Understood as what has preceded us, come to us through his physical and historical traces, the ancient and in particular "the ancient world" — that for us Europeans, and mostly for the Italians, coincides with the end of the Roman Empire — has always been, in every historical period, a reference to the culture, art, architecture. A required reference, either when it has been configured as a constant evolution and as when it is a critical restitution, a nostalgic revival or it has been cancelled, due to ideology or simply for ignorance and vulgarity.
From the Renaissance and at least till the Modern Movement, the relationship with the antique is an alternation of continuity and discontinuity, of memory and forgetfulness, of consolidated presence and sudden discovery, of coexistence and conflict. Even today, in spite of laws and regulations that establish the limits, the complexity of this relationship gives rise to theoretical and operational positions articulated if not conflicting. And of course, this relationship also changes depending on the prevalent archaeological culture and attitude of architects over time.
Beyond the specifics of the issues related to the peculiarities of the archaeological heritage, the theme refers to the complex relationship between modern architectural culture and history, understood as identitary memory, but also as presence of the antique in the heart of a city and its territory. Understanding modernity is not a matter of time, not as "new" because it has no past, nor to designate in some way the contemporaries, even if bringing ruptures and innovations, but rather as a way of being compared to the past. The contribution of the author aims to retrace the events and the various theories that have shaped the history of this relationship. Each one is a lesson. It then follows the tentative outline of the complexity of the relations between architecture, archaeology and landscape, through the critical examination of cases realized in Europe and in Italy.
To a varying degree the modern cities have all lost their historical and cultural characteristics. Archaeology is one way to excavate the cultural identity of an area. The urban characteristics take root in its culture. But for now, archaeology and planning are currently mismatched and should do more to relate. I suggest that planning majors need enroll in a number of related courses to achieve a cross integration of disciplines. Culture heritage is non-renewable resources, we need make initial identification of culture heritage before city development.
Fossils are the remains of ancient organisms, they are our non-renewable resource; they are the only data we have to understand the evolution of human life on Earth. Fossils and its existing environments must be preserved. This article introduces the issues what National Protected Important Paleontological Fossils Sites are facing in the urbanization process, and points out planning for these sites needs a multi-disciplinary and –sectoral collaboration for site preservation, local economic growth, and scientific research. Planners have to enhance their knowledge and productively communicate with geologists in order to guide the public to learn geology, and explore the nature.
The process of expansion and modernization of Lima during the 20th century mostly excluded the city’s rich archaeological landscape, leaving these sites without a defined role in the modern city. This article asks how can these places be framed and designed as meaningful, open and democratic urban and historical places of both the past and present.
Landscapes carry layered material remnants of history embedded in the surface and underground. Phenomenologically, spaces contain a compression of time; the present is the moment between past and future. Archaeology uncovers material traces from past activities, revealing a site’s history as layers of time. Brownfields bear material traces in the form of contaminants in the soil and / or water, and become clues for understanding past activities. Brownfields where industrial activities once occurred leave larger structures as material ruins, revealing an industrial past and a deindustrializing future.These types of sites have the potential to recast landscape architects as both archaeologists uncovering the past, and designers reimagining a new future for a site’s legacy. This article explores the impact of trace and remnant physical materials on the future terrain of landscape architecture operating within deindustrializing sites. Ithaca Falls and former Ithaca Gun Factory, a culturally and historically significant landscape in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, is used as a case study for approaching a historically layered, complex landscape with material remnants.
China’s leaders have set an urbanization target of 70% (approximately 900 million people) by 2025 andhas emphasized that future urbanization will be characterized by growth in rural towns and small cities (ChengZhenHua, 城镇化) not by expansion of megacities (DuShiHua, 都市化) As a consequence of China’s urban-focused economy, the role of agriculture has declined. Rural villages have been wiped out, and with them, thousands of years land cultivation and stewardship. Onrushing urbanization is reshaping rural China – its landscape, cultural heritage, and social structures. This paper examines these changes through the outcomes of a workshop about “Construction of Small Towns and Villages” organized by the ECNU School of Design in 2014 in China and Europe. At the workshop, proposals for “Preserving Rural Nature and Humanity Features during Urbanization” were discussed and critiqued. The paper concludes by describing how landscape architecture, and in particular Green Infrastructure, can play a key role in addressing the major challenges of Rural Chininse Urbanization.
The ground of the historical villa of Daroca folds and lifts to show the richness of its past to the public. A single image is generated within the city, a silent palimpsest born from the respect for it, not from a mere conservation strategy but understanding the place.
Daming Palace, known as "the pinnacle of Chinese palace architecture", is one of the most important palaces during China’s Tang Dynasty. The master plan and construction of the National Relics Park of Daming Palace, which consists of the Daming Palace Demonstration Park and the National Archaeological Heritage Park, is a successful exemplar of integration and implementation of design concepts and principles, project objectives, planning and design, and management. Through reviewing the entire process, from planning through construction, this article further demonstrates the main planning aspects, including palace gate and wall, roads and squares, green / blue space, and preservation and exhibition of the ruins. In the end this paper, we share the experience in management and evaluates the final implementation effects.
In 2012, IAPA won the international competition of Liangdai Village National Relics Park in Hancheng, Shaanxi. Their winning scheme integrates various perspectives — including cultural relics preservation and exhibition, landscape planning, tourist planning and architectural design. The design proposal aims to transform Liangdai Village Relics Park into a comprehensive one, which represents and demonstrates its rich historic heritage — culture of Eastern and Western Zhou dynasties in the site, regional culture of Hancheng and the Yellow River culture.
The existing landscape and history of Gallipoli are extremely powerful. That is why the design team wanted to highlight the existing value of the site instead of bringing something totally new to this unique historical area. Most architects feel compelled to build. To leave their mark. Sometimes however it is better not to build, and to allow the landscape to speak. The Lines of Memories is a minimal intervention based on the traces of the history and solitude.
Big Time BCN is a dynamic cartography of Barcelona that uses the synthetic capacity of “mapping” and new interaction possibilities offered by digital tools to establish novel links between heritage and the society that protects and admires it, while strengthening the bonds of identity. This project is an interactive visualization of data from more than 70,000 plots and 3,000 monuments.
Monte Testaccio is an extant ancient landfill comprised of the fragments of nearly 25 million clay amphorae which conveyed olive oil across the Mediterranean Sea from the provinces of Hispania to the heart of the Roman Empire. Monte Testaccio is Rome’s feral monument, an ungainly aggregation of material, mythology, interests and events. Over centuries the intersection of diverse activities, interests and constituencies has transformed the cultural identity of this waste space, and the peculiar material condition of the site has sponsored curious uses and programs.
As a historical precedent, Monte Testaccio offers two models for the contemporary aspiration to transform waste spaces into civic terrain. The first model involves the aggregation of many uses and constituencies on a closed metropolitan landfill in order to increase its cultural value. The second model that Monte Testaccio provides is one of dispersal — landfills can be troves of valuable material and potential energy that can be mined to prompt local and distant industrial ecologies and urban processes over time. The vitality and longevity of this archaeological site make Monte Testaccio a potent example of what a waste landscape can become: an agent of civic engagement and an urban catalyst.