Landscape and Imagination

Abstract

In this course, we will approach a given territory as an invitation to cultivate and apply 'a practice of imagination'. The practice engages with the diverse 'assets' embedded within a territory; it also reflexively considers how we, as living beings, are structurally coupled to our Umwelt—our ambient world.

Objective

• Conceptualise imagination as a systemic and relational practice: Understand the fundamental shift from imagination as an individual cognitive tool to a collective, layered practice interwoven with one’s Umwelt (ambient world). • Identify and analyse territorial assets and interconnections: Identify and work with the unique social, ecological, and cultural "assets" within a given territory to inform imaginative processes and foster transformation. • Apply a repertoire of agential patterns: Utilise methods such as mapping, photographing, drawing, performing, speculating, and embodied practices to build an adaptable toolkit for imagining and co-creating futures. • Cultivate personal practices of 'worlding': Establish personal modes of relating to and imagining a territory, fostering sustainable and meaningful relationships with environments and communities. • Understand the role of imagination in the field of urban and territorial design: Develop insights into how imaginative practices can address complex challenges in urban and territorial contexts.

Content

Our aim in this course is to move beyond the commodification of imagination, often viewed as a stepping stone to success in the neoliberal race to the bottom. Nor will we treat imagination merely as a faculty complementary to sensory perception, used to conjure absent or non-existent entities within the 'theatre of the mind.' Instead, we will explore a systemic and layered practice of imagination. This practice is systemic in two senses: first, it engages with the diverse 'assets' embedded within a territory; second, it reflexively considers how we, as living beings, are structurally coupled to our Umwelt—our ambient world. This conceptual foundation will guide our development as agents of territorial transformation, or "imaginagents,” (to underline the contrast with corporate “imagineers”). Practically, we will commit to bringing 'experimental futures' to life through what Donna Haraway calls 'string figuring'—a process of "passing and receiving, making and unmaking, picking up threads and dropping them". Students will be introduced to a repertoire of agential patterns, nurturing their own unique practice of 'worlding' a territory. This repertoire might include mapping, performing, building relationships with local stakeholders, engaging in speculative thought, visualising, gaming, making and more. The course will be built around a series of six lectures and associated assignments. The lectures will be delivered by an international roster of expert guest contributors (tbd). An introductory lecture presents a theoretical framework that heuristically stretches a canvas for a layered practice of imagination. Subsequent contributions will mix conceptual and practice elements in foregrounding distinctive manifestations of imagination practices. Students are invited to apply these insights and approaches to a practical case, a „real“ agroecology project around the Züricher Uetliberg in collaboration with Grün Stadt Zürich and their farms, and reinforcing the work of the MAS UTD Studio, and vice versa. Students can work individually or in small groups. The spirit of this practical work will be experimental. There will be two coaching sessions during which students can present their ongoing work and solicitate advice from the tutors. There will be a final session in which students share their work with each other and articulate the learnings from their experimental trajectory. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to reflect on their journey and document their insights, creating a personal guide to their imaginative practice. By the end, each participant will have cultivated a systemic approach to imagination and gained a toolkit for envisioning and enacting positive transformations in any territory they encounter.

Resources