Morton, R., Parke, D., Kaushal, V., 2024.

Remapping landscapes to redefine territorial boundaries and regenerative capacities of landscape: A multi-methods pedagogical and practice research-led model for design.

The Infrastructure Space Atelier at Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) has developed a methodology that utilises a range of iterative research and design methods to engage students and stakeholders with the interpretation and reframing of landscapes towards their regeneration. Formerly an architecture studio with a landscape urbanism ethos, the atelier has now officially integrated the discipline of landscape architecture. The student cohort is made up of UK and international students of landscape architecture and architecture programmes.

Which type of regenerative systems does the model engage with? What is the model supposed to change and how?

The pedagogical and practice model encourages the interpretation of existing systems to remap landscapes, challenging the boundaries of existing territories. The methodological approach supports a diverse student cohort in developing individual and multi-cultural perspectives of the landscape's regenerative capacity. The multi-method approach develops critical inquiry through the spatialisation of territorial data. Holistic, regenerative landscapes can only be achieved when the interactive components of their complex adaptive systems are carefully considered. A mapping of existing landscape components helps participants understand how the landscape system can be reframed to challenge its existing territorial boundaries and functional capacities. Iterative questioning, the spatialisation of non-spatial data, and a systematically conducted review of territorial data support the data mapping process and the broader multi-methods approach. The model (Fig. 1) represents the multi-methods approach, which involves an interplay between research and practice and includes thematic data mapping, stakeholder workshops, exhibitions, and speculative design.

Why is the multi-methods model regenerative? How might we (re)define regenerative landscapes?

Through the research-led approach, students synthesise their outcomes using the spatialisation of data and speculative design. The inter-disciplinary collaboration between landscape architecture and architecture has enabled the atelier to operate in an increasingly inter-scalar way, exploring landscape systems from the macro to the micro while simultaneously exploring the reconciliation of natural and manmade systems. This complex interrogation of the landscape generates trans-disciplinary, inclusive, and diverse outcomes that are both environmentally and ecologically responsive, redefining its regenerative capacities.