Second Nature

The idea of virgin nature is more metaphor than reality – a metaphor best represented by the fabled garden paradise from which Homo sapiens’ ancient forebears were exiled. Despite the fact that virtually every development site borders on an existing city or infrastructure, and that billboards or industry are visible in every panorama, contemporary planning and modern architecture have stubbornly continued to cherish the illusion of a nature that is authentic. In an increasingly urbanized world, it is interesting that landscape urbanism or ‘landscape-as-infrastructure’ movements seek to define a new theoretical framework for the relation between city and nature. One obvious contribution to this set of ideas would be the evolution of a ‘second nature’ as a promising new strategy for urbanism.