Regenerative Practices for Exhausted Landscapes

Abstract

Students will be introduced to a range of landscape practices that regenerate soil health and enhance biological integrity through the research of five projects in a range of climatic and geographical conditions. Through the lens of each site, traditional and pioneering approaches in designing with living systems will be critically discussed.

Objective

Through the lectures, students will learn about key parameters for designing landscapes with the goal of regeneration, as well as gain perspective on ecological topics including succession, disturbance, and management. Additionally, the course will examine the potentials and challenges of these practices to influence landscapes at a territorial scale. Through the design interventions, students will explore a methodology for exploring the potential of living systems in a particular context through the act of maintenance.

Content

The course will be composed in two parts: a series of lectures and a series of field sessions at the Garden of the 21st Century at Hönggerberg. The lectures will introduce key regenerative practices for five sites in varying climatic and ecological contexts. Each site is a Garden of the 21st Century, a collection of projects within the Chair of Being Alive that are located in Switzerland, Spain, Chile, and the United States. In parallel to the lectures, students will design and maintain their experiments at the garden in Hönggerberg and catalogue their investigations in a journal throughout the semester.

Resources