Article taken from A&B issue 03|23
In an interview with Marta Kulawik, Professor Aleksander Böhm reveals, among other things, an effective argument for beauty in human surroundings and explains why nurturing greenery is cheaper in the long run than caring for concrete. She mentions what has been done for architecture and landscape architects in Poland over the past two decades and answers the question of what is still to be done.
Prof. Alexander Böhm - Author of more than 250 publications, including 12 books. Co-author of many architectural projects and urban plans. From the time of his studies until his professorship, he was associated with the Cracow University of Technology. In 1976-1977 he worked as a lecturer at the University of Baghdad, 1989 as a visiting professor at the Fachhochschule in Münster. In 1990-1991 he served as Chief Architect of Krakow, in 1992 he was a consultant to the International City Management Association. In 2000, he organized a new course of study - landscape architecture, and in 2009 led to its accreditation with EFLA. He served as pro-rector of the Cracow University of Technology from 2001 to 2005, and was a member of the Steering Committee of the European Conference of Landscape Architecture Schools from 2002 to 2007. He is a long-time chairman of the Landscape Architecture Chapter, a member of ECLAS and the Polish UNESCO Committee. In his free time, he visits the Dolomites in winter and the Masuria in summer.
Marta Kulawik:Professor, let's talk about landscape architecture - a field in which you are an authority. I had the pleasure of attending your open lecture in the Masters of Landscape Architecture series, entitled in the words of Thomas Jefferson: "Landscape architecture is the art of adorning the earth with human imagination." Is this your favorite definition of this field?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:This beautiful formulation was soon replaced by a more precise one - by Charles Eliot - saying that "landscape architecture is the art of creating beauty in the human surroundings and further scenery of the country."
Marta:In 2004, an organization called the Polish Association of Landscape Contractors and Landscape Architects was established in Krakow. Since 2009 it has been functioning under the name of the Association of Landscape Architects of Poland. That's almost twenty years of the largest trade association in the country. In your opinion, what is the most important achievement of this organization?
Prof. Aleksander Böhm:The exchange of experience of this young Polish community with colleagues from countries where landscape architects have long been organized as a group with specific professional rights.
The park, covering more than 14 hectares, was designed by the Sasaki studio; work was completed in April 2020
Photo: ©Insaw Photography
Marta:There is so much still to be done. Where would you start here?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:Twenty years ago, we began by teaching landscape architecture as part of the academic courses being created in Poland at the time - continuing the beautiful tradition started by Prof. Franciszek Krzywda-Polkowski at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences back in the 1920s, and we are pleased to learn that many of our graduates are successfully practicing this profession - not only in Poland.
Marta:Your latest book entitled. "Landscape in the Era of Populism and Post-truth," in fact a collection of texts written mostly with the Landscape Architecture Forum conferences in mind, is almost a must-read for any person to whom this topic is close. Did you publish it with a specific target group in mind?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:I hope that it will reach those people who, like me, notice the bad effects (not only in the landscape) of practicing populism and manipulation of facts, and that they will try to oppose these procedures.
street rain garden; the water needed to water the plants comes from rainwater collected under the surface of the park; it is worth mentioning that thanks to photovoltaic panels the park is also fully self-sufficient in energy
Photo: ©Insaw Photography
Marta:I know this is a topic for another book, or at least a long lecture, but what do you think is the role of greenery in the city?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:It's a role that is so widely known that it's a shame to repeat circulating opinions. It is known that it is better to be healthy than sick - but still cigarettes are sold and trees are cut down.
Marta: Is it cheaper to create and nurture concrete than to take care of greenery? Why is concretosis doing so well in Poland?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:Of course it is cheaper - ad hoc. But after just a few days of heavy rain, it turns out that we have a flood and the costs of repairing the damage appear. Costs that far exceed the savings achieved by concreting the lawn. In addition to this simplest proof, there are many others, such as the fact that windows in intensive care rooms should face the hospital garden, because this shortens the recovery period, so it is also cheaper!
street rain garden; the water needed to water the plants comes from rainwater collected under the surface of the park; it is worth mentioning that thanks to photovoltaic panels, the park is also fully self-sufficient in energy
Photo: ©Insaw Photography
Marta: In Utrecht, the highway running through the city center was turned into a moat, while in Seoul a river was restored and a pedestrian path was created among the greenery. In Shanghai, a linear park was created in place of the runway of the former Longhua Airport, and in Krakow, a housing development like Avia was built on the space left by the Czyżyn airport. Why can't we learn from other people's mistakes or imitate good examples?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:For the same reasons why we first concretize biologically active areas and then worry about flood losses. That is, a wise Pole after the event. But we should add to the aforementioned examples that usually the beneficiary of a linear park is the local community, and the developer is happy with the built development. Only when that developer realizes that he can get a higher price for an apartment that overlooks the park - will he love the greenery.
Marta:Fortunately, the city can be de-concretized. There are well-known examples of changing the most heavily degraded, for example, post-industrial, city districts into very attractive ones for residents and tourists. What is your favorite example of undoing concretization or post-industrial ugliness?
The original fragments of the former airport apron have been preserved and woven into the design as some sidewalks, among other things
photo: ©Insaw Photography
Prof. Alexander Böhm:Of the many examples of revitalization, my favorite are the results of transforming abandoned, rusting harbors into "white fleet" harbors. This is happening in many places from Shanghai to New York, but also in Poland, including in inland waterway facilities. The Augustow Canal was not built for recreation, and is today one of the most beautiful routes for watermen in Poland. In fact, so is the recently commissioned Great Loop of Wielkopolska. In this context, the sweeping under the rug of responsibility for the recent ecological disaster in the Oder riverbed is all the more outrageous.
Marta:The participation of landscape architects is now essential and required in most construction projects. But do they really have an important voice at this time?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:It depends on the circumstances. If, for example, the conditions of a competition require the participation of a landscape architect on the author's team, or the municipal council wishes it when working on a local development plan (because it is based on the requirements of a monument or nature conservator), then the landscape architect has a say. In addition, this can happen in municipalities that rely on tourist attraction in their strategy - and want to make money from it.
Marta:Watching the successive "revitalizations" of town squares and getting rid of healthy mature trees in favor of parking spaces or a paved square with a sad fountain in the middle, I have the impression that such terminology as a heat island has not yet reached many authorities. Does the landscape architecture community try in any way to educate local governments, who decide how public money is spent?
original fragments of the former airport apron have been preserved and woven into the design as, among other things, some sidewalks
photo: ©Insaw Photography
Prof. Alexander Böhm:The most effective argument for beauty in human surroundings is to prove that it pays off, to make people realize that people are ready to pay for a beautiful view - for example, a beautiful view from an apartment window raises its price by about 15 percent. That's why we have so many striking visualizations on the Internet. And going back to the paved "in a corpse" markets, the reason is often a rotating paving company. On the other hand, it is comforting to see the civic budget procedure gaining in popularity, which allows public money to be spent more rationally.
Marta:On the one hand, there is the densification and concreting of cities causing heat islands, and on the other, an equally negative phenomenon such as Polish sprawl. Where is the golden mean in this case?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:It's not only in Poland that the most popular housing dream is "a house with a garden." In order to reconcile this with landscape protection, convenient commuting to work, school or entertainment, urban planners are trying to promote smart sprawl - smart deconcentration. It involves grouping "houses with gardens" into complexes separated by enclaves of public greenery, and at the same time connected by public transportation routes. It is thus a kind of evolution of the age-old Garden City concept. Perhaps it is this - combined with opportunities for remote work, study and online shopping - that will become the remedy for the nuisances of sprawl. With the proviso that it will be possible to create an attractive meeting space under conditions of deconcentration, because man is a social being.
Marta:In 1990-1991 you served as the Chief Architect of the City of Krakow. If you were him now, what would you strive for the most?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:For the completion of the study of the city's land use conditions and directions, which is currently being developed. And then for the introduction of its provisions into the content of local spatial development plans, may they be as numerous as possible.
Marta:And what is the reason for the frailty of the Polish spatial planning system?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:The liberalization of the law, which has been progressing since the early 1990s (to please the electorate), which has included, among other things: exemption of municipalities from the obligation to develop local plans; rupture of the consistency of the provisions of the study of land use conditions and directions with the content of local development plans through the introduction of a flawed procedure of development conditions; abolition of the Chamber of Town Planners and the powers of urban planners; replacement of the building permit in many cases with a notification.
The total length of the park is 1814 meters, from a human perspective it seems endless; its vastness is best seen from a bird's eye view
photo: ©Insaw Photography
Marta:Spatial order pays off, doesn't it?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:Yes, just as road signs pay off.
Marta:Actually, since the beginning of your career you have devoted yourself to teaching. Starting from your work at the University of Baghdad or your function as a visiting professor in Münster, through being a member of the ECLAS Committee, to initiating in 2000 a completely new course of study - landscape architecture - at the Faculty of Architecture at the Cracow University of Technology and leading it to accreditation by the European Foundation for Landscape Architecture (EFLA). What gives you more satisfaction: sharing your knowledge or using that knowledge in your own projects?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:One doesn't exclude the other, especially since it's easier to convince the audience of something they know from their own experience. Students are increasingly combining their studies with gainful employment and even starting their own companies. So they don't study just to get a paper, and they value knowledge that is useful in their profession.
Marta:Landscape architecture and land management are starting to become increasingly interdisciplinary due to new trends in the field, such as working landscape, space recycling, smart and sustainable development, ecosystem services or green infrastructure. Which of these trends will be most relevant in the future and why?
Prof. Alexander Böhm:I think the recycling of space, because people and their cravings are increasing, and space is not, if we are talking about the real world, of course. One can cite many examples of such realizations, also in Poland and with a long tradition. This is how, among other things, the establishment of Bednarski Park in Krakow at the end of the 19th century on the site of a former quarry. For this reason, it was sometimes compared to the not much older famous Buttes Chaumont in Paris. It is the former quarries - thanks to the exposed faults of the rocks, often very picturesque - that even provoke arranging them for recreation, especially when water appears at their bottom.
Marta:I will be watching this trend closely. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights!
Prof. Alexander Böhm:Thank you very much.
