Acadia:Arcadia

Lori Ryker's third lecture of this series spoke about the myth of Arcadia and our desire as designers to create this place. It's a place where beauty, harmony, peace and love meet. It's a natural beauty that's strong, that endures and where everything else springs from.
She told the story of the Nova Scotians being banned from their native land in the late 1700's and relocating to, what we refer to today as Acadia. The 'r' was lost in translation. This land is a highly functional land rarely looked at for it's scenic, preservable views. It's seen as a land excellent for economic gain instead of one that should be protected for it's qualities.
Unfortunately, over 200 years of this mindset has left us with a faltering, dieing wetland. An Eco-system far undermined, misunderstood of it's importance and it's unique beauty.
So sad that it's right here in our own backyard and we don't do more to protect, rebuild and educate on this place we call home, Acadia.

Lori Ryker-- ARCADIA:ACADIA

Lori's last lecture began by stating some cold hard facts between her home of Montana and our state of Louisiana. Montana is roughly 50% developed and 50% natural landscape. Unlike Louisiana, which has 70% development and 30% natural landscape.

I felt that this was because "you can't move mountains"...Louisiana seems easier to develope because our terrain enables it.

She spoke of the mysterious Arcadia..a land of peace ad tranquility. She compared to to Acadia "the myth that lost its R"... Which is Louisiana. Louisiana was once an Arcadia. But development has taken over most of this state's tranquility and natural landscape.

Lori Ryker, Lecture Series part II

The second part of Lori Ryker's lecture, was a continuation of her last lecture on changing one's future through ways of civic engagement. During this lecture Lori once again stressed the importance of design through engagement in ones surroundings, and why the process of practice is a crucial tool to achieve that.

Many times in a society driven by monetary gains people only see value on the end product ignoring the process in between. The process of practice is a way for you to engage in the earth and your surroundings, you shouldn't be scared to practice or to take "risk" as it is a way to enable your creativity. The adventures and risks you take during this process can be viewed as an art piece, so we must place value on the process also to create designs that engage the earth. Lori ended the lecture by revealing the winner of the survey, which was "create, preserve, persevere".

CREATE.PRESERVE.PERSEVERE.

Lori Ryker's second lecture was all about creating a sense of place through adventure. She believed that we must engage the world in order to provide to the world, meaning put yourself into nature before you begin the design. An adventure's outcome is unknown and could result in either failure or success...essentially, adventure is a risk, and the most adventurous way to engage in the world fully is through walking. Walking is a mental and physical engagement, don't look at a site from overhead...you won't understand the environment fully.

She spoke of a painter, who moved from California to Montana, who felt that it took him two years to fully understand the landscape of Montana. Lori said that being engaged in the world takes practice. So take risks for creativity, because a civilization is not dependent upon economics but truth, beauty, and peace.

Roussel, Megan. Lori Ryker.

I enjoyed the lecture given by Lori Ryker. She had great stories to tell of her in school. I thought the banner written in Russian was hilarious. But when she first opened up with the story of the garbage bags hanging from the ceiling, she posed a question that really made one think. Is it art or just garbage? Another question she posed was about myth, what is it? She described a myth being something you believe isn’t coming true? Our ultimate goal in life is to make our myth come true. She spoke of the idea of civic engagement which landscape architects have to deal with every design. Who is going to use this space? She also spoke about the ability to change our futures. We all have the opportunity to do so, but it is up to us to act upon it. The wristbands were a sign of those who want to make a different and see change. I am curious what the winning “change” will be on the next one.

My favorite project Ryker showed us was the park located on the banks of the Yellowstone. The entry points have an impact on the visitors to the site, but not have a negative effect on the landscape. Everything was left natural, but the structures all fit into the landscape. My favorite part of the site was the markers of the trail that whistle when the winds blow so one does not have to see the trail, but they can listen for it.

andrew doyle. Lori Ryker Lecture

Many of the themes Lori discussed in her lecture about "Civic Engagement" pertain to our studio class. Her comparison about the power of fine art and landscapes is something many of us can identify with. More uniquely, however, she makes a connection of this feeling over to the urban context. The sense of community is strong in our great cities such as New York, especially in the public spaces like Central Park or Columbus Circle. However, what offers a greater challenge is the assignment to create a space that hinders a sense of community in rural, or even wilderness settings. Lori then began to explore the very definition of community. Is it a political boundary, a specific experience a group shares, a natural feature, or a type of person? How can these all be personified in a designed space?

My favorite of the projects she showed us during the lecture was the meditation area near the banks of the Yellowstone. The attention to concept and detail across various scales of the site is a skill that I admire, and struggle with as a student. Particularly how they treated the different entry markers at each end of the site. Those features in combination with the trail markers which were tuned to make music in the wind, to the impressive craft/ function of the different meditation areas gave the design a unique and thorough feeling.

Bowei Wang. Lori Ryker

Lori Ryker started her lecture by asking the audience what is our "myth" or what we wanted it to be, an interesting question that i had never really thought about before and to make your "myth" come true, which is the ultimate goal. I was able to relate to Lori when she talked about the feelings or connections a landscape or art can have on someone, in a way the landscape is be a beautiful piece of art. The lecture also helped me to fully see the power of civic engagement and ethics and the importance to actually practice it. If we see a crisis and want to make a difference then we need to make these changes starting with ourself, by changing how we live we can influence others and to do this we need to participate in the community and human to human engagement.

I enjoyed her lecture and that the audience was able to participate at the end. I was able to relate parts of the lecture to our reading on the importance of professional ethics and civic engagement. Lori's courage and confidence to challenge others also inspired me to find my "myth" and strive for the myth to come true.

Smith.Sarah_Lori Ryker Lecture

i enjoyed her introduction to the lecture on creativity. how it is instilled within us, it is not invented and cannot be forced. i have always been a firmed believer that some people are born with more creativity than others and some have to exercise their creativity more often to maintain it.

I also took interested when she said "...its not about streets, if you want to begin to understand a place and how to move through it, you need to begin to understand it's topography, spatial definition, and drainages."
I was able to relate that idea to my work as a student, how we begin with site analysis and inventory.


**Those table tops were awesome!

Bowei Wang, The North River Demonstration Project

Chosen by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, the North River became the pilot program for the state to manage its scenic and recreational rivers. The study focused on the impact of the regions scenic visual qualities based on different scenarios of new development. Working with the Harvard Graduate School of Design, different scenarios was complied to create a model testing impacts of different development. Ten major steps were taken to simulate the different models. In total 13 scenarios was created comparing the visual implications of different housing development around the North River region.

Smith.Sarah_the 'spatial solution' to conserving biodiversity in landscapes and regions

This article made me think about the highway cutting through poverty point, and how it has divided the site into two. Not only to roads break up a site, but rid an area of vegetation and wildlife. This is not conserving biodiversity. The highway running in the middle of Poverty Point is causing fragmentation and a disconnect.

We must answer the question as to how to conserve biodiversity? Through land management, and viewing the needs to different stake holders, we can get an idea as to how to conserve land while feeding to the needs of the surrounding people.

Wildlife Monographs: gap analysis

This article involves gap analysis and the protection of biodiversity at state-wide, regional, national, and ultimately, international scales. Gap Analysis is a "coarse-filter" approach to conservation evaluation. Gap Analysis provides a quick overview of the distribution of several components of biodiversity. The methodology of gap analysis serves as a basis for monitoring and evaluating changes in biodiversity in fine and coarse scales. Layering of GIS mappings can identify spatial and temporal impacts, such as air pollution, on significant ecological habitats. Ecological maps and spatial data can be linked to create pictures of how ecosystems might preform under human-induced changes. As long as the limitations of the Gap Analysis process are realized, it provides a frame-work for land use planning that will allow for the prosperity of both the native species of the area and citizens of the same community.

Smith.Sarah_the land unit- a fundamental concept in landscape ecology, and its applications.

A land unit, better known as an ecotope is a single homogenous unit of the landscape system. In a land unit survey, there are many components such as soils, vegetation, land form, and other attributes. In this article it states that a "land unit" is the central concept of landscape ecology.

I found it interesting that this article spoke how geographers and landscape ecologist study the landscape as a whole, and don't emphasize on one certain are or attribute. I find that landscape architects tend to focus on the fine details much more, as well as viewing the landscape as a whole. We tend to break the landscape down into smaller parts, and those parts are broken down even further.

Toward a Sustainable Landscape with High Visual Preference and High Ecological Integrity: the Loop Road in Acadia National Park

This paper explains the sensitivity of both the ecological landscape and the visual landscape, and the importance of each to the design of The Loop Road in Acadia National Park. In 1919 Congress established Acadia National Park as a sustainable landscape; and preservation of its scenic and naturalistic qualities for future generations was paramount. A study was conducted to address the impact the Loop Road was having on the park from ecological and visual standpoints. In 1986 over 4 million people visited the park and continues to rise. The level of impact was not sustainable for the existing infrastructure. Legislation passed 50 years after the park became operational, initiated the development of the first General Management Plan. Vegetation and Terrain GIS maps were made to locate the highest areas of impact. Surveys were administered to obtain who was going through the park and why. The collecting of this data allowed for suggestions to be advised implemented; mixed woodlands and open spaces key to habitat diversity were segregated from areas of development. When polled, people often expected to see views that where to their definition of high visual quality. The areas also showed to be the areas of highest ecological significance. After years of research and analysis, a landscape planning strategy for the loop road is proposed in the hopes that the visual and ecological can be enhanced and preserved for future generations, while having as little impact on the site as possible.

Roussel, Megan. The "Spatial Solution" to conserving...

The reading explains an alternative approach to environmental and land use issues. According to the reading, spatial land use patterns will help conserve natural processes of nature. Patterns of natural vegetation such as major stream corridors and large patches are crucial in the landscape. Disturbance is the reason why landscape patterns are created. It is part of nature. But when nature is changed for the worst that is when an order has to be given. If the landscape is going to change there should be a hierarchy of what can be disturbed first to help protect the natural process of nature.

Elizabeth Bowie, "Methods for Generating Suitability Maps: a Comparative Evaluation"

A Comparative Evaluation:

There are a few different ways to conceive suitability maps. This article focuses on a number of them: the Gestalt, McHarg (ordinal combination), linear combination, nonlinear combination, factor combination, cluster analysis, rules of combination, and the hierarchical combination methods. Many of these methods favor one another and therefore work pleasingly together to create land suitability maps. When determining which method you might use, one needs to first access the particular location for development. Is it a small scale or large scale area? Will factors be independent of one another or dependent? All of this is relative to your site, but the best method for most studies is to begin with the linear and nonlinear methods and then follow with the rules of combination. With all of these methods, it is not possible to make evaluative statements about several uses to the site. One must make some assumptions about the demands for uses of and on the site, and we cannot use this information alone. We need to understand the economic analysis of the area to go forward.

Elizabeth Bowie, "The 'Spatial Solution' to Conserving Biodiversity in Landscapes and Regions"

Spatial Solution:

In an era when human population is at a constant rise, we need to be more conscience of biodiversity in landscapes and regions. Our “spatial solution” needs to conserve key environmental and land use issues. To do this, we must determine what species are important to conserve and protect. In turn, we must also determine what bears the least and what may be allowed to “disappear.”
There are several patterns in the landscape that hold considerable weight. You must have large patches of natural vegetation to “protect species richness.” Vegetated corridors along streams and rivers provide erosion control, protective migration to water, food to the bottom of the food pyramid, shade, and mineral nutrients. Species must be free to move from space to space so “connectivity between large patches” is needed. Smaller “patches” are needed to serve as a “hedge of resistance” for species disturbance and land use control (erosion). Aggregates are also used to help “mesh a space” for human and woodland blending. We need to enforce this thinking now on a more global level. We have a fixed amount of land on this planet and “making do” with what we have has never been our strong suit. A spatial solution should be on all of our minds when developing and designing for today and the future.

Roussel, Megan. The Land Unit- A Fundamental Concept...

The land unit is a crucial landscape in landscape ecology. It provides a foundation for studying landscape ecology relationships. A land unit survey is a method of efficient survey of land characteristics, such as soils, vegetation, and landform expressed in single or overlaying mappings. The more development of a discipline is the aim and the smaller the area, the more direct field observation is necessary. The choice of survey method depends on education, experience, and scientists. A land unit survey is less analytical if there is only one characteristic on the mapping otherwise, it becomes more of inventory. When one begins to overlay the mappings, that’s when the mapping become analysis.

Jessica Roberts_Ecological Guidelines for Land Use and Management

This article speaks about the trends and patterns of land use and how it changes over time. The ecological principles for land use and management: dealing with time, place, species, disturbance and the landscape. How these aspects change our environments world wide need to be recognized so that we as a people can use methods of management that lead to good impacts.

Jordan Boan, "Toward a Sustainable Landscape..."

In this article, Carl Steinitz describes the research methods used to determine the appropriate areas for conservation or intervention in the landscape. What I found particularly interesting is that it actively engaged the stakeholders of the surrounding community and users of the park. Through several survey methods the researchers were able to determine, in a general sense, the visual preferences of their user group. Then data was collected concerning the areas of ecological integrity within the park by using three indicator species, black bear, ruffed grouse, and river otter, as surrogates for more comprehensive or complex data. Once these two sets were mapped based on value (high visual preference to low visual preference and high ecological integrity to low ecological integrity) they were combined so that areas of greater value could be conserved and areas of low value could be developed or improved in some fashion.

Jessica Roberts_Rethinking the sacred landscape

Doxtater takes a look into the meaning of the Greek temples and why they were located where they were. Is this pure coincidence, did they simply follow land patterns or was it a mere solar aligning. In a time of computers and gps' and such its hard to imagine the technical considerations of something this large scale being composed during a time without these types of help.