Ali Abu Aleid

Response Paper: Chapter 2 Landscape and Indeterminacy

LDEM 260

READING 1: The Landscape Urbanism Reader

McHarg, Ian L. “An Ecological Method for Landscape Architecture.” The Ecological Design
and Planning Reader, Island Press/Center for Resource Economics, 2014, pp. 341–47

READING 2: CASE: Downsview Park Toronto

Yang, Bo, and Shujuan Li. “Design with Nature: Ian McHarg’s Ecological Wisdom as
Actionable and Practical Knowledge.” Landscape and Urban Planning, vol. 155, Elsevier BV,
Nov. 2016, pp. 21–32.

Summary:
The first article written by Ian Mcharg on the importance of ecology in landscape architecture
and planning, his design methods have tremendous significance to sustainable architecture
processes and environmental sustainability. He described landscape architects as the only bridge
between design and planning, and natural sciences, in addition, he stresses on the need to work
with nature rather than against it.
McHarg defines ecology for landscape architects as an analysis of physical and biological
processes as complex and adaptive, open to regulations, with restricting forces and
demonstrating some of the openings used in design and planning for human use. (McHarg, 1967)
McHarg 's ecological insight in planning and living in nature encourages the output of a true and
lasting benefit for the built world. The "secret" of McHarg 's ecological expertise, his devotion of
Mother Natures, his creative merging of science theories and landscape planning, and his clear
ability to inspire the general public, is embedded in his interdisciplinary training and experience.
(
McHarg’s ecological design process has 3 main steps:
 multidiscipline integration to provide holistic design strategies.
 Ability to tackle wicked design problems residing in a wide range of scales.
 Targeting landscape performance in a quantitative manner.
A detailed ecological inventory begins the design process, in which natural systems are
incorporated into planning and design. The ground is superimposed on ecological considerations
to assess its potential for human activities and its suitability to use a particular type of ground. As
defined in McHargs project the woodland in the state of Texas, the design phase provides a
formal theoretical background, which is instrumental in defining main site issues.