Abstract
The natural or biological world often provides models of the simplicity, elegance and complex interactivity that we seek to impart to our technologies, buildings and artworks. Within discussions of form, materials or functionality, we look to the world of insects, animals, plants and even our own bodies for solutions and innovation. Though we may work with the organisms themselves, the first step usually involves a rupture of context, a mutation of interdependent being into a discrete object, a model for the extraction of desired characteristics. The reality of embedded wild growth, with its complexity and interrelation, has often been described in terms of infestation or of ‘nature taking over,’ a challenge to our dominance of the world. However, a closer study of this interpenetration of uncontrolled nature within spaces around us reveals our immediate surroundings to be both wilder and more alive than we often presume them to be.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bachelard G (1997) “The poetics of space”. In: Leach N (ed) Rethinking architecture: a reader in cultural theory. Routledge, London
Dean T, Millar J (2005) Art works: place. Thames and Hudson Inc., New York
Deleuze G (1992) The fold: Liebniz and the Baroque. Tom Conley, trans. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Deleuze G, Guattari F (1997) “City/state”. In: Leach N (ed) Rethinking architecture: a reader in cultural theory. Routledge, London
Gibson W (1996) “The Recombinant City” foreword to Delaney, Samuel’s Dhalgren. Vintage Books, New York
Hill K (2005) “Shifting sites”. In: Burns CJ, Kahn A (eds) Site matters. Routledge, New York
Lyotard J-F (1984) “Several Silences,” Driftworks. Semiotext(e), New York
Mycio M (2005) Wormwood forest: a natural history of chernobyl. Joseph Henry Press, Washington
Pepperell R (2003) The Posthuman condition: consciousness beyond the brain. Intellect Books, Portland
Pillow K (2000) Sublime understanding: aesthetic reflection in Kant and Hegel. MIT Press, Cambridge
Rozak T (1973) Where the wasteland ends: politics and Transcendance in Postindustrial society. Anchor Books, New York
Sadler S (1998) The Situationist city. MIT Press, Cambridge
Sewell L (1999) Sight and sensibility: the Ecopsychology of Perception. Putnam Press, New York
Trigg D (2006) The aesthetics of decay: nothing, nostalgia and the absence of reason. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
Virilio P (1991) The aesthetics of disappearance. Philip Beitchman, trans. Semiotext(e), New York
Virilio P (1997) “The overexposed city”. In: Leach N (ed) Rethinking architecture: a reader in cultural theory. Routledge, London
Weismann A (2007) The world without Us. Harper Perennial, Toronto
Online references
Armstrong H (2008) Time, dereliction and beauty: an argument for landscapes of contempt. Available via UWS. http://future.uws.edu.au/data/assets/pdf_file/0017/6920/Armstrong_Final.pdf Accessed 4 Apr 2008
Beckman T, Heidegger M, Environmental Ethics (2008) Available via HMC. http://www2.hmc.edu/~tbeckman/personal/HEIDART.HTML Accessed 10 June 2008
Nieuwenhuys C (1959) Another city for another life. Internationale Situationiste #3 (Dec 1959) Paul Hammond, trans., Available via CDDC. http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/another.html. Accessed 10 Mar 2008
Oswald P et al (2004) Shrinking cities project. Available via uberuns. http://www.shrinkingcities.com/ueberuns.0.html Accessed 19 Feb 2008
Sontag S (1967) “The Aesthetics of Silence” in Aspen, No. 5&6. Available via ubuweb. http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen5and6/threeEssays.html#sontag Accessed 5 Mar 2008
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lunn, F.M. Patterns of growth and perception: the site, the city and the wild. AI & Soc 26, 153–161 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-010-0295-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-010-0295-1