Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

There is many valuable nature and culture landscapes in Sweden that has developed during a long period of time, throw natural processes or human use. Unfortunately lot of these are disappearing. My thought with this work is to explore the possibility to establish new areas with similar qualities. The motive for this is that attractive countryside biotopes are well worth to use as model to enrich the urban landscape.
Another thought has concerned the people that establish, build and manage landscapes and parks. They often have varied views, both coming from a difference in background and previous experiences. That fact is likely to effect their work. The purpose is to discuss and compare different professions view of the problem presented above, to compare and discuss potential differences and the reasons for them.

I have chosen an area that I consider to have plenty of different values, considering both aspects of nature, environment, recreation and culture. And from there I worked at understanding how to establish a similar vegetation type in a different location that I have proposed. The model areas I have chosen is an oak pasture were the most characteristic feature is the old contorted oaks that dominate the area. The oak trees are probably a lot older then they look, considering that they grown slowly on the sandy and poor soil in the area. The new areas were I propose a new establishing of a similar oak pasture, is on the flat plain of Skåne, close to Alnarp. The ground consists of moist rich clay witch is now used as an open pasture. The area faces south and is exposed to the wind. It has been used as a pasture since at least the end of 1800´s. It covers an area of approximately four hectares.

I have mainly used a question form aimed at three-experienced professional in constructing new areas of vegetation. I have also studied literature and different species on sight.

Answers from the professionals:

The Master of Science in Forestry suggests spraying with chemicals to control the weed. He's the only one. He also uses a standard model for establish and manage the area. His method is cheep, it gives a quick feeling of grown up forest, but it has very few early esthetical values.

The Bachelor of Science in Landscape Construction and Management´s methods is realistic and could work well considering the methods of establishment and managing. He also considers the esthetical side. This suggestion feels like a compromise between the he landscape architects and the master of science in forestry´s proposals.

The Landscape Architect method is aimed at getting an environment with interesting experiences early in the development. For example, planting in groups with a flexible management. Contrary to the others, this proposal is not practical to establish or manage, and that makes it a costly method as well.

My own model

My own suggestion consists of a mix of the Bachelor of Science in landscape construction and management and the landscape architects suggestion. Here I consider the early values and diversity throw planting in groups and diversity in species. But with the aim at establish and managing in an easy way.

Different professions

The different professions to answer my questions and on which answers my work is based, have three different professional education divided into two main directions. One is Landscape Architect and one is Bachelor of Science in Landscape Construction and Management. how's main aim is park and landscapes. Another profession is Master of Science in Forestry how aims mainly on forest production. A third area should be ecology.

From this perspective one could reason over the influence profession and direction has on the single persons personal views of the appropriate way or the right answer to solve the problem at hand. You should also consider how the previous experience and generation affect his or hers view of the problem and the solution.

According to earlier researched of mentioned areas, there are substantial differences in the view on forests. The direction of ecology judges a forests quality from its potential to become an interesting adult area. The forest direction focus mainly on timber production and the adult phase in the most interesting. The park and landscape direction focus mainly on the esthetical aspects, the most interesting phase is that of old age or extreme youth.

Work professions

The result I have got from the two directions I have tested turned up to fit perfectly with the research previously done. The Master of Science in Forestry focus on forest use mainly effective methods to get the best timber production possible. Even that that's not the goal of the planting. He focuses on the finished product without finding anything interesting in the previous faces.
Park and landscape direction focus mainly on the experience and the esthetical values. But there are also differences between the professions. The Landscape Architect is the one mainly focused on aesthetics. He wants to have interesting values as early as possible, even if that means it will bee more difficult in other areas like establishing and managing. The Bachelor of Science in Landscape Construction and Management. is in comparative more practical. The goal is to bee reached throw a realistic and easy managed plan that also gives interesting qualities during the different phases of development.
Reflection
The model i propose works well on other types of vegetation as well. Different plant material and conditions will of course give different results. From the start my thought was to one more picture and collect more answers. Unfortunately the second picture was hard to understand and the answers I got from the first picture was few and uneven.
My analysis about professions is based on one person per group and is more likely to be about the person then the profession he represents. What's interesting is that even with the few answers I have got, the analysis fits very well with the expected result. Maybe education effects more then you would think.

Det finns många värdefulla natur- och kulturlandskap i Sverige som har utvecklats under lång
tid antingen genom naturliga processer eller genom människans nyttjande. Tyvärr håller
många av dessa på att försvinna. Min tanke med detta arbete har varit möjligheten att anlägga
nya liknande miljöer med liknande kvalitéer. Motivet för detta är att attraktiva
landsbyggdsbiotoper är väl värda att använda som förbild för att berika det urbana landskapet.
Ytterliggare en fundering har gällt människorna om anlägger, bygger och sköter landskap och
parker. De har ofta en varierande bakgrund, både vad gäller utbildning och erfarenheter. Detta
påverkar troligen deras arbete. Här är syftet att diskutera och jämföra olika yrkesgruppers syn
på problemet ovan, att jämföra och diskutera eventuella skillnader och anledningen till dem.
Jag har valt ett område som jag tycker har många värden, både inom natur, miljö, rekreation
och kultur, och sedan arbetat utifrån hur man skulle kunna bygga upp motsvarande
vegetationskaraktär på en ny plats som jag har föreslagit. Förebildsområdet är en ekhage där
det mest karakteristiska är de gamla vridna ekarna som dominerar området. Ekarna är troligen
betydligt äldre än de ser ut, beroende på att de växt långsamt på den sandiga och
näringsfattiga jorden som finns här. De nya området jag föreslår en nyetablering av en
liknande ekhage ligger på den skånska slätten vid Alnarp. Marken är en fuktig näringsrik
morän lera, som är besådd med vall. Området ligger mot söder och är relativt vind utsatt, det
har varit betes eller åkermark sedan slutet av 1800 talet. Det täcker en yta på ca fyra hektar.
Jag har huvudsakligen använt mig av ett frågeformulär riktat till tre erfarna
vegetationsbyggare, men även gjort en Litteraturstudie och studerat olika arter på plats.