Conclusions & discussion 7.1 CONCLUSIONS 7.1.1 CONTRIBUTIONS TO RESEARCH AND DESIGN This thesis began with the supposition that landscape architecture can have a role in addressing the lack of engagement with glacier retreat. The underlying premise is that in order to foster engagement, one first has to deal with the psychological dimensions of the issue. Until now, there were few landscape architects that considered the psychological aspects of environmental degradation almost none involved in glacier retreat. This thesis therefore brings glacier retreat, psychology, and landscape architecture together to discuss and demonstrate landscape architecture’s capacity and responsibility to approach environmental issues in a novel way.
This thesis contributes to socio-psychological research by demonstrating that the experience of environmental melancholia does apply to a case of a retreating glacier and that people do want to engage in a more meaningful way with it. Its contributions for psychology could possibly even be extended to considering the role of contemplation (and more specifically, melancholic contemplation) as a form of reparation to precede and ground action-driven modes of engagement. It contributes to landscape architectural research by developing a novel aesthetic framework that connects aesthetic properties to particular mental states. An important aspect is that it builds upon landscape architectural research that argues for the generative/ performative role of aesthetics in landscape architecture as a whole and the role of aesthetics in ‘the sustainability agenda’ (Meyer, 2008; van Etteger et al., 2016). It also contributes to research about the landscape architectural design process, because it finds that using projective design alternatives facilitates engagement with glacier retreat in the design process itself and can provide the design with a greater chance of being accepted and embraced within its community. Finally, it contributes to landscape architectural design by recommending an approach to apply the aesthetic framework of properties to design a space for melancholic contemplation. Through the design strategy for Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park and the spatial design at Haupapa/Tasman Glacier in New Zealand, it exemplifies how the approach can be applied to a glacial landscape. Glaciers are one of many natural phenomena that we are losing as a result of climate change, so providing spaces for melancholic contemplation becomes increasingly relevant for various environments as people try to process the losses and respond to them.
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