Landscape and the Three Ecologies

- Burle Marx​​​​​​​

In his book, The Three Ecologies, French philosopher Felix Guattari articulates the threefold nature of ecology that are environmental, social, and mental. If we are to imagine a more 'ecological' design that combines these three ecologies, culture and nature must be considered collectively.  The three ecologies line up with a progressive understanding of practice and pedagogy in the field of landscape architecture, demonstrating the significance of human-centered ecology. The three ecologies are not a logically linear progression but instead, emphasize why human-centered landscape matters and advocate for a more sustainable alteration of the future that is deeply engaged with human experience. 

Environmental ecology is the study of interactions, especially the relationship between organisms and their environment. Species interplay, relational systems, and physical processes are observed, measured, and quantified scientifically. Prioritizing studies on objective processes, design theory in landscape architecture previously emphasized ecology and science as foundations for design. For example, Ian McHarg’s emphasis on designing and integrating the ecological systems that underpin the natural world shifts the focus of landscape architecture from an aesthetic and picturesque approach. As a system landscape and planning analysis, his “layer cake” analogy laid the ground for landscape and ecological urbanism. However, there are some inconsistencies in McHarg’s work and an absence of “people” in his Design with Nature. Aligning with the preservationist views of John Muir, McHarg called humans a “planetary disease." [1] He also proposed a position similar to resource management proponent Gifford Pinchot, which advised a wise use of natural resources for human benefits. McHarg's words and actions are those of the profession itself, including tensions between preservation and management, nature and culture, tradition and invention, theory and practice. Thirty years after McHarg’s writing, Richard Forman’s approach to the land mosaic and patch-corridor-matrix model started to integrate a more nuanced view of cultural and societal solutions in relation to nature. By comparing diverse geomorphologies, human activity patterns, and natural conditions, his book Land Mosaics: The Ecology of Landscape and Regions integrated the scientific lens of natural organisms, explaining the affected mosaic landscape of cultural and social differences. [2] However, the method of sheer scientific observance excluded human’s subjective experience from consideration. It frames the study of human and nature interactions as a collection of quantifiable facts which are unduly deterministic and lacking specificity- as if the natural environment will always dictate the structure and purpose of human settlements. 

After understanding the ecology of objects and processes, there remains complexity and diversity in the relationship between humans and nature. Humans are essentially the subject, the ways in which humans are deeply embedded in, experienced, and shaped by the landscapes around them consist of the subjective life. Social ecologies consider the agency and how history and human subjectivities negotiate with and shape the physical environment. But what agencies and subjects are being considered and who will be portrayed as an object? According to Jala Makhzoumi’s article Colonizing Mountain, Paving Sea, the perception of landscape is culturally determined and varies within a specific time and space. The original coinage of the term “landscape” is attributed to those in positions of power in the emerging capitalist world of Western Europe. They used landscape to conceptualize and naturalize specific, and in this case, profoundly unequal, ways of relating to land and other people. [3] The author lists two large-scale neoliberal development projects in Lebanon as illustrations of international capital holdings for the benefit of investors with little regard to the legacy of people, culture, and the environment. These projects privatize public-owned land, devastate terrestrial ecosystems, and displace local communities. This highlights an urgent need for a culturally specific and holistic approach to development that recognizes the collective heritage of the Lebanese countryside, one that contests a compartmentalized approach to development.

Mental ecology is an ecology of the means that make up the world, the ways that individuals perceive and react to objects and reshape both those objects and themselves. The concept of landscape literacy articulates the medium and language through which we make sense of, contextualize, and actively transform the environment. The agency and specificity of literacy include inclusive media and local expressions, incorporating sensory organs and technical instruments that influence our subjective perceptions. A case in point, Anuradha Mathur argued the emergence of design comes from the act of traversing through seeing, measuring through the body, and understanding through the instruments, constructing a transect of the human-centered and ecological panorama. [4] Similarly, the book An Anthropology of Landscape investigates the biographies of people and the way the landscape becomes part of their identities, actions, and emotions. It also discusses the way different individuals engage in place-making activities, and how meaning is derived from events, historical occurrences, associations, and existential awareness. For example, the book discusses how the landscape of southwest England has shaped the lives and identities of its inhabitants. The authors describe how farmers have developed a deep knowledge of the landscape over generations, and how this knowledge is passed down through families and communities. They also discuss how the landscape shapes farmers’ daily lives, from the rhythms of the seasons to the challenges of working with the land and animals. [5] The authors argue that this deep connection to the landscape is an important part of the farmers' identities and that it shapes the way they see themselves and their place in the world.

All three ecologies are equally valuable. Environmental ecology helps us comprehend the physicality of the natural environment, social ecologies aid us in understanding the cultural and political agencies, while mental ecologies emphasize how the medium through which we understand the world shapes our identities. By better understanding the interactions between these ecologies in landscape practices, landscape architects have the potential to create a more human-centered, contextualized design that responds to ecological, aesthetic, scientific, political, and ethical considerations. 

Footnotes