The experience of an architecture practitioner is worth pairing with observation of nature and the surrounding reality. We talk with Wojciech Januszczyk about the myths of planting trees in the city and the closed loop economy in the context of landscape architecture.
Ania Diduch: Could you explain what the closed loop economy is in the context of landscape architecture and what are its most important, best examples?
Wojciech Januszczyk: Let me start with an introduction. I believe that the closed loop economy is the future of landscape architecture. 99 percent of society today has no - nomen omen - green idea about its tools. I think this also applies to the design industries. For this reason, we do not implement them throughout the entire construction investment process, that is, in the pre-design, design, implementation and operation phases of a given landscape architecture facility - a garden, park or simply associated greenery. This really applies to all construction trades. Such an approach in the context of the climate crisis will end very badly for us. However, let's return to this "green" part of the investment. We make the mistaken assumption that "landscape architecture" is "pro-eko," in quotation marks of course. However, there is no difference between it and other sectors of the economy implemented in a linear management system. The creation of green spaces uses masses of plastic, concrete and anything that consumes energy and often does not enter closed cycles. So what is GOZ in architecture? A real use of the "mechanisms of nature," and the best example is... nature, and in the city the so-called fourth nature, that is, greenery itself. We call it wasteland, and with a smile on our faces we give these areas to developers and architects to introduce destruction and destruction in a joyful and idyllic process of creation.
Almost unmowed turf, proj.: Pracownia Krajobrazy Wojciech Januszczyk
photo: Wojciech Januszczyk
Ania Diduch: Is this something that happened recently, or has it always been like this?
Wojciech Januszczyk: Not always. I would go back to the pre-industrial era, consumerism and globalization of trade and production, which is what is causing climate change today. In the days of, say, our great-grandparents, many more phenomena were locked in natural biocycles or in general - closed cycles. A simple example: shoes were passed from father to son, according to designer Tomek Rygalik. They were well made and reused many times. There were more "natural" spaces in green spaces, and the home garden was part of a larger biological system and was closed in its own energy cycle. There were no long supply chains for equipping such areas with infrastructure. Well, maybe occasionally some rich person bought a pagoda from China for his garden. Today you won't see local, long-lived, repairable objects and facilities in gardens or public spaces. Often there are composites that can't be taken apart and recycled. Biocycles are pushed back in space, foreign plant species are introduced and we have to water and fertilize them to make them survive. It is said that parks and gardens, greenery and trees are the lungs of the city - we forget that they are such "artificial lungs" that we have to feed and service all the time. Because of climate change, we should start applying the basic principle of the circular economy, that is, moderation, and this applies to all stages of the construction investment process. However, I know that those working in the field of architecture and landscape architecture are smart people, able to use the Machiavellianly catchy slogan "eco". Biodiversity or ecology of buildings, landscaping objects are overused. We are forced to do it, to some extent, by social needs, but also by marketing or fads, by the desire to "whitewash" an investment that destroys nature. Moderation can't be pushed so easily, because moderation is a limitation of sales and demand. I would suggest such a mental exercise, that if an idea arises in the head of an architect or landscape architect, it should be divided in half and only implemented.
A parking lot may look different than what we see every day in housing development projects, proj.: Pracownia Krajobrazy Wojciech Januszczyk
photo: Wojciech Januszczyk
Ania Diduch: When it comes to moderation, there is the first conflict with the economic system in which architecture is created. How can you face this conflict and strive for moderation?
Wojciech Januszczyk: It is worth realizing that there is such a creature on Earth, which is called the Norway lemming. It usually rushes ahead when it encounters the sea or the ocean, it thinks that it is an ordinary stream that can be swum through, but of course it is physically impossible, so thousands of lemmings die. We as humans today do exactly the same thing. We rush, without thinking about the consequences, blindly, ahead, and in a moment we will drown - something I often say in my lectures. The second issue is that we are using time-shifted cannibalism. We are eating our own children with such a policy. In my opinion, in our industries the mistake lies in the initial understanding of the investment phase, where we say we are creating something. This is a logical error, but one that justifies a person - if I create, it means I am doing something good. However, all indications are that here there is no process of creation, but there is a process of destruction. Introducing a garden into a scrub space and making a single-family house there to have a beautiful view - is destruction. If we realize that at the starting point we are entering a phase of destruction, it will be easy to introduce the principle of moderation, and in the pre-design phase we will do a lot to preserve as much as possible of the found elements. I know it's all about money, but what if we leave our children some money if we don't leave them living conditions. In Poland, in architecture and landscape architecture, there are basically no areas that meet GOZ principles. Instead, there is an overemphasis on marketing efforts aimed at greenwashing.
Implementation of a crack garden on an existing maneuvering square in an industrial space, proj.: Pracownia Krajobrazy Wojciech Januszczyk
photo: Wojciech Januszczyk
Ania Diduch: So another marketing slogan that is empty?
Wojciech Januszczyk: Everyone needs to say something at a presentation for an investor or at a public consultation, so they say, for example: we have a green wall in our new office building and this green exterior wall is ecological. Well, and now someone like me comes and says: but these plants on this green wall contribute to climate change, because to make such a green wall is a lot of plastic, it's irrigation that wastes water, it's a big installation with artificial fertilizers to maintain it. Peat, which is in pockets, is taken from peatlands, which are batteries of biodiversity, and is destroyed to feed the artificially created green walls. Anyway, this also applies to the production of perennials, shrubs and trees in a linear management system. Connecting the dots, that is, looking at the components, is important in circular economy.
Ania Diduch: What is the alternative to planting trees? Is there a version of urban greening that is more responsible?
Wojciech Januszczyk: I have considered this in many ways, I am trying on some kind of larger publication on the subject. In practice, it could consist of going into a given urban space and considering whether it is worth planting vegetation there, or whether it will grow there on its own. I thought that the best solution is to zone biologically active areas of the city, but also individual landscaping objects. In the most representative parts we do greenery organized by man, the so-called third nature, and the further away from this center, the less human organization, more nature mechanisms. More weeds and bushes. Here it is worth recalling once again that these most valuable spaces, which have complete ecosystems that are not operated by humans, that is, they are cost-free, retentive, dust-reducing - we call wastelands. It seems to us that they do not serve us - nothing could be further from the truth. These largest lungs of cities are treated pretentiously, nature is destroyed, after all, such a valuable plot of land can not go to waste in the city. It was ugly, but a developer with an architect and a landscape architect came and did something aesthetically pleasing, planted nice greenery. The alternative is fourth nature and the production of plants in native soil, without black pots, without peat, drought-tolerant and disease-resistant. Of course, designers need to know what to include in the technical specifications for construction.
rain garden in the rain, proj.: Pracownia Krajobrazy Wojciech Januszczyk
Photo: Wojciech Januszczyk
Ania Diduch: So what is the biggest myth of planting trees in the city?
Wojciech Januszczyk:Planting trees produced in a linear economy is not countering climate change. It's simply adapting to climate change. It's more or less like someone buying an air conditioner manufactured on the other side of the globe. I turn it on myself and I'm cool. Meanwhile, one billion eight hundred million people will soon move as part of the climate shift, because they won't be able to stand in their places of residence because of the heat. They will come to us for those air conditioners and those trees. This is not a solution. If the "Million Trees for Paris" is to be produced in a linear economy: with plastic pots, peat and using water from a deep well, plus bearing blue balls that kill slugs, are eaten by hedgehogs and other biodiversity-enhancing organisms, then I thank you. We destroy globally, let's fix globally.
This is a green wall, proj.: Pracownia Krajobrazy Wojciech Januszczyk
photo: Wojciech Januszczyk
Ania Diduch: I really liked the comparison with the air conditioner. It requires a very big change in mentality at many, many stages. Do you have an idea of how each stratum of society should be educated on the topic of GOZ?
Wojciech Januszczyk: I assume that it is those who create these spaces, that is, the professional groups of designers, who should be educated on the subject and further educate through the proposed solutions. I know what I am talking about. My proposals are not just based on philosophical premises - I spent many years on construction sites and in design offices. I have the experience of a practitioner and know that it works.
after aluminum can also do, proj.: Pracownia Krajobrazy Wojciech Januszczyk
photo: Wojciech Januszczyk
Ania Diduch: Well, yes, but architects and architects must also propose market solutions, they will be out of work if they stand apart in their offer.
Wojciech Januszczyk: If climate change continues, we will all be out of work. It's a matter of adjusting your time perspective and doing a "zoom out." Changing habits, technologies or strings of thought in the design process is not an escape from market solutions, it is a search for other solutions that will prevail over time.
Ania Diduch: Thank you for the interview.
interviewed: Ania DIDUCH
Photo: Wojciech Januszczyk
Praise for laziness
You can also read the article in the 04/2024 issue of A&B - GREEN CITY,
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