Changing Waterscapes and Catchment Neighbourhoods in the Urban Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Abstract

This essay takes the stance that in the Anthropocene the dichotomy between city and nature is called off, and that the uncertainties caused by climate change make our current landscape practices in municipal planning due for reconsideration, with emphasis on processes and connectivity, scale and long-term ecological perspectives. The following employs water and atmosphere as an entry point to how we see and sense urban landscapes and to inform a planning practice occupied with land use and function. As an interconnected matter at Earths scale, going from subsurface to the lower atmosphere, water offers the concept of catchments as earthbound demarcations that can tap into contemporary planning, integrating dynamic and atmospheric qualities. The following explores a revitalized connection between water and planning through the concept of Catchment Neighbourhoods (1). This is done with reference to design with nature and ecological urbanism (McHarg, 1969; Mostafavi et al., 2011; Spirn, 2012) and atmospheric implications, drawing on Niels Albertsens work on cities urbanisation and atmosphere in the Anthropocene (Albertsen, 2021). This is exemplified and discussed through visual analysis from case studies (2) conducted as landscape architectural design research (Lenzholzer et al., 2013; Prominski & Seggern, 2019). The essay departs in landscape architecture and aims to prospect linkages between water-flow and connections offered by the terrains, building patterns, urban development and atmospheres of changing waterscapes.

(1) The Catchment Neighbourhood was conceptualized in the authors PhD-research (Wiberg, 2018).
(2) The case studies were conducted during the authors PhD research 2013-2017 and the research project Missing Link when the waters meet in the city, conducting two case studies in Danish cities 2020 (Wiberg, 2022; Missing Link - Når vandene mødes i byen, 2020).