SEASON 2016
and change, and using a city’s past to shape its future
can be key to injecting life back into forgotten spaces.
Projects such as the ones I have mentioned at King’s
Cross and Duisburg-Nord, along with others like Borneo Sporenburg in Amsterdam and the development
of the London Docklands, all use core elements of
their past landscape to shape their regeneration and
as a result create a vibrant new purpose that connect
people, nature and place.
19
J: Our mines are dwarfed by those found in China.
The sheer scale creates a whole new scale of ‘lessons
learnt’ scenarios. Most of the teachings found through
my thesis were to do with the relationship between
the mine and the adjacent city – one situation in particular is not to jeopardise the stability of the mines
slopes so your city doesn’t slide into it. Scary thought
when the mine in question (below) could quite comfortably swallow most of Wellington City.
Is there a particular country or city that you think
“got it right”?
S: A favourite city of mine has to be Copenhagen.
With such a focus on the pedestrian and cyclist it is an
extremely navigable city and one with a real sense of
place and unique character. It is compact and diverse,
inviting street activity throughout the city that engages people of all ages to connect with their urban
environment and city vibe.
By creating spaces that people enjoy spending time in
and prioritizing people over cars, there seems to be a
more relaxed pace of life that offers a real connection
between people and their environment - I feel this is a
fundamental element of ‘successful’ cities.
James, Your master’s thesis addressed largescale environmental degradation brought about by
coal-mining (in China) – how can landscape
architects influence, or ameliorate, the ongoing
quest for energy and fuel?
J: Tough question… It’s inevitable that mining will be
around for many years to come because we have such
a heavy reliance on mines for both the extraction of
fuels and raw materials. In the case of open cast coal
mining we are (in the end) left with heavily polluted
and barren landscapes of enormous scales.
Mining is big business. A landscape architect’s influence would generally be sought in the aftermath. As
much as mines are looked at as eyesores in the landscapes they are also capable of many other possibilities – not just remediation.
I don’t see landscape architects having all that much
influence in the initial phases – Though we could with
locating mining activities and environmental assessments, but I see a stronger influence in what we do to
treat such a landscape.
Do the landscape or environmantal practices of
larger countries like China and the USA have any
applications here in New Zealand?
I think landscape architects are best positioned to be
working with post-mining situations because of how
we practice. We understand all to well the fundamentals to remediating damaged sites but I think the key
difference is we can influence with a vision. It’s that
‘architect’ component of our title.
Brennan, Coming from the United States, what
perspective do you think you bring? What can New
Zealand learn from the USA — in terms of good
practice, or perhaps in terms of what NOT to do! —
and vice-versa?
B: The imperial system... for all of the above!
Practically, I am able to bring in a little flair of popular
landscape architecture that floods the culture in the
States. Essentially, I hope that I provide a constructive
perspective on design projects including sustainability, infrastructure, and urbanism language/technique
(to name a few) to the firm/discipline here in New
Zealand. Countries across the globe do have varying ideologies and discourses on the profession- we
can bridge our knowledge. As a practising American
landscape architect, I think I bring an international
vernacular, opportunistically integrating systems,
capabilities, crafts etc, from my own knowledge of
precedents, and studies, that otherwise one may only
read about. The same can be said abou t what New
Zealand is doing for me.