93
Trained as a town planner and a landscape architect, McHarg was described as an inspired ecologist.
His work, of particular interest to the narrative of the regenerative- adaptive pattern language, offers
a view that humans and the environment can be seen as a ‘whole’. Further, his identification of patterns of nature in the process of mapping, relates closely to the investigation of ‘deep sustainability’
(described in more detail later in this book), where we further investigate the pattern language and
generative codes.
In The Essential Ian McHarg: Writings on Design and Nature (2006), Steiner summarised the
influence of McHarg’s theory on contemporary design and planning as ‘Nothing is as good as a good
theory’. The dictum of Design with Nature not only changed design and planning disciplines, but also
enormously influenced fields as diverse as engineering, geography, forestry, environmental ethics,
ecology and even soil science (McHarg & Steiner, 2006). Design with Nature acknowledges that
humans are as ecological as any other species. Like other species humans are part of the whole web
of life. The theory not only deals with ‘man’s relation to his environment’ as a whole, but also with
how an ecology-based design can shape and change the future for both.
7.6 Nature’s Design
Design with Nature (1992 [1969]) was written by McHarg about landscape planning, essentially providing step-by-step instructions on how to analyse a landscape region and devise its appropriate uses.
McHarg’s theory, underpinned by an ‘ecological approach’, provides the basis for his landscape architecture and regional planning. The method sought to reveal nature as a process containing intrinsic
forms. The method involved a set of layers, similar to layers that appear in nature, starting with the
geology of a place and concluding with the habitats of plants, animals and humans. McHarg put forward a proposition that this ecological approach method offered opportunities and constraints having
regard to that place, and that plants, animals and humans in that place are only comprehensible in
terms of their physical and biological evolution. Historical geology explains the current form, physiography identifies the configuration of the place, and hydrology provides the patterns of rivers and
flows, which support abundance or decline of plants; collectively these represents the climatic factors,
and in turn provides specific habitats for animal species. All this information provides a cross-ecological inventory that can be interpreted as analysing existing and proposed human land use and management (Swaffield, 2002, p. 39; McHarg, 1967). The next step is to map all the values and attributes of
the landscape, and identify the best-suited human uses. McHarg stresses that this is not a plan to
enforce demand, but rather a process to understand nature. It reveals causality and that ‘the place is
because’:
…. This process permits us to interpret natural processes as resources, and to prescribe prospective land uses
with compatible communities with nature (Swaffield, 2002, p. 41).
McHarg also states that the ecological method is useful for creating form. In the context of his
method, form is explained as ‘give’ and ‘made’ forms. The former is a natural landscape, and the latter
is the accumulation of changes that happen in the built environment overtime, resulting in a city or
settlement. Each city is different, and by applying the method the layers of formation that shape a
place can be evident. The successive stages of urbanisation are thus documented with the adaptations
of the environment, and these outcomes can contribute to the genius loci. From a synthesis of this
information a landscape plan can be prepared, which includes the elements of identity, natural process, and the palette for formal expression in the planning process (McHarg, 1967).
7.6 Nature’s Design
Trained as a town planner and a landscape architect, McHarg was described as an inspired ecologist.
His work, of particular interest to the narrative of the regenerative- adaptive pattern language, offers
a view that humans and the environment can be seen as a ‘whole’. Further, his identification of patterns of nature in the process of mapping, relates closely to the investigation of ‘deep sustainability’
(described in more detail later in this book), where we further investigate the pattern language and
generative codes.
In The Essential Ian McHarg: Writings on Design and Nature (2006), Steiner summarised the
influence of McHarg’s theory on contemporary design and planning as ‘Nothing is as good as a good
theory’. The dictum of Design with Nature not only changed design and planning disciplines, but also
enormously influenced fields as diverse as engineering, geography, forestry, environmental ethics,
ecology and even soil science (McHarg & Steiner, 2006). Design with Nature acknowledges that
humans are as ecological as any other species. Like other species humans are part of the whole web
of life. The theory not only deals with ‘man’s relation to his environment’ as a whole, but also with
how an ecology-based design can shape and change the future for both.
7.6 Nature’s Design
Design with Nature (1992 [1969]) was written by McHarg about landscape planning, essentially providing step-by-step instructions on how to analyse a landscape region and devise its appropriate uses.
McHarg’s theory, underpinned by an ‘ecological approach’, provides the basis for his landscape architecture and regional planning. The method sought to reveal nature as a process containing intrinsic
forms. The method involved a set of layers, similar to layers that appear in nature, starting with the
geology of a place and concluding with the habitats of plants, animals and humans. McHarg put forward a proposition that this ecological approach method offered opportunities and constraints having
regard to that place, and that plants, animals and humans in that place are only comprehensible in
terms of their physical and biological evolution. Historical geology explains the current form, physiography identifies the configuration of the place, and hydrology provides the patterns of rivers and
flows, which support abundance or decline of plants; collectively these represents the climatic factors,
and in turn provides specific habitats for animal species. All this information provides a cross-ecological inventory that can be interpreted as analysing existing and proposed human land use and management (Swaffield, 2002, p. 39; McHarg, 1967). The next step is to map all the values and attributes of
the landscape, and identify the best-suited human uses. McHarg stresses that this is not a plan to
enforce demand, but rather a process to understand nature. It reveals causality and that ‘the place is
because’:
…. This process permits us to interpret natural processes as resources, and to prescribe prospective land uses
with compatible communities with nature (Swaffield, 2002, p. 41).
McHarg also states that the ecological method is useful for creating form. In the context of his
method, form is explained as ‘give’ and ‘made’ forms. The former is a natural landscape, and the latter
is the accumulation of changes that happen in the built environment overtime, resulting in a city or
settlement. Each city is different, and by applying the method the layers of formation that shape a
place can be evident. The successive stages of urbanisation are thus documented with the adaptations
of the environment, and these outcomes can contribute to the genius loci. From a synthesis of this
information a landscape plan can be prepared, which includes the elements of identity, natural process, and the palette for formal expression in the planning process (McHarg, 1967).
7.6 Nature’s Design