Book Review: Fredrick Steiner, Richard Weller, Karen M’Closkey, Billy

Fleming (eds.) Design with Nature Now. Lincoln Land Institute of Land Policy,
Cambridge MA 2019.

As stated in the Forward by Andrew Revich” In Design with Nature Now, an array of
McHarg’s contemporaries- along with practitioners, scientists, and scholars in fields
from planning to ecology to comparative literature- explain why there has never
been a greater need for McHarg’s way’ (Steiner et al 2019, xi). I still have my first
edition of Design with Nature (McHarg 1969) that I utilized throughout graduate
school at the University of Massachusetts while pursuing an MLA degree with an
emphasis on landscape planning. I had Ian McHarg as one of our major speakers at
the Our National Landscape Conference at Lake Tahoe in 1979 where I first met him.

All the writings in this book, apart from the editor’s introduction, stem from the
Design with Nature Now Conference in June 2019at the University of Pennsylvania.
Except for two keynote addresses- all the other speakers were asked to address
McHarg’s legacy through selected projects. There are a number of projects
presented in chapters 10-16 that illustrate a McHarg approach to planning and
design. These project chapters are grouped under; human ecology and design, big
wilds, rising tides, fresh waters, toxic lands and urban futures. Chapters 17 through
26 constitute a series of commentaries or essays on the 25 projects presented in the
middle of the book.

The opening chapter is a biographic essay by Fredrick Steiner followed by short

tributes by scholars and practitioners who worked closely with McHarg. Other
chapters by Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, James Corner, Anuradha Mathur, Laurie Olin,
Anne Sprin, Dana Olin, Brina Evans and Laurel McSherry offer insight into how
McHarg had and still influences them as scholars and practitioners.

Recently there has been a burst of articles commenting on McHarg’s contribution to

the environmental movement as well as landscape architecture and planning.
Although some are critical of his contradictory theories (Herrington 2010) others
expand on the range and scope of his contribution to an ecological planning theory
(Steiner and Fleming 2019), as an application to specific projects (Wagner et al
2016, Yong and Li 2016) and as systems thinking to resiliency planning (Bryant and
Turner 2019). Whatever the theoretical debate- McHarg certainly had an impact on
the fields of landscape architecture and environmental planning.

The short essays in Chapters one to nine are revealing in painting a rich picture of
Ian McHarg and his contribution. Chapters 10 to 16 are richly illustrated design and
planning projects reflective of the McHarg approach. Chapters 17-26 are more
reflective communications on the state of ecological based planning and design.

Berger and Susskind in Chapter 17 highlight two mega regional initiatives: 1) the
2050 –An Energetic Odyssey in the North Sea, which includes and installation of
some 25,000 wind turbines by 2050 and 2) the Green Wall Initiative in the Sahara
and Sahel regions of Africa to counter desertification. The overall chapter theme
addresses the danger of over simplication versus exploring the complexity of
environmental issues.

In Chapter 18 Thomas Compton describes the history of a proposed marine park in

the Gernsten Creek tidal estuary to the current estuary restoration effort utilizing a
McHarg like ecological planning approach.

Rob Holmes, in chapter 19, stresses abandoning what he terms “ landscape

solutionism” and that landscape planners should move toward using cartography
generationally plus become more involved with using landscape modeling to project
landscape futures.

Kathleen John-Alder, in chapter 20, focuses on “the need to see the connection
between things and the desire to pose generative solutions to perceived challenges
the ecological axiom that … links design with nature rather than to design with
nature now” (Steiner et al 2019, 271).

Nina-Marie Lister in Chapter 21 describes the disconnect between landscape

planning and conservation science and so the need to move from conservation
science to socio-ecological design to better address large-scale biodiversity
conservation planning.

David Orr in Chapter 22 addresses the need to include governance in ecological

design to better address inclusiveness in democratic and educational processes.

Catherine Seavitt Nordenson in Chapter 23 sketches the history of the Fresh Kills
landfill in Staten Island NY and the resultant restoration ecology.

Allan Shearer in Chapter 24 describes McHarg’s treatment of attitudes about change

and the role of security (environmental and political) in the design discourse.

Jillian Walliss in Chapter 25 address scarcity as a driver of key environmental

strategies and political ecology in the Global South and China.

Finally William Whitaker brings us back to McHarg’s theoretical design evolution in

Chapter 26, which reinforces many of the points made in the beginning chapters of
the book.

So the whole book is a reflective portfolio of McHarg’s ecological planning approach

from theory to application. I am not sure how I would use this in the classroom or
studio. The early chapters are useful historically to paint the picture of McHarg’s
contributions. The middle part of the book is a nice compendium of advanced
ecological planning and design projects that could serve as case study project
examples. The last chapters 17 to 25 could serve as critical reflective pieces to
encourage students and practitioners to move beyond conventional ways of
thinking about environmental design and planning.

References
Bryant, M M and Turner J S 2019. From thermodynamics to creativity: McHarg’s
ecological planning theory and its implication for resilience planning and adaptive
design. Socio-Ecological Practice Research 1(3-4): 325-337
https://doi.org/10.1007//s42532-019-00027-1

Herrington S 2010. The nature of McHarg’s Science. The Landscape Journal 29:1-10.

McHarg I L 1969. Design with Nature 1st Edition. The American Museum of Natural
History, The Natural History Press, Garden City, NY

Steiner f and B Fleming 2019. Design with Nature at 50: its enduring significance to
socio-ecological practice and research in the twenty-first century. Socio-Ecological
Practice Research 1(3-4): 173-177 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-019-00035-1

Wagner M, Merson J, Wentz E A. 2016. Design with Nature: Key lessons from
McHarg’s intrinsic suitability in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Landscape and urban
Planning 155:33-46 Http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.06.013

Yong B and Li S 2016. Design with Nature: Ina McHarg’s ecological wisdom as
actionable and practical knowledge. Landscape and Urban Planning 155: 21-32
https://doi.org/10.101016/j.landurbplan.2016.04.010