebration
THE CHALLENGE Regional Diagnosis: Panoramic Myopia •Broad sweeping views from hills and bridges • Nature and public space potential, lost in the memory of the industrial estate. Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees. Paul Valery
Three Rivers - Second Nature The Goal: Conduct an asset analysis of the green infrastructure which provides social, aesthetic, ecological and economic benefit Compliment the 3RWW effort to implement innovative technical and institutional solutions to gray infrastructure A systems intervention
Green and BlueInfrastructure:: Water, landscapes, soils, microbes, plants and other features of a natural environment which provide functional benefit to human communities through biological and physical processes. Green and Blue Infrastructure Infiltrates, Buffers Purifies, Beautifies and Results in Multiple Benefits
The 3R-2N Program • Illustrate the potential of the restoration ecology approach • Outline the goals of a restoration ecology based analysis • Conduct a county wide overview • Develop a documented regional baseline • Develop design alternatives for specific areas and communities
Three Rivers - Second Nature Objectives: • A Green history • Green infrastructure analysis water/banks/public access • New Green planning tools Integrated with 3RWW • An urbanecology model-plan
The 3R-2N Challenge 1. Artists leverage strategic change 2. Promote the ecological approach within 3RWW Fact: 3RWW is dominated by engineers To do this we hire scientists and policy experts A botanist, geologist, [limnologist], (and a surface water policy expert) 3. Promote the ecological approach to citizens and municipalities Fact: 3RWW PR effort seeks specific goals Fact: 3R2N seeks Public Involvement To do this we hire historians, planners and educators [An urban/community planner] (and a historian, and an educator)
The First Decade of the Last Century 72 of 92 roads in Pittsburgh are sold to private industry