Presentation 2017 ECLAS conference in London/UK
September 11, Sven Stremke will give a presentation at the 2017 ECLAS conference in London/UK. This years conference of the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools is hosted by the University of Greenwich and focuses on ‘Creation/Reaction’. Sven’s presentation is co-authored by Prof. emeritus Dirk Sijmons, former state adviser for Landscape in the Netherlands.
Presentation title: From creation to co-creation to agenda setting? Recent design experiences from the Netherlands
Abstract: Creation can indeed provoke reaction but so can the lack of meaningful creation or, in some instances, the lack of any creation. Traditionally, landscape architects have been educated to execute assignments for a commissioner. Over the past decades, we witnessed the formation of new constellations. Designers team up with inhabitants and other stakeholders, for example, to jointly create new public spaces – a process commonly referred to as co-creation that no longer necessitates the presence of a commissioner in the conventional sense at the outset of the inquiry. Many of those initiatives are question driven and, indifferent form traditional approaches, creation almost always provoke a responsive reaction.
More recently, we observe the emergence of yet another approach of designers to engage with what has been described as ‘grand challenges’ such as urbanisation, climate adaptation and mitigation. In some instances, reaction is no longer a consequence of creation. Instead, individual reflections may consolidate in a communal reaction that potentially provokes creation. In the Netherlands, for example, the lack of meaningful progress in transiting towards a low carbon future prompted a group of designers to react upon the situation.
In this talk, we will present how they argue for a more systemic and transdisciplinary approach to energy transition that acknowledges the importance of landscape and design at each level of decision-making. Their reaction, aligned with other initiatives, may leverage novel possibilities for creative inquiry and, ultimately, meaningful creation in the near future. Either way, designers are starting to adopt a more critical and proactive role with regard (but not limited) to the socio-ecological challenges of the 21st century. Unsolicited evidence-based design inquiry helps to set political agendas – a revival of the exclamation mark?
