Landscape Architecture Frontiers

The paper argues for the necessity of a new paradigm of ecological restoration in the face of mining extraction in the Latin American Andes. It begins with a critical reading of the extra-territorial connections between mining sites and settlements and unfolds their ambivalent relations through chronic cycles of ecological destruction. The analysis focuses on the territorial logics embedded in four mining-settlements of the Peruvian Andes and their development from the eighteenth to the twentyfirst century. Potosí, Huancavelica, Hualgayoc, and Cajamarca form part of an extended network of landscape infrastructures and headwater resources, all of which have been (and continue to be) significantly disturbed through mining operations. The sites have inherited a relentless production of Acid Mine Drainage in addition to other hazardous post-mining ecologies. Tangible evidence of ecological misbalance demonstrates the enduring impact of past-mining activities even centuries after mineral extraction has ceased. The paper reflects on present-day practices of post-mining landscape restoration in accordance with current Peruvian legislation. It concludes with a plea for a new form of territorial planning as well as both the conception and perception of post-mining landscapes through inclusion of design strategies for Cajamarca. Such planning needs to reconcile the contradictory elements of mineral extraction, environmental engineering, and self-sustainable ecological development. Intelligent design research is a major support for such an endeavor.