Ecological design and the aesthetics of sustainability
One of the most significant shifts in the theoretical orientation of the discipline over the past fifty years has been the development of concepts of "ecological" and "sustainable" design. This in turn has raised questions about the aesthetic basis for ecological design. In particular, there has been a sustained critique of the way that picturesque conventions have disguised ecological processes within modern landscapes. In Part V, a series of readings sets out a framework of ecological design and alternative approaches to its aesthetic expression. Proposals for a new ecological aesthetic for urbanism have been integral to these developments. The theme that links the readings is best expressed in the tide of John T. Lyle's (1991) article "Can Floating Seeds Make Deep Forms?" That is, how can identification and expression of the underlying ecological and cultural processes of a project and site provide the basis for configuration of landscape as "deep" rather than shallow form? The different formulations of an ecological aesthetic in Part V all articulate aspects of this fundamental question.