Rimodernare o ecologizzare?

In this seminar we will investigate strategies of integrating natural forces in the city by conceiving it as an “energy landscape.” The notion emerged in the 1970s as an attempt of making the goals of urbanism and ecology more compatible. According to landscape architect Michael Hough the concept of energy landscape promotes “an ecological view that encompasses the total urban landscape.” Energy was addressed not only as a problem of infrastructure and supply, but, moreover, as a question of permanent exchange within the existing and future urban landscape. In this seminar we will address natural forces in close connection to the built fabric and how this interplay might shape the environmental conditions of cities. We will discuss theoretical approaches addressing nature in the city, and we will refer to the greater region of Geneva (Switzerland) as a contemporary testing ground for ecological urban theories of the late 20th century.