As the main purpose, landscape and its applications depend on the designing “physical changes” in the world and intentionally composed materials like “plants, landforms, water, infrastructure and architecture” (Kirkwood 244) so this aspect is similar with the relationship of art, technology and techne. Techne is a complex term but it has strong relation with the landscape. It can be said that both of them have the meaning of that the application of ideas which are arising from natural origins in combination with the medium.
Therefore by considering the correlation of landscape and its practices with the help of the technology, we can explain this relationship better and thus understand how much landscape is a part of the technology.
Technology is a field which has infinite potentials in terms of development and creating new systems so I think it is very helpful in terms of the practice of landscape and its general purpose. We can define this purpose as creating efficient and sustainable environments for all creators by considering the ecological systems and resources.
Moreover, fine arts and design principles form the basis of this utilitarianism, especially in an intellectual sense. As Kirkwood says in his article, besides fine arts there is also the “mechanic art” which defines the pragmatic and industrial aspects of architectural construction (Kirkwood 229). This approach includes the materials and applications of them in architecture.
Therefore mechanic art covers a large part of the planning and implementation of landscape projects. Also, it can be said that the projects and developments made by landscape architects, designs which are based on the natural medium, the use of materials and the sustainability of the projects are strongly related with the term of techne.
However, I think the most important point is that while we are using these technological methods we should not forget the characteristics of landscape design. It can be harmful that to focus on more the technical part of the landscape practice because cultural and natural aspects are the main points of the landscape.
The experience of the user and memories which we are collecting are creating the identity of our environment. Therefore in my opinion, in terms of construction and realizing the landscape projects there is no doubt that technology is crucial but it can only be a part of the landscape because it is a complex field which includes understanding, feeling, analyzing and the application processes. So I think that, technology is a helpful tool in the landscape design, not more.
To conclude, it can be said that technological implications can be very beneficial for solving the problems in landcape practices or the ecological problems which are also part of landscape design. Therefore, I think that technology and the idea of techne are things which should be used responsibly and consciously for the landscape architecture because their high potential becomes meaningful according to in what purpose we use it, and it returns to us in this way. So which one do we choose, positive feedback or negative feedback?
Works Cited:
Doherty, G. & Waldheim, C. (2016). Is landscape technology?. Kirkwood, N. In Is landscape…? Essays on the identity of landscape. London: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315697581