LED Online Seminar 2018 - Working Group 10

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Dear working group members. This is your group page and you will be completing the template gradually as we move through the seminar. Good luck and enjoy your collaboration!

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Assignment 1 - Reading and Synthesizing Core Terminology

You can read more details about this assignment here
Readings are accessible via the resources page

Step 1: Your Landscape Democracy Manifestoes

Aicha's manifesto
Bruna's manifesto
Luis's manifesto
Sara Yousefi's manifesto 1
Sara Yousefi's manifesto 2
Cara's manifesto

Step 2: Define your readings

Please add your readings selection for the terminology exercise before April 18:

A: Landscape and Democracy

Kucan, Ana (2007). Constructing Landscape Conceptions. (Aicha Mouisat)

Meinig, D. W. (1979): "The Beholding Eye: Ten Versions of the Same Scene." In: The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays, edited by D. W. Meinig and John Brinckerhoff Jackson, 33-48. New York: Oxford University Press. (Bruna Spagnol)

The New Urban Agenda Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All, UN resolution from December 2016 (Cara Frey)

B: Concepts of Participation

LIFEscape Handbook on Participative Landscape Planning : Sara Yousefi Mashhour

Day, Christopher (2002): Consensus Design (Aicha Mouisat)

C: Community and Identity

Culture and Changing Landscape Structure: Sara Yousefi Mashhour

Hester, Randolph (2006): Design for Ecological Democracy (Aicha Mouisat)

Welk Von Mossner, Alexa (2014): Cinematic Landscapes (Cara Frey)

D: Designing

Designing with immigrants : Sara Yousefi Mashhour

Hester, Randolph: Democratic Drawing - Techniques for Participatory Design (Bruna Spagnol)

Hester, Randolph: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sustainable Happiness (Luis Aquino)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2013): Places in the Making: How Placemaking Builds Places and Communities (Luis Aquino)

E: Communicating a Vision

Stadtspieler (Cara Frey)

'Reading the Landscape' by Simon Bell, EMU Tartu (Bruna Spagnol)

Council of Europe. 2016. Competences for democratic culture: living together as equals in culturally diverse democratic societies (Luis Aquino)

Steps 3 and 4: Concepts Selection and definition

Each group member selects three relevant concepts derived from his/her readings and synthesize them/publish them on the wiki by May 9, 2018
Group members reflect within their groups and define their chosen concepts into a shared definition to be posted on the wiki by June 6, 2018.
Other group members will be able to comment on the definitions until June 12, 2018
Each group will also report on their process to come to a set of shared definitions of key landscape democracy concepts on the wiki documentation until June 20, 2018

Concepts and definitions

Author 1: Luis Aquino

Enabling the Form. Caring. It is a powerful value among people and place relation, this guarantee the sustainability of the landscape. We must provide the tools to the citizens to increase the general attention to specific spaces and to raise the awareness of the core values of the zone. Engage the population through active participation and investment of effort upon it. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sustainable Happiness. Randolph T Hester, Jr.

Resilient the Form. Finding Fish Heads. Fish heads can be old buildings, historical events, trash or abandoned uses; they can be scenic beauty, retired people or everyday real work. Fish heads concept come from the fishery industry that turns up the common understanding that the fish heads were regarded as useless into productive matter. Entrepreneurs began reusing abandoned buildings for surfing-related products and services. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sustainable Happiness. Randolph T Hester, Jr.

Impelling the Form. Active Responsibility. In order to achieve sustainable cities, it requires active citizen participation, active human nature towards sharing and collaboration in the creation process. We as planners must prosecute users to participate into administrative on-going models, leading appart self-interests and selfish attitudes. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sustainable Happiness. Randolph T Hester, Jr.

Author 2: Bruna Spagnol

Designs and drawings are mere lines if they don’t have a meaning for the population, so it’s necessary to combine forces between the general public and the designers. Sketching, painting and modelling are some tools used to communicate an idea in a specific and distinctive way, but common sense and nature should be used to provide answers to the community problems. (Hester, R., Democratic Drawing)
In order to “read” a landscape, we must understand the process of its formation, the development of the area and all the pressures that worked there. You need to take into consideration its aesthetics, visual and sensorial characteristics along with the geomorphological, but also the perception that community gets from it, which varies from each one. ('Reading the Landscape' by Simon Bell)

Author 3: Sara Yousefi Mashhour

Shared Values of Specific Culture

Culture structures landscape and at the same time it is embodied by landscape (a 2 sided relationship).In one hand landscape challenges and ecological framework influence our common way of living over generations and in another hand perception, cognition and evaluation of human beings are based upon the filter which their culture and values provide. Therefore culture and the shared values are shaping our preferences, knowledge and feelings toward landscape which influence our decisions and behaviors toward it and our behaviors and decisions are working within the fundamental ecological framework of the terrain. (Nassauer, Joan. Culture and changing landscape structure)

Social Inclusion in Designing Process

All social groups (different genders, ages, social classes, ethnic groups), even the most marginalized and outsider ones in one community (such as immigrants) should be involved in designing process through methods which can create comfortable, trusting and empathetic atmosphere and facilitate communications and self-expressions in order to enriching design visions. (Salgado, Mariana et al. Designing with immigrants)

Ladder of Participation

In order to involve locals in designing process there is a range of involvement which begins with informing and continues with introducing, consultation and Dialogue and ends with Participation and Citizen Control as the highest level of involvement. Each of these phases has several methods to follow up based on your budget, time, goals and the target community. (European Convention. LIFEscape Handbook on Participative Landscape Planning)

Author 4: Aicha Mouisat

Constructing Landscape Conceptions (Kucan, Ana (2007).

The landscape identity is related to the concept of the nation. Landscapes are created through the reciprocal interaction between the space and the individuals or the society who change the space. This human intervention in the space leads to a social conception of this space which is formed in the process of the social communication (collective identity and historical memory).

Design for Ecological Democracy (Hester, Randolph (2006).

Ecological democracy is government by the people through active involvement. To reform our cities we can act as communities and not divide. We need to reform our cities to be ecologically resilient, to empel us by joy rather than compel us by insecurity, fear and force.

Consensus Design (Day, Christopher (2002):

Voting is not the best way to get consensus. We can only do this if we can step back from the ideas, opinions and strong feelings most people start with. In design, the ‘whole situation’ includes buildings, the place where they will be and the people who will use them. As a designer we should not ignore the emotion which is very important because when we know how people feel we will understand what they need.

Author 5: Cara Frey

The new urban Agenda defined by the United Nations in 2015 in Quito declares to encourage nations to develop sustainable, safe, healthy, inclusive and secure cities. Besides these topics the it should be a city for all people, the „right to city“ is important. Cities should have more participation, social functions, civic engagement, gender equality age- and gender-responsive planning and resilience by 2050 when it is expected that the world population has doubled and most people will live in cities. The New Urban Agenda Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All, UN resolution from December 2016

The crisis of special areas can be pictured in films, by choosing a narrative landscape. This place is often carefully selected or sometimes constructed by set designers, while fiction films have got more freedom in the invention of landscapes then documentaries do. The movie „Beasts of the Southern Wild“ from 2015 is showing the crisis landscape and the process of slow violence in the life of Hushpuppy, who is living in slum conditions and is affected by a flood. This film exposes the racial, gender and economic power dynamics that led to the emergence of the actual crisis landscape in the bayous of Louisiana. Welk Von Mossner, Alexa (2014): Cinematic Landscapes

Stadtspieler is a strategic board game for 4-6 persons were the players are about to build the city they can imagine by shaping it with plasticine. They are trying out different roles like being an investor, a city planner or a dweller. The game has four phases and ends by asking the question „which building has the most future potential?“ and choosing a winner. Stadtspieler was developed to make players to actors and to change their way of thinking. It is often played on exhibitions or for education with students. Stadtspieler, www.stadtspieler.com

Step 5: Reflection

Step 6: Revised manifestoes

please look again at your initial manifestoes and update them with any new aspects/prespectives you have taken up during this seminar

Author1's updated manifesto
Author2's updated manifesto
Author3's updated manifesto
Sara's updated manifesto
Author5's updated manifesto

Assignment 2 - Your Landscape Symbols

You can read more details about this assignment here

Landscape Symbols Author 1: Aicha

The Stairs of Bab Jamaa (Taza): They provide the connection between the old city (upper city) and the new city (lower city), to access it we go through a door called bab jamaa (door of Friday)
El Bestioun: this bastion was built in the 16th century by Ahmed El Mansour Edahbi to face the Turkish attacks from Algeria in 1550, 1553 and 1573. This bastion as a military monument is classified national heritage. This impressive building has a footprint of 26m * 26 m for a height that reaches 20 m in its main facade. this building has several small openings and the only door is on the north corner
Friouato caves: The Friouato caves are located about 25 km south of the city of Taza, Morocco. The farthest explored known point is about 272 meters, but its real limits are still mysterious. However, experts believe that its ends stretch to about six kilometers. There are also signs of an underground river that is believed to flow near the Grottes of Chiker. The system ends in a massive choke of boulders. This may well be the same massive choke of boulders that can be seen at the end of the upstream passages of the nearby Grotte of Chiker; this choke was also discovered in 1969.

Landscape Symbols Author 2: Bruna

Palacete (Small palace) Levy: The small palace’s construction was concluded in 1881 to be a private housing, as a strong example of power and wealth, right beside to the main church. Today is a preserved building that carries historical architectural importance with neoclassical eclecticism elements, but also holds cultural activities for the population. Limeira/SP, Brazil
Maypole Langenbach: The maypole tradition comes from the 13th century in all Bavaria, as the symbol of all things that grow and bear fruit. The cities compete amongst themselves to have the tallest and better decorated pole. Today the Maypole reflects the wealth of the particular community. Langenbach, Germany
Ruins of Korbinian Church: The church was built on Weihenstephan hill back in year 724 as a center for theological activities in Freising. The church was destroyed less than 200 years later by the Hungarians and today we have only the remains telling us a piece of the history of the city. Freising, Germany

Landscape Symbols Auther 3: Sara

Enqelab Street or Revolution Street is the main east-west road which has built in 1932 upon Tehran historic walls of ‘Naseredin shah’ era in order to expand the city as ‘Reza shah’ wanted to have a modern and great capital. After the 1979 revolution, this name has been given to the street because it was the main place for rallies. the most symbolic landscape in this street has been the entrance square of Tehran University so far. Tehran University has founded in 1934 in ‘Reza shah’ era. This University has encouraged a great number of bookstores and cafes to be established around itself and has taken apart in forming special social context including intellectuals and cultural, social and political pioneers. Therefor University students have always been a part of every social change, since its foundation and they express their protestation by gathering in front of the main entrance of the universit; (1953,1979,1999, 2009,2018 protests). University of Tehran was at first the symbol of modernization of Iran but over time it has become a symbol of resistance of youth and intellectuals against governments’ dictatorship
Valiasr Street is the longest north - South road in Tehran which is linking the richest neighborhoods to most deprived one. Formerly known as Pahlavi Road, This Street has been established in 1921 to create a private link between ‘Marmar’ Palace in ‘Kakh’ neighborhood to ‘SaadAbad’ Palace in ‘Shemiran’, after 1941 it has become public street which is mostly known by its plane trees planted every 2 meter. Until 1953 it was known as a recreation area because of good weather and green hills. After establishment of restaurants and clubs along it and the dedication of the adjacent lands to army forces the official, commercial and residential buildings were formed along the street in ‘Mohammadreza Shah’ era and the most important squares were linked by this street. After the revolution the name of the street changed to Valiasr and the street became a place for window shopping and lingering After 2009 protestation against election results, this street has become a gathering place for social events especially for middle class who are the main residents of adjacent neighborhoods and have the dominant power over this urban space
Mohammadreza Shah wanted to establish a cultural center, known as City Theater, and he wanted it to be in the center of Tehran so he decided to build it at the conjunction of Valiasr and Enqelab Streets in the garden formerly known as Shahrdari Café. Over time, park has become a third place for artists. So many performances and street theaters take place in this square, but recently because of Metro and BRT access to this conjunction and its central location in Tehran, it has become a more inclusive space which is a place for protests, meetings, social gatherings, civic actions, street vendors, transsexuals, etc.

Landscape Symbols Author 4: Luis Aquino ...

Element: Pink Quarry In the city of Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico during the colonial period the high-class buildings and churches used this element in their facades and special details. Nowadays this colorful stone reminds us the historical facts of our city.
Element: Nopal Cactus In our flag we have this plant but also spread all around the country. This tree reminds us the foundation of Tenochtitlan (the main Aztec city) nowadays we use it to produce “grana de cochinilla”, and to feed Mexicans as well.
Element: Pyramids All around Mexico there are thousands of pyramids and archeological sites. For the prehispanic cultures this represented their temples and palaces. Nowadays this remind us our heritage and wealth.

Landscape Symbols Author 5: Cara

The Cologne Cathedral is one of the most famous sights in Germany. More than 6 millions of visitors each year are attracted by this impressive landscape symbol. Besides being an place of interest, this cathedral symbolizes a long time of culture and history. It took six centuries to complete the cathedral, during this time the architecture and the people changed. The number of cathedrals all over Germany and all over the world also represents the size and power of church, that had an immensive influence on the community in Europe since the formation of Christianity 2000 years ago. In todays society for many people the position of church decreases, and the number of visitors at Cologne Cathedral has other reasons than being part of a church community.
New technology try to gain energy in an ecological way, like with solar energy, hydropower or wind power. For many people this symbolizes the resolution of reducing the climate change. These pin wheels that are builded more and more in Germany do represent the future and progress in green technology. But do they really have that big impact on our power consumption how everybody thinks? And what about the risks? Typical landscape sceneries are transformed and destroyed by this big wheels. It‘s also a risk for birds and other animals. So there can be identified two different sides of the meaning of this landscape symbol.
You can find them in the nature but also in urban places, the bench is part of our culture and community because it belongs to everyone as acommon and shared furniture. Here you can rest and regain strenght and enjoy the landscape, cause often the positon of a bench symbolizes a nice place with a lookout. Because you need to have some time to sit on a bench it can also represent a symbol of nostalgia. While sitting on a public bench you can enjoy the nature or watch other people.

Assignment 3 - Role Play on Landscape Democracy "movers and shakers"

You can read more details about this assignment here

Assignment 4 - Your Landscape Democracy Challenge

You can read more details about this assignment here
Each group member will specify a landscape democracy challenge in his/her environment
Each Landscape Democracy Challenge should be linked to two or three of UN's 17 sustainable development Goals

Landscape Democracy Challenge 1: Aicha Mouisat

Ouarzazate Solar Power Station
Ouarzazate Solar Power Station (OSPS), also called Noor Power Station is a solar power complex located in the Drâa-Tafilalet region in Morocco, 10 kilometres from Ouarzazate town, in Ghessat rural council area. The entire Solar Project is planned to produce 580 MW at peak when finished and is being built in three phases and in four parts.
More expensive: The solar plant, called the Noor complex, uses concentrating solar power (CSP) which is more expensive to install than the widely used photovoltaic panels, but unlike them, enables the storage of energy for nights and cloudy days.They also require a considerable amount of space.
The extensive use of water: The technology chosen for the Ouarzazate solar plant is the concentrated thermal solar power (CSP) with parabolic troughs. The biggest issue with this technology is the extensive use of water that comes with the wet cooling stage. Unlike photovoltaic (PV) technology, CSP needs cooling. This is done either by air cooled condensers (dry cooling) or high water-consumption (wet cooling). Water consumption will be much less in the case of a dry cooling (planned for phase II): between 0.73 and 0.88 million cubed meters. PV technologies require water only for cleaning solar panels. They consume about 200 times less water than CSP technology with wet cooling and forty times less water than CSP with dry cooling
The major actors are: The Government of Morocco, the international institutions, the private companies and Citizens who are supposed to benefit from this project.
caption: UN's Sustainable Development Goal?:GOAL 7: because this project aims to ensure access to modern energy for all GOAL 9: the solar complex of ouarzazate shows how a transition to a future of sustainable energy can be realized. This is a Technological progress. Goal 13: the solar station leads to a clean energy which reduce emissions GOAL 15: is not fullfiled because the installation of the power station requires a considerable amount of space and contribut to Privatizing Nature and to the loss of biodiversity

Your references:

Landscape Democracy Challenge 2: Bruna Spagnol

Monte Belo Hydroeletric Power Plant
caption: The Monte Belo Hydroelectric Power Plant is a project that has been under discussion since the military dictatorship in the 1960s with the excuse of needing more energy for the country's economic development.
Conflicts: In one hand we have government, contractors and industries clamoring for economic growth and at the other people fighting against the flooding of forests and not losing their homes and source of livelihood.
Issue: Its location is in the middle of the world's most important rainforest (Amazonia) and within an indigenous reserve where natives use the river and fishing as their primary source of income.
The main actors are: the indigenous community that lives from fishing, the community of Altamira, a small city that's doubled it size in order to welcome people that lost their houses because of the flooding and environmentalist in general AGAINST the government, that saw an opportunity to sell another piece of our country, the industries that want to pay less for energy and the contractors that made a fortune during the constructions
We can relate this project with 4 UN's Sustainable Development Goals, although not always in a positive way. We now have cheaper clean energy and it was said that more jobs would be offered to the population, but the damages caused to the environment and local climate change added to the flooding and destruction of the forests weren't enough to justify this project.

Your references:

Landscape Democracy Challenge 3

A Green Space Project for Darake Water Front
caption: why did you select this case?Islam Abad "informal settlement" has shaped along Darake river frontage with out municipal permission and services since 40 years ago. The gentrification of adjacent areas has led to top - down projects for purging the area but of course there is a bottom - up resistance toward them.
issue/conflict:Islam Abad is surrounded by so many highways which have tear apart and isolated the neighborhood and they don't have the permission for building and development. these factors have led the neighborhood to its' poor environmental condition in comparison to its adjacent areas.
caption: there is conflict between municipality and the residents about the ownership of the lands. In one hand the residents are immigrants who have a have sense of belonging to this area, their work place is nearby and the landscape reminds them of their homeland, In the other hand, municipality it is trying to evacuate the residents in order to transform the area to a public park (besides there is a rumor that they want to build mega malls) so there is a huge distrust between local community and urban management.
caption: who are the actors? NGOs , Municipality, Local Community, consultant companies
caption: UN's Sustainable Development Goal? 10 - reduced inequalities and partnership for goals and peace , justice and strong institutions

Your references:

Landscape Democracy Challenge 4 LUIS AQUINO

Mangroves Tajamar Cancun
caption: “As Mexicans, it hurts us to witness that instead of using the public force against criminals, they are using it against citizens and against the environment. It is truly embarrassing to see that the government is doing this, to see that it does not have either political nor social sensitivity. Miguel Rivas, who heads the organization's coastal campaigns, said that the Tajamar case is "emblematic" of the struggle to protect mangroves in Mexico. Several landscape symbols and Social Issues are being seriously affected by the actions of corrupted politicians and companies, the use of police and military forces to protect private interest have us retracted in any effort to protest or demand.
caption: I chose Malecon Tajamar mangroves because is emblematic of the struggle to protect nature against a corrupted government, Mangroves are supposed to be protected by law. This mangrove area of 143 acres of mangrove forest was destroyed in order to build offices, apartments, shopping malls, and a huge church in the luxury resort of Cancún. When the project was dusted off again last year, activists responded with legal efforts to get it temporarily suspended. These included an injunction promoted by 113 local children that was granted in September but then lifted after a judge ordered the kids to pay 20 million pesos (just over $1 million dollars) in compensation to the companies involved. (Society against corrupted government) Activists were unable to prevent the clearing of the area that began at 2am on Saturday and finished around dawn. Bulldozers, cranes and dump trucks were protected by 140 state and municipal police officers sent to ensure that the protesters did not get in the way.
caption: who are the actors? The companies include Italian firm Bi & Di The National Trust Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur) Local and Municipality Police forces Mexican aware society and environment activists
caption: UN's Sustainable Development Goal? 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities 13. Climate Action 14. Life below the water 15. Life on Land 16. Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
caption: UN's Sustainable Development Goal? 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities 13. Climate Action 14. Life below the water 15. Life on Land 16. Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

Your references: https://news.vice.com/article/the-mexican-government-greenlights-the-destruction-of-mangroves http://www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/v_ingles/ecosystems/mangroves/mangroves.html https://zcomm.org/zblogs/mexico-ecocide-of-mangrove-swamps-bringing-catastrophes-ashore/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mangrove-recovery-some-gains-some-losses/

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Landscape Democracy Challenge 5: Cara Frey

Cooperative residential building WagnisArt in Munich, Germany
WagnisArt is an exemplary project in residential building in Germany that tried to find another way in solving the problem of rising rents and expensive property prices in growing cities. Building a cooperative helped not only to find an affordable housing while it also brought the people together and founded a strong community.
The conflict that lead to this project is the situation of high land prices and rising rents. Politics has much work to do by creating affordable housing for everyone. Investors often are mostly interested in building high priced projects that are about to make a lot of profits. People who were looking for a housing or were unhappy with their living situation came together and found a cooperative to build a residence together.
Families with kids, seniors, apartment hunters, couples, and interested people came together to build the cooperative called Wagnis that got more than 1600 members. They are about to create their eight project in Munich and forming a counterpoint to real estate developers. All projects are developed intensively from phase 0 with the people that are going to live there once which is a big feature in participation.
WagnisArt has won many prices because it's so special: it's honored with the german landscape architecture price in participative planning 2017, with the german city planning price 2016, recognition in german architecture price 2017 and the german sustainability award in 2018. In the process of development there was a high level of participation, all the future inhabitants decided together which design they want to choose and what the architects should change. In the building there are a lot of community areas like for example a cafe, a laundry room, a workshop, many roof gardening terraces but people still got their private zones.
The main sustainable goal that is fulfilled in this project is number 11 of sustainable cities and communities. Furthermore I think there can also be related number 3: wellbeing (livability), number 7: affordable energy (high building standards and photovoltaik), number 9: infrastructure (most inhabitants are sharing a car or using green infrastructure), number 12: responsible consumption (roofgardening and sharing), and number 16: peace and strong institutions (cause you can really feel that these people that are living there do have a very intense and peaceful institution)

Your references:

Assignment 5 - Your Democratic Change Process

You can read more details about this assignment here
After documenting and reflecting on your challenges you will continue jointly with one of these challenges and design a democratic change process

Your Democratic Change Process

Mangroves Tajamar Cancun
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Reflection

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Conclusion:

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Your references

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LED Online Seminar 2018 - Working Group 10

Contents

Assignment 1 - Reading and Synthesizing Core Terminology