"Landscape Urbanism," a school of thought that argues that landscape and natural forms are more capable of shaping cities than architecture, is gaining ground in the U.S. Andrés Duany reports that to his dismay, it's also taking over Harvard.
Duany (the famed architect and one of the founders of New Urbanism) reports that much of the Harvard Graduate School of Design is embracing the concept -- even as they rebrand it "ecological urbanism".
Duany writes, "Last April, upon attending a remarkable conference at the Harvard GSD, I predicted that it would be taken over in a coup. I recognized a classic Latin American-style operation. It was clear that the venerable Urban Design program would be eliminated or replaced by Landscape Urbanism. Today, it is possible to confirm that the coup was completed in September-and that it was a strategic masterpiece."
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