Landscapes of Flux and Demand: Anticipating Change at Hong Kong’s Soko Islands

Related Staff : Elizabeth Leven, Scott Melbourne

Landscapes change. Their internal dynamics, usage and roles, and relationship to, and impacts from, external contexts are all in a constant state of flux. Landscape designers and planners are inserted into this mix of processes, called upon to recognize functions, and anticipate future effects, all while helping craft a vision for how discrete actions can help create desirable results. These forces are present within even the smallest of sites, but are of even greater importance when operating within larger landscapes composed of distinct layers of ecology, geology, culture, and even economic potential. This studio explored design strategies that were responsive to anticipated environmental and societal change, making use of Hong Kong’s remote Soko Islands as a study site. Students related in-person observations with more conventional research findings to build determinate representations of dynamic systems. They investigated strategies for how design has engaged with biophysical systems in case study sites, mapped spatial consequences of competing land use goals, and ultimately developed design propositions that drew from preceding analysis and projection to take the form of specific site-scaled interventions.