Undergraduate Course: Design: Practices of Reclamation (ARCH10067)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Part-year visiting students only |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | Design: Practices of Reclamation is a 3rd year landscape architecture design studio that builds on foundational knowledge and skills acquired during the pre-honours curriculum. This course explores reclamation as a design approach in response to cultural, ecological, and spatial disturbance. Through considered fieldwork and research-led design, students explore how disturbances influence landscape evolution and how design can engage with complex conditions and uncertain futures. |
| Course description |
Reclamation has often been framed as an aspirational act of returning land to a pre-disturbed, usable, or even idealised state. This course challenges such assumptions, highlighting their tendency to privilege human-centred values and static notions of ecological health. Instead, it proposes reclamation as a process of transformation within dynamic, evolving systems. Emphasis is placed on recognising and working within complex environments, advocating for adaptive, contingent, and time-conscious approaches to design.
This course explores reclamation as a design approach in response to disturbance - events that disrupt ecological, cultural, or spatial systems - and as part of continuously evolving landscapes. The course brief will be framed around a particular landscape disturbed by a notable event (climatic, geomorphological, ecological, or anthropogenic). Students will examine disturbances across varied temporal and spatial scales. Central to the course is the idea that landscapes retain traces of social and environmental legacies and that future disturbances are inevitable.
Topics to explore may include land ownership and rights; the legacy of extractive and colonial practices; contamination, soil health and nutrient cycling; non-native and emergent ecosystems; and the role of more-than-human agencies and human stewards in shaping resilient futures. Fieldwork and site analysis support multiscalar thinking, continuously calibrating between site and bioregion.
To develop a research-led, critically positioned design practice grounded in environmental, spatial, and socio-political contexts, students will participate in lectures and guided fieldwork, supported by mid- and end-of-semester reviews and occasional guest input or workshops. Weekly tutorials will further support learning and design development.
Lectures introduce key theories, case studies, and design methodologies, while tutorials and fieldwork foster critical engagement with real-world landscapes. Active participation in all sessions is expected. Independent research is essential: students are expected to prepare for tutorials by engaging with assigned readings, independently sourcing resources to support their enquiries, conducting landscape observations, and developing reflective, iterative design work.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Drawing and model-making materials, printing costs (approx. £50).
Fieldwork: There is an organised and funded site visit for this course. Students will be expected to support the cost of travel.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students must have completed 2 full years of an accredited Landscape Architecture or Architecture programme, and have achieved grade of B or above on all design courses obtained for entry to this course. This course has limited available space and there is no guarantee of enrolment. Enrolment is subject to Course Organiser approval. Enquiries about enrolling in this course must be sent directly to the CAHSS Visiting Student Office at cahssvisitingstudents@ed.ac.uk to seek permission. This course is primarily project-based with accompanying course lectures, so it is relatively easy for visiting students to join. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Conduct fieldwork and critical research to inform rich landscape interpretations and a unique conceptual underpinning for the design enquiry.
- Create a comprehensive spatial framework that integrates the site's materiality and physical characteristics with multiscalar relational systems and dynamic transformations.
- Propose considered and adaptive design responses that are environmentally and socially durable in the context of the site, socio-environmental conditions and potential disturbances.
- Apply representation techniques as a research tool and a means to communicate robust landscape analysis and refined design proposals.
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Reading List
Burn, Carol. & Kahn, Andrea (2004) Site Matters: Design Concepts, Histories and Strategies. New York; London: Routledge.
Flynn, Cal (2021) Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape. Glasgow: William Collins.
Gandy, Matthew (2022) Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space. Cambridge, MA: Taylor & Francis.
Haraway, Donna (2016) Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Harris, James A. Birch, Paul. and Palmer, John (1996) Land Restoration and Reclamation: Principles and Practices. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Hutton, Jane (2019) Reciprocal Landscapes: Stories of Material Movements. New York; London: Routledge. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Curiosity and Critical Thinking: Identifying and examining complex landscape conditions and the dynamic systems that influence them will support the development of analytical thinking, data literacy, critical research skills, and the ability to synthesise information into informed and imaginative design propositions.
Individuality: Recognising and valuing previous experiences, the course will identify and strengthen those skills which have personal, disciplinary and professional significance; strengthening ability to critically situate ideas and design position within the context of both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. Students will also continue to develop authentic representational techniques that reflect their individual design thinking, creative process, and modes of presentation, supporting clear and intentional communication of their ideas.
Communication: Guidance on how to compile and curate visual and written work, along with structured studio presentation opportunities, will support students in developing and strengthening their communication skills in preparation for professional practice.
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| Keywords | Reclamation,disturbance,dynamic systems,complex environments |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Miss Anna Rhodes
Tel: (0131 6)50 4646
Email: arhodes@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Chloe Hancock
Tel: (0131 6)50 4124
Email: chancock@ed.ac.uk |
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