Edge Circumstances:
A critical exploration of the built environment’s peripheries
2007 Edward L. Ryerson and George and Dorothy Fiel Traveling Fellowships
Kyle O’Connor
As I began to develop my thoughts on writing this proposal, I felt it would be best to begin by simply considering my own feelings on travel. At this point in my life, I am not so sure that there could be anything better than an opportunity to see the world. There are far too many places of which I have yet to experience. Voyaging to far away places provides unrivaled opportunities to broaden one’s knowledge and understanding of not only those distant locations, but of one’s own self as well. While my own take on travel entails learning and experience by means of exploration, I feel that far too many others deprive themselves of those opportunities. As John Stilgoe put it, “Not surprisingly, many landscapes now please simply because they resemble advertising landscapes seen so many times that viewers unwittingly accept them as ideal.”[1] For me, this statement conjures thoughts of an American consumer-culture traversing the globe in search of the perfect “Kodak Moment.” Signs and footpaths direct one toward picturesque views and famous landmarks to be visually consumed. As an avid photographer and future landscape architect, I can fully appreciate an attractive photograph or an awe-inspiring view across a captivating landscape. However, I do have issues with the marginalization of landscapes into packaged objects and destinations to simply be seen and photographed. Landscape is the very mechanism by which and on which our lives and cultures are carried out.[2]
My proposal is rooted in the idea of exploring landscapes, or places within landscapes, which normally go unexplored, unseen, and are unknown or disregarded by most. A great many sites, especially tourist destinations, possess some sort of landmark or focus, which provides the incentive to visit the place. While many of these places are indeed wonderful, I find myself lacking interest in a site that I have already seen and experienced through indirect sources of media. Now, there is the argument that one’s physical presence in a place is far more compelling, and therefore, should justify a desire to visit the location. I do agree that a direct experience is more compelling. Those places have become well known and sought after for a reason. Visiting them provides an opportunity to be able to say, “I did that, I was there.” Despite this, I do not share the desires possessed by others regarding visits to those landmark points. Nearly every experience of well-known places that I have winds up being passive, predictable, and banal. I find it much more fulfilling to explore, to notice details, and to be caught off guard by places and events that stir up the way I feel in a given landscape. Paths and nodes of interest limit the landscape to having a rather linear form that shapes experiences, while the greater landscape is indeed planar. When one’s experience of a landscape is that mediated, a plethora of other experiences and delights are missed out on, for “exploration encourages creativity, serendipity, invention.”[3]
I suppose this all begs the question, “so, what?” I believe that a critical exploration of the outer margins of a select few sites, namely public parks and plazas, focusing on, but not limited to those of The Museum of Modern Art’s 2005 Exhibition, Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary Landscape, would result in a purposeful, enlightening voyage. Public open space design is often carried out with intentions of altering and improving the neighborhoods and districts which are directly adjacent to the spaces themselves. The term “improving” may refer to a number of issues regarding everyday urban life. Peter Reed of the
Notes
[1] John R. Stilgoe, Landscape and Image (
[2] See James Corner, Taking Measures Across the American Landscape (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996), 21
[3] Stilgoe, Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places (
[4] Peter Reed, Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary Landscape (
Ryerson
Duisburg-Nord,
Parc André Citroën,
Parc de la Cour du Maroc,
Parc de la Villette,
Schouwburgplein,
Crissy Field,
Fresh Kills Landfill site,
Olympic
1 comment:
that is really good. i would give you money. there is one part however, that is a little hard to read. it would be easier if you asked me. later
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