Abstract
This study explores the characteristics of and changes in Korean landscape architects’ attitudes toward ecological design strategies and theories over the last three decades. Methodologically, this study includes a literature review and incorporates data from case studies and site visits. It discusses Seoul-specific contexts regarding environmental conditions, urban morphology, administrative agency, and design theory and practice. It redefines ecological parks, expanding their scope using physical and non-physical ecological processes. Considering this redefinition, this study categorizes the five main attitudes of contemporary Korean landscape architects towards ecological design: providing wildlife habitat, constructing aesthetic experiences, the phasing strategy, developing environmental learning programs, and designers’ metaphoric expression. Through these attitudes, this study chronologically explores gradual and constant changes in design strategies and the discourse on ecological design. Specifically, in the 1990s, landscape architects emphasized the representation of ecosystems by constructing wildlife habitats. In the early 2000s, ecological parks were artistically designed as urban parks by reusing post-industrial landscapes. Around the 2010s, landscape architects developed resilient and adaptive design strategies to flexibly respond to uncertain changes in natural and urban ecological circumstances. Since the 2010s, landscape architects have continually expanded the scope of ecology to cover physical, non-physical, urban, and social infrastructures, including public transportation, as well as political, social, and cultural structures and virtual and augmented landscapes. This study can contribute to the field literature while adding a valuable overview of the understudied Korean context.
Highlights
In the sections that follow, this study discusses changes in ecological design strategies and theory over the last three decades. It addresses the ecological design of urban parks in metropolitan Seoul (Figure 1), because as the capital of South Korea it is the site of many early Korean ecological parks and significant works that are well known in the field of Korean and international landscape architecture
To fully understand the various ways to deal with ecological design in Korean urban park design, this study needs to redefine the current scope of ecological parks
Seoul-specific specific contexts pertaining to ecological design for urban parks
Summary
Since the mid-1980s, the discourse on ecological parks has been evolving regarding the field of Korean landscape architecture [1,2,3,4]. The second central approach to ecological parks entails the exploration of various forms of park visitor programs using the natural resources of an ecological park These studies have analyzed visitor satisfaction levels and the specific characteristics and effects of various activities, including observational, experiential, educational, and cultural programs pertaining to the ecological systems of the parks, resulting in novel alternatives having been proposed [16,17]. Focusing on the Korean context, the study explained the recent Korean history of landscape architecture, which has been highly influenced by Western design trends and theory [21] It barely examined the discourse on the ecological design strategies and their changes. To fully understand Korean design practice and the theory of landscape architecture during the last three decades, the theme of ecological design requires focus and scrutiny
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