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Feral landscapes are places where there is an attribution of soul to nature, and where our world can be co-created together with socio-ecosystems. This can be framed as ‘architectural animism’ and challenges the understanding that nature is passive, limitless and outside of us, or something that we can shape to our needs and control without consequences. Instead, we must acknowledge that each and every ecosystem has agency, self-generates and develops new animist cultures that engage with the living world. Every part of this network has an essential role in a new ‘politics of nature’ that we as humans are inseparable from. Our challenge is to secure regenerative futures that co-create with, nurture and are attentive to this life, sustaining the societal needs of humans but with a balance that allows us all to co-exist harmoniously as one.
This year, Design Studio 3’s first term focused on climate emergency, biodiversity loss, key species restoration and ecological rewilding within urban environments. Students explored the relation and social layering of Epping Forest’s border with Chingford, developing design critiques of overly ordered city park landscapes to support areas of unplanned nature within the city.
Larger-scale strategies were explored in term two through a selection of sites across the UK. Students investigated and designed with local communities and ecological networks, creating grounded responses to immediate challenges and speculative scenarios for longer climatic timelines.
With each project, a range of digital and physical media, inclusive of ecological atlases, models, mapping, storyboards and simulations, were used to explore feral design processes.