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the historian writes that landscape is"a composition of man-made engineers)that has become a public landmark and environmen-
<br /> or man-modified spaces to serve as infrastructure or background ml education center.(See"Solid Waste to Civic Monuments,"
<br /> for our collective existence;'and that the most magnificent of city Landscape Architecture.June 1995.) •
<br /> complexes"recognized the need to integrate infrastructure,or civil In his work in Minnesota,Morrish discovered that land val-
<br /> engineering,with landscape,or architecture."For Morrish,infra- ues are highest and crime rates are lowest wherever open space
<br /> structure provides not only a social safety net but also a cultural is integrated into the cultural and natural infrastructure.But
<br /> system that defines place and should inspire and shape the made merely creating an isolated park district draws no comers,he
<br /> landscape,down to streetlights,benches,and bollards. says. "Infrastructure has to be part of the basic civic equation.It
<br /> Infrastructure,or public works,"is what we put all of our pen- cannot be seen as an addendum."
<br /> nies together to build,and it should represent who we are,"he Morrish is currently studying the ways in which new forms
<br /> says.It's time we treat infrastructure with the respect it was given of transportation and new technologies are creating an urban
<br /> before modernist designers banished it from sight.
<br /> Think,for instance,he says,of the revolutionary road As shown in one of Morrish's evocative diagrams, an
<br /> system and splendid aqueducts built by the ancient integrated,multiuse public realm is made up of three
<br /> Romans or of the city fountains turned into such scalp- _ functional landscapes—resource,domain, and work.
<br /> rural masterworks as Rome's Trevi Fountain by Italian Re- 'ik
<br /> i 073
<br /> naissance cities.During the late nineteenth century,Frederick ar
<br /> Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux transformed derelict farmland . �� �`- '��y//��
<br /> and dumping grounds into Central Park,creating a reservoir
<br /> 4$;Il�� - \V 7
<br /> and a system of picturesque carriage drives."The power of i �� n o t�
<br /> Y P 9 g Po ti ' .���� A
<br /> Central Park,"says Morrish,"was as a social and cultural •„.. ♦'�.
<br /> infrastructure that had aheavy-duty environmental � i,7 � ��ti
<br /> agenda.If you talk of these lungs of the city as in- •. r i�4" V a4e,,
<br /> frasrncture rather than as a park precinct,that's pretty important."Early in the last century,American
<br /> designers created beautiful an m«leme and a t de o inf astrno- \ -@ ` 7 P°BUe-
<br /> tore,most famously the hydroelectric dams in the West. \ '`--- 1,� l WatRK
<br /> A contemporary model,Morrish points out,is Cincinnati, _ se) -7/1
<br /> which invested heavily in replacing infrastructure—bridges,
<br /> riverfront esplanades,stormwater channels,water filtering sta-
<br /> tions,and miles of retaining walls—to keep hilltop neighbor- %r ' t' - �►°` ..e�►
<br /> hoods from sliding into the Ohio River. "Aware of its valuable t� 11 ���
<br /> heritage,"Morrish has written,"Cincinnati has begun to re- // X, r�i ad
<br /> g g rC�i f �i� mss'
<br /> build a stronger sense of community b.leveraging its infra- " r�ygro ♦1
<br /> g ➢ I g g •v ��__��,�,A% i ,q� ��
<br /> structure heritage....But the success of these efforts rests on / �sF ..�' i,'� i��
<br /> the recognition that infrastructure is created by our collet- t�� ;i� `• �:Y'�r
<br /> rive efforts and represents our collective wealth.As such,it F'� .-� �`� .. i • .
<br /> becomes the public domain we own and share.Therefore, "{ •
<br /> infrastructure should be designed as bridges to link us � 7 vBUG
<br /> rather than walls to divide us." "
<br /> Morrish's research and case studies have stressed the impor- " --- P 1k!
<br /> tance of capital-infrastructure projects as support systems and
<br /> form givers for landscape design.In a series of Twin Cities-area .
<br /> case studies,Morrish examined ways to create ecological sys-
<br /> tems for stormwater purification and flood control that func- /
<br /> tion as the armature for civic design,recreational corridors,and n.,
<br /> urban wildlife habitat.The Design Center's demonstration de- ,\;• `
<br /> velopment plan for Minneapolis's Chain of Lakes rebuilt a sys- %Q` _ "T
<br /> tem of waterways to provide recreational green space while �In c %/
<br /> enhancing habitats for herons and waterfowl that use the ` /tll �
<br /> area as a flyway.Working on the principle that infrastruc- 1 ''a �• t /
<br /> mre adds value,including economic value,in the late, :r
<br /> �z /
<br /> 1980s he and Brown helped the Phoenix Arcs Commission
<br /> " r�i! •1
<br /> plan public works in ways that would improve the city. a��` � • �, PuhuG
<br /> tl Among the results are new highways that incorporate artistic '°ails , '%ooii�•� �
<br /> cl design and indigenous plantings while reducing construction � ms`s► �a ls a
<br /> LI costs,and a 1993 waste management facility(designed by
<br /> moo'
<br /> artists Michael Singer and Linnea Glatt with Black&Veatch
<br /> A muss 2003 1 93 I Landscano Arrhiterture
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