Matters of Time
When we were invited to guest-edit the August 2022 issue of Landscape Architecture Australia, we started thinking about how landscape architecture tends to be portrayed in the media – through glossy images of recently constructed projects, often only months after completion, and in ways where the presence of time can be difficult to discern. New projects dot the awards, the magazines and our social media feeds. While static images of our projects frame their most beautiful aspects, they can struggle to tell us about the reality of landscape – of the processes of emergence and of becoming.
The traditional approach to operating as a landscape architect doesn’t allow for serious engagement with the myriad dimensions of time, confined as it is within those very frameworks that prioritize the interests of capital, incentivise rapid delivery and favour short-term thinking. Meanwhile, the climate crisis and biodiversity emergency loom, demanding radical timing and projective intergenerational thinking.
In this issue, we want to provoke questions about time so that we can avoid ignoring it. We have collected a range of perspectives, practices and projects from around Australia and beyond that reveal learnings about how landscape architecture is interwoven with, and might better engage, time.
Contents
An issue on time. Guest editors Daniel Jan Martin and Liam Mouritz reflect on the relationship between time, landscape and design.
Look to the Skies, think like an Ancestor. A beginner’s guide to Country-driven long-term thinking. Article by Kaylie Salvatori.
Ancient landscapes, remnant landscapes. Designing and conserving a biodiverse landscape in Australia’s south-west. Article by Daniel Jan Martin.
An unfolding landscape. The evolution of Brisbane’s South Bank offers lessons about the opportunities of landscape development over time. Article by Catherin Bull.
Centring ecological regeneration. Not-for-profit organization APACE is fostering community resilience and embracing change. Article by Alice Ford.
Outback ecologies. A garden near the South Australian desert foregrounds the plant life of arid regions. Article by Scott Hawken.
Lo-fi landscapes: Estudi Martí Franch. The Catalonian practice creates “response-able” landscapes that can adapt to different temporalities and scales. Interview by Liam Mouritz and Alex Breedon.
Notes from the margins. Exploring marginal spaces at the edges of cities with British geographer, Matthew Gandy. Interview by Julian Raxworthy.
Slow growth. A botanic garden built on a former landfill in Victoria has unfurled incrementally over decades. Article by Adrian Marshall.
Making time in practice. How can a richer engagement with time transform our modes of practice? Article by Jess Stewart.
Remaking lost connections. In Western Australia, a large-scale landscape restoration project is linking isolated islands of biodiversity. Article by Rosie Halsmith.
Wonder of time. A network of projects across the Flinders Ranges will help preserve fossils half a billion years old. Article by Joe Bean and Greg Grabasch.
Re-envisioning climate futures. Unpacking how we can design responses to climate change impacts that embrace present, mid-term and long-term outcomes. Article by Alex Felson.
Between action and forgetting. The story of Balls Head Reserve is less about preservation and more about collective creation. Article by David Whitworth.
Read the editorial ‘An Issue on Time’ at Landscape Architecture Australia
Landscape Architecture Australia
2022
Role
Guest editor with Liam Mouritz
Magazine; Publication; Landscape architecture; Professional practice