Regenerative Practices for Exhausted Landscapes

Abstract

Students will spend the semester in the Garden of the XXI Century at ETH Campus Hönggerberg experimenting with gardening and maintenance practices. Based on careful observation and guided fieldwork on the site, students will develop and test their own intervention for the garden to regenerate soil health and enhance biological integrity.

Objective

Through their weekly presence in the garden, students learn in practice how living systems change over time and can be influenced by design. They learn and test methods for documenting soils and vegetation and develop intelligent and process-oriented interventions for the garden based on their own observations, research and interests. They learn to present their proposals to each other, to support each other, to collaborate but also to take individual decisions.

Content

The course is entirely focused on practical work in the garden, carefully guided by the teaching team. The course begins with an introduction to the students' work in the garden from the previous semester. Over the course of the semester, students will plan and carry out their individual intervention. They closely observe their action and maintain it until the end of the semester. Students document their proposal in a garden journal as their work forms the starting point for the next generation of landscape students.

Resources