Exploring Landscape Urbanism in Two Danish Suburban Development Projects

Abstract

This paper investigates the incipient orientation towards landscape and ecology as vectors for design in Danish (sub)urban development projects. It addresses the return to urban commitments seen in contemporary landscape architecture, variously described as landscape urbanism. The hypothesis is that the increased awareness of landscapes role as a viable framework for the contemporary city can help the urban practices to meet the uncertainties of contemporary urbanism already in the conceptualisation of projects. This assumption is based on practical experiences, obtained from scrutinising two projects for suburban residential development in Denmark, i.e., Ullerødbyen and Bellinge Fælled. By superimposing landscape urbanism theory onto the empirical findings, this paper argues that Danish landscape architecture tradition, combined with landscape urbanisms emphasis on systemic thinking, is a key issue in defining a Danish landscape urbanistic practice.