Copenhagen Foundations

As a complete coincidence this post is about Copenhagen, for personal reasons (I promised my brother I would do it) and because it is about a sculpture/fountain that I find impressive, rather than for any long-standing hangup about meetings about climate change.

As with almost all capital cities across the world, Copenhagen has a good number of significant sculptures and monuments. The most iconic, of course, is the Little Mermaid, who sits elegantly on a small rock in Oresond, just on the edge of central Copenhagen. She was commissioned by Carlsberg chief executive Carl Jacobsen in 1909, from Edward Eriksen and for such a tiny statue receives very large numbers of visitors. Just along the quay stands a less ethereal modern mermaid, who stands outside the tourist office with jutting chest confusing the occasional simple-minded tourist.

In the other direction lies an altogether more impressive sculptural fountain, also commissioned by Carlsburg, for their 50^th anniversary (1897), with the fountains in working order in 1908. This fountain lies next to the Citadel and represents the traditional myth of the foundation of the city of Copenhagen. The goddess Gefjon was challenged by the king Gylfi to plough as much land as she could in one night. All the land that she ploughed would be hers. Previously she had borne four sons and she changed them into oxen, attached them to a plough, and between them they ploughed the land area that now makes up the island in Copenhagen known as Zealand. The sculptor was Anders Bundgaard, a Dane who studied in Italy and returned to Denmark in time to create this powerful representation of determination and devotion. The water in the fountain may not be a major firework display, but the power of the surge through the nostrils of the oxen and the movement implied by the jets next to the wheels of the cart carrying the goddess is very effective. I love the elegance and poignancy of the Little Mermaid, but for sheer power of will and demonstrable strength, I have to confess to a preference for the Gefion Fountain (Gefionspringvandet in Danish).

Flatulence and Biodiversity

The Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change (COP15) is due to step up a gear in the next week. Much has been written both for and against the concept that our climate is undergoing change induced by man. As a geography undergraduate in the early 1980's I was taught that the changes that were starting to be seen even then were the result of actions taken in the Industrial Revolution! For me that has always been a rather sobering thought, and my own view as a result has been that less emphasis should be put on the debate as to causes and more on the moral and ethical reasons to act to reduce our polluting of the world as soon as possible. None of us is very keen to have other people's litter in our front gardens, and yet many of our actions are polluting the world for future generations.

The media have concentrated a great deal on carbon dioxide as the gas to be concerned about in all of this. As with everything that anyone comments upon, the truth is far more complex. Carbon dioxide is used as a measure for future warming, but there are several other gases that can play a very significant role in the future health of planetary life, the behaviour of which is cause for concern and the emissions of which it could be a good idea to scale back. These gases include:
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Methane (CH4)
Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6)
Water vapour (H2O)
Ozone (O3)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6711445/Copenhagen-climate-summit-eight-greenhouse-gases-and-what-they-do.html

A major role in the climate warming debate is also given by scientists to methane, which has been identified as having a far more significant role in the trapping of heat in the atmosphere than the more talked about carbon dioxide. This gas is given off through the biodegrading of organic material as it rots (landfill), as it reacts with air in a waterlogged state (peat and sphagnum bogs) or as it is digested (flatulence in humans and other animals).

Over the past 2 years detailed research into the methane production of cows has been undertaken for DEFRA by the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research at Aberystwyth University as part of a 3 year contract. This research has involved looking at the results of some intriguing methods of 'catching' the flatulent methane, such as an Argentinian project catching emissions using plastic bags, and placing the animals in plastic tunnels at Aberystwyth University (although sheep behaved better in the plastic tunnels, apparently, with fewer escape plans). The research has been aimed in particular at identifying methods of reducing methane emissions in farm livestock.

Some interim results that were published earlier in the project suggest that, contrary to popular belief, cows burp more than they fart. What makes this research relevant to this blog, is that it has also gone into the digestive behaviour of cows and whether a change of diet has an effect upon their flatulence. At present, the majority of cattle farming is undertaken on fields that are planted with perennial ryegrass and no other grass. It isn't hard to see how this could be very useful research. I, personally, know what the effects of eating baked beans or over-cooked sprouts are on my own methane production....

Cows appear to belch a great deal less if their diet consists of a mixed fare of grass species in flower, white clover and bird's foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). This actually means that fields that look more attractive to most of us are (arguably) better for everything, and that species poor, improved perennial ryegrass pasture is (arguably) not better for everyone. This next year coming up has been given the name the Year of Biodiversity. It is an interesting thought that in 2010, when the report on cow methane production is published, (unless something very strange happens) it will promote a chain of actions that will help to address climate change gas production, but that it will also help in the promotion of biodiversity through the increase in diversity of seed mixes for cropping for meat and dairy cow farming. Personally, I would really like to see a large scale return to the traditional wildflower meadow, but at least the promotion of more variety in the seeding of these fields will look a great deal more attractive and also have the benefits of digestive health for the animals and methane emissions will be lessened.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article2051364.ece

Landscape Architecture

For this first post I will take the opportunity to explain the title of the Blog. Almost all UK Landscape Architects will have stories to tell of trying to get over the idea of what a Landscape Architect does. It occupies more time for us than it should at social events and also at professional events as well. In the old days we would joke that friends of the family would chuckle and say "Oh, you can do my garden then!" when told we were Landscape Architects, a comment that we should see as more of a challenge than we usually do. In my experience this has been happening less and less, and in fact I am usually faced by a blank and confused expression and the need to 'explain'. In my 'explanation' I almost always use the presence of bollards in almost all town centres as a first example of where the profession is actually focussed. I am not intending to be rude, and I do hope that none of this is taken as rude or aggressive. We do have to keep up a public profile that has, unfortunately, been lessening, in spite of some incredible design achievements in the past several years.

A couple of months ago I went to a small networking event run by the Federation of Small Businesses. This event was to promote the idea of 'speed networking', which actually turns out to be brilliant! A similar event the previous year had been a complete no-show for me as a 'Landscape Architect', so this year I had gone radical. I said when the subject came up that I was a 'Photographer and Landscape Architect'. The blank faces weren't there. Each and every one of the people that I met that day said, enthusiastically, "Oh what a wonderful thing to do, that sounds very interesting!" They could cope because they recognised the photographer bit.

A few days later I mentioned this to an Egyptian friend who said immediately, "but a Landscape Architect, that gives the idea that you must do so much, and yet no-one would do so much as that". Virtually all Landscape Architects do MORE than the name implies, we should really call ourselves Landscape Polymaths! The problem for the profile of this name for what we do lies in the fact that most of the work done is at its best when it is appreciated but not noticed! Changing the name wouldn't change this situation.

Landscape Architecture is an exciting and hugely valuable profession. The huge variety of projects covered is just a part of the role played in our public worlds. Yes some people do gardens as well as public spaces, and some garden designers design public places. We talk about the 'Sense of Place' in good design or landscape management. This is also important in landscape characterisation - that can help the planning system accommodate (or not) new development. Awareness of the value of psychological well-being and the interaction with other professionals such as environmental psychologists can help with designing out crime or at least trying to minimise the sense of isolation that can lead to crime hotspots.

In this blog I hope to make comment on designs I have seen and value, maybe occasionally also designs that don't quite seem to work, but not those often, because this is something I wish to celebrate rather than to knock. I have been privileged to see some fantastic sculptures around the world and those should crop up regularly. As a researcher I get to read widely and sometimes some real nuggets come up that I will attempt to share. For the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit over the next 2 weeks, I will add in a bit about cows and methane, because this has such a wide relevance for all landscape and ecological professionals.

I do also need to add that the British Landscape Institute has a website for the promotion of Landscape Architecture as a career at http://iwanttobealandscapearchitect.com