Withdrawal, restraint, attention, and repair: strategies of careful design in the landscape

The legacy of modernism in the designed landscape has often been characterised by strongly formalist, imposing projects which are unflinching in the face of temporality. Dominated by the visual and the evident hand of the designer, these muscular works are expressions of excess, that this paper classifies as ‘strong’ design. Alongside this are the decades of consumerism driven by fashion cycles and a predilection for the new, rather than slow design and investment in objects which can be repaired rather than discarded. However, there is an emerging ethos in design that favours a counter approach, emphasising restraint, modesty and frugality, and echoing the tenet of ‘weak’ or ‘fragile’ philosophies. This paper draws together a wide range of allied approaches to designing landscapes and offers an inventory based around four attitudes towards careful design: withdrawal, restraint, attention, and repair.