Landschaftsarchitektur und öffentlicher Raum Landscape Architecture and Public Space
In 2012, the chair continued to pursue its investigations into three main areas of research: green infrastructures, informal settlements and participation. With the “Designing Nature as Infrastructure” symposium in November 2012, conducted in cooperation with the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Open Space, the chair helped establish an academic platform for international exchange in the field of green infrastructures. Over the past few years the chair has run various student projects that explore the meaning and potential of infrastructures in public space. The infrastructure of buses, for example, is in many countries the most important mode of public transport – and in Germany, too, the relevance of long-distance coach travel is expected to rise with the abolishment of the railway monopoly. In winter semester, bachelor students were asked to examine and then to restructure bus stations in their respective urban contexts. Students in the 3rd semester examined the bus station and square in front of the main railway station in Würzburg while bachelor students in the 7th and 8th semesters designed bus stations for two sites in the center of Istanbul. The metropolitan city of Istanbul was also the site of the “Magnitude 7.4” design project for the master’s study program in 2012. The vast growth of the city not only necessitates that the infrastructure grows with it; the relentless incorporation of former rural-informal settlements into the megacity also needs to be steered, especially with regard to Istanbul’s earthquake-prone location. Participation – the ability for citizens to contribute to the city and its development – is the third main pillar of research activities at the chair. A pioneer whose work preceded the popularization of the idea of participation is the landscape architect Günther Grzimek, who was able to realize his notion of a park for the people – of “democratic green” – in his design for the Olympiapark in 1972, today one of the most important parks in Munich.
Istanbul-Levent; Foto Linus Clade
221
www.lao.ar.tum.de Leitung Professor Prof. Regine Keller Sekretariat Office management Elisabeth Kronthaler Wiss. Mitarbeiter Research associates Susann Ahn, Doris Grabner, Thomas Hauck, Michel Hinnenthal, Felix Lüdicke, Felix Metzler, Mattias Roser, Juliane Schneegans IAS-Fellow IAS-Fellow Prof. Christian Werthmann